wondering
Is the damage shown in the pictures consistent with a fragmentation warhead? If so, where are the remains of the SAM missile used? The smoking gun?
I read somewhere else that high energy SAM fragmentation particles have such a high velocity/energy that an aircraft will start burning when being hit. Looks like MH17 parts started to burn on the ground and not in the air. Any experts?
Yes, the damage is definitely from a fragmentation warhead, and not from a gattling-gun or a contact warhead.
The missile would have been semi-vaporised. It is unlikely that any pieces would be found, especially as investigators have had no access to the site. As the report states, no forensic investigation was allowed, and all analysis is merely from the photos.
Regards burning, the forward fuselage section in my previous post shows evidence of inflight fire/smoke damage. The smoke staining is directionally streaked, demonstrating this was inflight. The rivet and paint streak gradients indicate that the source was to the upper left of the cockpit. This would be consistent with charring and staining from the intense heat of the warhead as it exploded nearby, and sent fragments and a supersonic heat-wavefront from the upper aft left, down to the lower forward right.
Interestingly, the smoke staining pattern seems to indicate that the aircraft was fully pressurised when the staining happened. You will note that there is less staining on the riveted sections, in comparison to the panels in between. This is probably due to the fuselage panels bowing out slightly, due internal pressurisation, in between the stronger structural elements of frames and stringers. Like the panels on a quilt bed-spread, the fuselage panels also bow outwards (slightly) when the aircraft is pressurised. Again, this indicates that the smoke staining happened at cruise altitude, (just) before the fuselage was ruptured.
So yes, much of the fuselage would have been on fire, after this intense heat-explosion. There is a video on line showing a burning aircraft descending from great altitude, but I have no idea if this video is genuine. The truth was the first casualty of this incident.