Unusual missile from Russian Pantsir-S1: aviation expert on Azerbaijani plane crash

He shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

"The first images of the damaged plane were taken from a distance, so it seemed it had been shot down by anti-aircraft machine guns. However, more detailed photos clearly show it was a missile. Not a standard missile from the Pantsir-S1 system, but one from the new modifications, Pantsir SM-SV or Pantsir SMD-E. These missiles have fragmentation warheads, unlike the rod warheads of standard Pantsir missiles," noted aviation expert Valeriy Romanenko.

According to him, as the plane was landing in fog, Russia failed to distinguish a small drone from a large passenger plane on radar. As a result, either the operator made a mistake or the system was in automatic mode, leading to the plane being heavily fired upon.

"There were two or three explosions, likely caused by two or three light TKB-1055 missiles, which have small fragmentation elements instead of rods like standard missiles. The Russians are blatantly lying, as they often do when they down planes - it's a tradition for them to deny involvement until the last moment," Romanenko concluded.

• On December 25, a passenger plane crashed in Aktau, Kazakhstan. It was en route from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny, Russia. The crash resulted in the deaths of 38 people.
• The General Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan has initiated a criminal case regarding the crash of the passenger plane belonging to Azerbaijan Airlines, under the article concerning violations of traffic safety rules and air traffic operations due to negligence by two or more individuals. Members of the investigation team, formed by the Prosecutor's Office, have been sent to Kazakhstan.
• On December 29, the commission investigating the aviation incident, led by Kazakhstan's Minister of Transport Marat Karabaev, decided to send the flight data recorders to Brazil.