WHAT IS THE BUK MISSILE SYSTEM AND HOW DOES IT WORK?
- the BUK surface-to-air missile system first introduced by the Soviet army in 1979
- various versions still in use in former Soviet states
- complete unit consists of a command vehicle, a target acquisition radar and several rocket vehicles
- the BUK-M1 system is able to destroy targets at a height of up to 22 kilometres; it is ready to fire within five minutes
- the missiles explode several metres away from the target, its splinters perforate the target's shell, causing it to crash
- there is a 96 per cent probability for a missile to hit and down a plane
- according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Ukrainian army in 2014 owned more than 60 BUK-M1 systems
- Ukraine recently claimed it no longer owns any BUK systems
- Russia has around 350 systems of various types
- the pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine are reported to have possessed BUK missiles.
