Before Ukraine admitted to mistakenly shooting the plane, a number of images of debris from the Tor-M1 anti-terrestric missile that the poster said was taken at the scene of the Ukrainian plane crash near Tehran on January 8 appeared on the Internet.
Canada later said it had evidence that a surface-to-air missile had shot down an aircraft of Ukraine International Airlines, killing 176 people, including 63 Canads.
What is the SA-15 air defense system?
This is a Russian-made air defense system that allows its exploiters to shoot down aircraft at relatively close range. It is also known as the Tor-M1 anti-aircraft missile.
The SA-15 can shoot down aircraft, precision weapons and guided ammunition. The Washington Post quoted military documents as saying that the SA-15 is capable of tracking targets at a distance of 30km and can intercept targets at an altitude of 10,000 meters.
The SA-15 is designed to protect against flying objects at medium to very low altitudes and can track up to 48 targets at the same time, with the ability to fire 2 missiles almost at the same time if necessary.
Will Mackenzie, a defense program researcher at the new US Security Center, said the SA-15 was designed primarily for short-range air defense, and is a mobile system that can be moved easily.
Michael Germanman, an expert at the Center for Non-Distribution of Weapons Research, Middlebury International Research Institute, said that this air defense system can fire targets at a distance of up to 12km.
The missiles fired from the SA-15 are designed to destroy targets with shrapnel when it explodes, which will hook into the fuselage of the plane and the drone.
How does Iran get this system?
In 2007, Russian officials said they had handed over the Tor-M1 system, or SA-15, to Tehran. According to The Guardian, Iran received 29 Tor-M1 complexes under the terms of the $700 million contract that year.
German officials said they were concerned about Iran's Sa-15 missile because the air defense system was a huge improvement over some other systems at the time.
