Originally Posted by
spaaks
yeah I had a similar thought process prior to this week, (my original point). I never really thought about this as a credible threat in the US before. But then again, I never thought that there would be 3 separate incidents in one week of aircraft getting shot down. If I were to have asked you 2 weeks ago if you thought it was a real possibility for some "rebel fighters" to shoot down a 777 above 30,000 ft or to shoot down 2 military fighter jets, I would bet most (including myself) would have said "yeah it's possible, but I doubt it. They don't have the technology for that". My main point is, I think a lot of us are doing the same thing and underestimating potential threats, rebels, terrorists...etc. Thinking "oh they don't have that technology here" or "it may happen over seas, but they won't be able to pull that off on our soil." I don't know much about this kind of military stuff, just my opinion
The Malaysian incident was from an advanced first world vehicle mounted anti AAC system. Using the term "rebel" can confuse the issue, because anyone that's against anyone is a "rebel" but its not the same thing here. Ragtag sleeper cells don't get that kind of equipment. There are other much more portable systems that, while they may not be able to reach crusing FL's, can still get pretty high and go pretty far and that is certainlly a threat. Especially when we are in a race to become borderless.