Investigation of the impact damage
due to high-energy objects on the
wreckage of flight MH17
C u s t o m e r
Dutch Safety Board
NLR-CR-2015-155-PT-1 - September 2015

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Investigation of the impact damage due to high-energy objects on the
wreckage of flight MH17
Scenario 2: Air-to-Air Missile
The damage observed on the wreckage is not
consistent with the damage caused by the warhead of
an air-to-air missile in use in the region in amount of
damage, type of damage and type of fragments. The
high-energy object damage on the wreckage of flight
MH17 is therefore not caused by an air-to-air missile.
Scenario 3: Surface-to-Air Missile
Of the investigated warheads only the 9N314M
contains the unique bowtie shaped fragments found in
the wreckage. The damage observed on the wreckage
in amount of damage, type of damage, boundary and
impact angles of damage, number and density of hits,
size of penetrations and bowtie fragments found in the
wreckage, is consistent with the damage caused by the
9N314M warhead used in the 9M38 and 9M38M1 BUK
surface-to-air missile.
Conclusion
Based on the results of the investigation it is concluded
that the high-energy object damage observed on the
wreckage of flight MH17 is caused by the 9N314M
warhead used in the 9M38 and 9M38M1 BUK surfaceto-air missile

National Aerospace Laboratory NLR
Anthony Fokkerweg 2, 1059 CM Amsterdam,
P.O. Box 90502, 1006 BM Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Telephone +31 (0)88 511 31 13, Fax +31 (0)88 511 32 10, Website: wwwnlr.nl

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Investigation of the impact damage due to high-energy objects on the wreckage of flight MH17

No part of this report may be reproduced and/or disclosed, in any form or by any means without the prior
written permission of the owner.
Customer Dutch Safety Board
Owner Dutch Safety Board
Division NLR Air Transport
Distribution Unlimited
Classification of title Unclassified
Date September 2015

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Investigation of the impact damage due to high-energy objects on the wreckage of flight MH17

4.13 Air-to-Air Gun scenario conclusion                                  38
5 Scenario 2: Air-to-Air Missile                                               39
5.1 R-60                                                                              39
5.2 Attack geometry                                                             39
5.3 Visual identification                                                         39
5.4 Amount of damage                                                          40
5.5 Type of damage                                                              40
5.6 Used materials                                                                42
5.7 R-60 Air-to-Air Missile scenario conclusion                         42
5.8 Air-to-Air Missile overview                                                42
5.9 Air-to-Air Missile scenario conclusion                                 43
6 Scenario 3: Surface-to-Air Missile                                        44
6.1 Surface-to-Air Missile overview                                         44
6.2 BUK Surface-to-Air Missile system                                    44
6.3 BUK TELAR                                                                     44
6.4 Normal operation                                                            45
6.5 Autonomous operation                                                    46
6.6 BUK missile                                                                    46
6.7 Altitude capability                                                           47
6.8 Proximity fuse                                                                47
6.9 Amount of damage                                                         47
6.10 Type of damage                                                            47
6.11 Bowtie fragments                                                         49
6.12 Number and density of hits                                           50
6.13 Fragment dimensions                                                    52
6.14 Static warhead model                                                   52
6.15 Dynamic fragmentation pattern                                     54
6.16 Primary and secondary fragmentation pattern                 55
6.17 Matching modelled and observed fragmentation damage  55
6.18 Kinematic Fragment Spray Pattern Simulation                 58
6.19 Missile flyout simulation                                                60
6.20 Missile Launch Area                                                      60
6.21 Surface-to-Air Missile scenario conclusion                       62
7 Summary of findings                                                         63
8 References                                                                       66

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2 Damage examination
At the time the investigation commenced, around 25% of the wreckage was
available to the Dutch Safety Board at Gilze-Rijen Air Force Base in The
Netherlands (Figure 1 and Figure 2). The parts of interest to the investigation
were located in one hangar. The remaining parts were located in two separate
aircraft shelters. Of each part of the wreckage photographs were taken and
these were made available for the investigation. Also a number of 3D laser scans
of parts of the wreckage were made and used in this investigation.

Figure 1: Left-hand side recovered wreckage (Source: DSB)

Figure 2: Right-hand side recovered wreckage (Source: DSB)

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Figure 4: Plugging damage (Source: DSB)

Figure 5: Non-penetrating damage

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2.3 Origin
The observed impact damage by high-energy objects originates from outside the
aircraft. Both piercing and plugging damage observed are identified as entry
damage bending the plate material inwards (Figure 8). The non-penetrating
damage as well as the ricochet damage also clearly originates from outside the
aircraft.

Figure 8: Plate material bent inwards. Looking at the inside of the structure

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2.5 Number and density of hits
The total number of hits of all types of impact damage on the initially available
wreckage was counted and found to be 304. After this, additional parts of the
wreckage became available. Accounting for the additional hits on these parts the
total number of impacts is assessed to be more than 350. Extrapolating the
number of hits on the affected area of the fuselage and accounting for the
structure that was not available gives an estimate of the total number of hits of
high-energy objects of over 800. The highest density of hits was on the middle
window on the captain’s left-hand side of the cockpit (window number 2). The
cockpit windows are made of multiple layers of glass and plastic and one of the
layers of this window was recovered. See Figure 11 for this window layer and its
location in the cockpit. The density in this area is calculated to be around 250 hits
per square meter.

Figure 11: Left cockpit window 2 layer and location (Source: DSB)

2.6 Size of penetration damage
On the piece of cockpit skin with the highest number of penetrations, the size of
the holes caused by these penetrations was measured (Figure 12). Only the
damage that was assessed to be the result of single objects fully penetrating the
plate was taken into account. Of each hole the dimension perpendicular to the
impact direction was measured (Figure 13). Only this dimension gives an
indication of the size of the object that caused the damage. The larger
dimension, parallel to the projection of the impact direction on the plate, is the
result of the speed and the angle at which the object impacts the plate. As can
be seen in Figure 14, the size was found to range from 6 mm to 14 mm.

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2.7 Regularity of hits
On several parts of the wreckage a regularity of hits was observed. Figure 15 and
Figure 16 are examples of hits at regular intervals. This regularity of hits is an
indication that the damage was caused by a warhead with preformed, separate
fragments. See section 6.10 for a more in depth discussion of this subject.

Figure 15: Regularity of hits on upper cockpit window frame

Figure 16: Regularity of hits on lower cockpit window frame

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2.9 Boundary of damage
There is a relatively clear boundary between parts of the wreckage that are
affected by the high-energy object impacts and parts that are unaffected. On the
front side of the cockpit, the boundary is the forward corner of the captain’s
(left-hand side) front window. Figure 18 shows this corner, together with the two
windscreen wipers. The most forward impact damage occurs just above and aft
(to the rear) of this corner as can be seen by the penetration damage in the
glass.

Figure 18: Forward corner of left-hand side cockpit front window (Source: DSB)

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The rearmost impact damage boundary is found on the left-hand side in front of
the left-hand forward passenger door. Figure 20 through Figure 22 show the
most rearward high-energy object ricochets.

Figure 20: Left-hand side panel location (Source: DSB)

Figure 21: Left-hand side panel with ricochet damage

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2.10 Direction of impact To determine the high-energy objects trajectory, the direction of the impact damage was analysed on several parts of the cockpit area. Using fibreglass rods and 3D-scans of the structure, the direction of high-energy objects penetrating multiple layers of material was determined. The results of this analysis can be found in Figure 23 and Figure 24. Also the forensic technique of stringing was used to analyse the general direction of the impact damage on the actual wreckage as can be seen in Figure 25. The back traced trajectories of the penetrating damage converge to a general area to the left of, and above, the cockpit.

Figure 23: High-energy objects impact direction

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Figure 26: Rulers showing local direction of ricochet damage on cockpit roof

Because a piece of cockpit roof was not yet available to the Dutch Safety Board at the time of writing, the angle of ricochet damage on this piece was determined using photographs. This piece was located on the top of the cockpit, more to the rear of the aircraft. Figure 27 shows a detail of this cockpit roof. The flight direction is indicated with a blue arrow and the ricochet damage direction with a red arrow.

Figure 27: Direction of ricochet damage (red) on cockpit roof. Blue arrow indicates flight direction (Source:
DSB)