Azerbaijan Finds Russian Pantsir-S1 Missile Fragment in Downed ERJ-190

4 February, 2025 The downed Azerbaijan Airlines plane. Photo from open sources. Azerbaijani experts have recovered a fragment of a Russian Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile from the wreckage of the downed Embraer ERJ-190 passenger plane.

Reuters reported this, citing sources in the Azerbaijani government. It is reported that the missile fragment was identified with the help of international expertise. In late December, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev accused Russia of being responsible for downing the Embraer ERJ-190.

According to him, the Russian government must admit its guilt, publicly apologize to Azerbaijan and provide a truthful explanation.

Downed Azerbaijan Airlines plane. Photo by Azamat Sarsenbayev

However, in the first three days after the tragedy, the Russian side put forward only absurd versions of the incident and has not yet officially confirmed its involvement. In this regard, Azerbaijan refused the proposal to transfer the investigation to the Interstate Aviation Committee, as this organization is mostly composed of Russian officials.

Instead, Azerbaijan insisted on establishing an international task force.

The tragedy of Flight 8432

The Embraer ERJ-190 of Azerbaijan Airlines, flying from Baku to Grozny, declared an emergency at about 11:20 a.m. local time. The damaged plane was not allowed to land at any Russian airport, despite the pilots' requests for an emergency landing, and was ordered to fly across the Caspian Sea to Aktau in Kazakhstan. The emergency situation on board the plane was confirmed while still over the Caspian Sea, as evidenced by the passengers' video recordings.

The Embraer ERJ-190 of Azerbaijan Airlines before the crash.

25.12.2024. Photo credits: Astra

The President of Azerbaijan stated that the plane was first disoriented by electronic warfare. At the same time, the tail section of the plane was seriously damaged by ground fire.

At the time the plane was shot down, Russian media published photos of expended upper stages of 57E6E anti-aircraft missiles of the Pantsir-S1 complex.

The appearance of these photos confirms the operation of these systems in the region at the time of the passenger plane's downing.

A total of 38 people died in the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane, including 7 Russians, 23 Azerbaijani citizens and 6 Kazakh citizens.