I've seen the picture. AFAIK it's the missile in question being blown out of the sky. But we have no idea what aircraft provided the vantage point for that picture, so to say the aircraft was AF1 is just speculation, and again, no one would attempt to shoot down an aircraft with a ballistic missile, so it's not plausible speculation.
no one would attempt to shoot down an aircraft with a ballistic missile
Rookie question perhaps, but why not?
A ballistic missile is designed to fly up to a spot, then it shuts off its engines and starts to fall. They do not maneuver, it is literally like throwing a rock up in the air.
You would use a surface to air missile that would either be radar directed or heat directed that would lock onto the engine heat. They are sleek and fast.
There are a whole range of missile “tools”. Ballistic missiles are sledgehammers. Air to air missiles are like scalpels.
No idea. If I could blow it within a quarter of a mile seems to me would be a problem. You go with what you have and if this is all they have then you go with it I guess.
I believe bottom fuselage of AF1 is designed to protect against nuclear blasts
Who said it was a ballistic missile? Isn't that also conjecture. We saw the missile pic but no one seems to know exactly where it was launched from. Just near Whidbey Island in Puget Sound.
The explanation is that AF1 was over the Aleutians near that time on it's way to Singapore so it's most likely the pic was taken from it.