Pentagon Data Suggests Jet Didn't Explode: New York Times

[jakeXT]

"Preliminary surveillance data" examined by the Pentagon suggests the missing Malaysia Airlines jet did not explode over the South China Sea, according to The New York Times.

The newspaper cited a U.S. government official who spoke on the condition of anonymity as suggesting "a system that looks for flashes around the world" had not identified any sign of a blast. NBC News could not immediately confirm the report.
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/missing-jet/pentagon-data-suggests-jet-didnt-explode-new-york-times-n48186

Using a system that looks for flashes around the world, the Pentagon reviewed preliminary surveillance data from the area where the plane disappeared and saw no evidence of an explosion, said an American government official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the subject matter is classified. A team of aviation experts led by the National Transportation Safety Board was on its way to the area.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/09/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-flight.html?_r=0

They sound pretty confident over there, although I imagine a jet could still explode without emitting a flash
And I wonder about the resolution.

[Swede Atlanta]

1. It could explode if it were a pure pressure explosion without a flash but......

most explosions will result in some kind of a flash AND this airplane was full of fuel to support 7.5 hours of flying for a 777. There was a lot of fuel onboard.

[grasswire]

2. who knew this technology existed?

Amazing.

[jakeXT]

3. The Russians nearly started WWIII,because they thought the reflect. of the sun was a missile launch

Petrov said the investigators tried to make him a scapegoat for the false alarm. In the end, he was neither punished nor rewarded. According to Petrov and other sources, the false alarm was eventually traced to the satellite, which picked up the sun's reflection off the tops of clouds and mistook it for a missile launch. The computer program that was supposed to filter out such information was rewritten.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/coldwar/shatter021099b.htm

[Nay]

4. Wouldn't this mean that the plane probably had a catastrophic failure

that broke it up at 35,000 feet without an explosion? But if that happened, why didn't the radar pick up the chaff of all the pieces falling into the ocean? The radar folks mentioned that they could see that if the plane broke up, but chaff was not seen at the time the plane disappeared from the radar screen.

It's just so weird.