From a person related to one of the TWAers on that flight. Raytheon was testing a prototype surface to air interceptor missile. The Navy had Scud from the first Iraq War that they used as a target drone. The new missile's primary tracking system failed and it reverted to heat seeking. The closest heat source: 800.
It's funny that every time you see an image of the reconstructed aircraft in that NTSB hangar you only see essentially the fuselage. No nose or empennage and more importantly no wings or engines. They claim to have recovered over 90 percent of the aircraft. If the NTSB is using this as an effective learning tool for future accident investigators, then why don't they include everything that they've recovered. You need to study every minute piece of wreckage, right?
As far as the Navy cover up, there aren't too many windows on a missile frigate. Out of a crew of maybe 350, there were maybe a handful of eyes outside, i.e. the bridge? Everybody else is deep below deck in the CIC,powerplant etc. Just possibly, not too many people to keep quiet.
