Ukrainian missiles 'gone missing'

[0rion]

Ukrainian Defence Minister Yevhen Marchuk has said that several hundred of his country's missiles are unaccounted for.

The weapons were supposed to have been decommissioned in the years that followed the break-up of the USSR.

But it is now being claimed that there is no record of them being destroyed.

Ukrainian missiles 'gone missing'

[mikey_1962]

1. Perfect....just f'ing perfect

[Tempest]

2. You can thank Bush for this

Bush cut funding for the destruction of the missiles to almost nothing when he took office.

[Chicago Democrat]

3. If one of them hits us from Al Queda who do we blow up?

Kiev

[Chicago Democrat]

4. Ukraine needs to be "motivated" to "find" them

Seriously folks.

[Nevernose]

15. Someone with brown skin

Afghanistan would be a good start, since that's where Al-Qaeda is located, but why stop there? Why not Venezuela? Plenty of brown-skinned people there to kill, right? What difference does it make who we butcher, as long as the people we're butchering are less white than we are?

[Chicago Democrat]

19. Please. I am not a fan of nuclear retaliation and NO RACIST

But nuclear deterance is a reality and actually the only thing that allowed your birth and mine. I love the A- BOMB. Why? Because we have it, so we need not fear it. Nuclear deterance works, almost perfectly.

Its amazing. Its a miracle. It is a truth that requires pondering.

[Sandpiper]

25. Ever heard of MAD?

We start lobbing nukes and you can bet your ass we'll get them lobbed right back at us.

[ConcernedCanuk]

5. "it inherited a huge arsenal of weapons" - hmm - disturbing I'd say !

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Couldn't get the above link to work, found another one

So, someone wouldn't have just sold these things for a wee bit of cash, no ?

Ukraine is still dealing with the legacy of the Cold War


And, Bet ur ass that the Ukraine isn't the only place where missiles are "missing"

Chances are noone knows how many missiles there are, and who has them.

Lets sorta pray we never find out?

. . :shrug: . .

[htuttle]

6. You know, we used to have a spy network that watched this sort of thing..

...until BushCo decided that trying to score a few political points was more important.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[daleo]

8. Which year in the 90's?

Perhaps you can elaborate.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[tkmorris]

9. "Blame Clinton"

*check*

[Nevernose]

17. But it IS Clinton's fault

How can you not deny that he had sexual relations outside of marriage? Clinton received fellatio from someone other than his wife -- who can, therefore, deny that William Clinton is responsible for all evil in the world?

[0007]

22. Someone polished Top Dog's missile and then swung with

the evidence.

[bpilgrim]

10. till the neoCONs nocked off CIA agent Valerie Plame

who was actively working with a team on just such a program.

the 'war on terror' is a scam

peace

[NNN0LHI]

11. Just because they are unaccounted for doesn't mean Osama has them

We lose shit every day. Stuff gets misplaced. They gets used in training and doesn't get noted as such. Lot of reasons.

Don

[JohnOneillsMemory]

12. Another case of bad bookkeeping like Saddam's WMD? Or another

concerted effort to sell 'Stars Wars' weaponizing of space?

[Chicago Democrat]

13. A missile is the size of a 5 story building? and contains

super volitale and highly radioactive material. They cannot be "lost". This story is highly suspect and highly disturbing.

[whoopitup]

24. lost nukes

Yea this sounds alot like a "back off of the Iraqi oil for food scam" thing to me.It is definately part and parcel to the Ukraine/Russian M.O.

[Nyati13]

14. No warheads

It is just the missile body that is "misplaced". The warheads were all accounted for, and turned over to the Russians years ago.

Jeremy

[Chicago Democrat]

18. Thanks for clarifying, really... the truth is bad enough!

We don't need radical based half-truths.

[Chicago Democrat]

20. Wow 1st post! Welcome!

:)

[keithyboy]

16. This is one of the most dangerous outcomes of the breakup of USSR

Most of the former sattelites have these WMDs and most are unaccounted for. That's why the "speedy" break up of the USSR without proper social, economic, and security systems in place was very unwise. It is never spoken of much because the US wants to be seen as the victor of the 'cold war' but the ramifications of the destablizing and reckless way in which the USSR was shredded have yet to be fully realized or understood. The dangers are present and some have manifested in Bosnia, Kosovo, etc. There is much more to come.

[Zech Marquis]

21. which type of missiles? cruise? short range? ICBMs..?

the question not being asked is,"what type of warhead did these missiles have" :scared: Not good news at all, given that the Ukraine was a major, major location for Soviet nuclear systems...

[truthisfreedom]

26. yeah... exactly what kind of missles? hand-held surfact-to-air launchers?

nukes? what?

[Nyati13]

27. Surface to Air

I just saw on MSNBC.com that it is a very old stock of SA-2 surface to air missiles. So, no big deal.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4607950/

Jeremy

[NickB79]

28. Yeah, no big deal

Until one is used to bring down a commercial airliner or another US helicopter in Iraq. Just because they're old doesn't mean they can't still bring down an aircraft if the range is close and the aircraft doesnt have any countermeasures.

[Narf]

31. They are NOT portable or shoulder fired...they're BIG missiles

They need launchers, prepared launch sites, radars, generators, and all sorts of people to make them work. No one is gonna sneak one anywhere.

[NickB79]

33. My bad, confused them with the shoulder-fired SA-7's

Thanks for the info.

[Narf]

35. No problem

[ConcernedCanuk]

29. NO big deal, hmm they take out tarkets 12 miles UP ?

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"The missiles entered service with the Soviet air defense troops in 1957. Able to shoot down targets at altitudes up to 12 1/2 miles, they have been sold to a large number of nations around the world.

It was the same type of missile that brought down a U.S. U-2 spy plane over the Ural Mountains in 1960. Its pilot, Francis Gary Powers, bailed out safely, but was captured, convicted as a spy, and held for almost two years until being traded for a KGB agent.

The S-75s played a prominent role in the Vietnam war, Mideast conflicts, and, most recently, were used in wars in Yugoslavia and Iraq "

LINK

And sorry if I'm a wee bit cynical,

but I wouldn't bet my ass that all those warheads don't exist anymore . .

[Narf]

32. The warhead is 200kg of high explosives.

Terrorists, or anyone else for that matter, can get 200kg of high explosives a lot cheaper, and of higher quality, than from an old, decomissioned Ukrainian SAM.

[Narf]

30. The missing missiles have a range of 27 miles and they're NOT nukes!

at least not according to the Ukrainians. This article says: "Defense Ministry spokesman Kostyantyn Khivrenko told The Associated Press that he was referring to S-75 air defense missiles — also known in the West by the code-name SA-2." An SA-2 is an anti-aircraft missile that requires a large support system of launchers, radars, and other associated hardware to make it functional. Hardly a usefull weapon for a terrorist. These missiles were most likely stripped down for any valuable parts/metals and sold on the black market by their crews.

[ConcernedCanuk]

34. Who knows what they've upgraded them to in over 40 years?

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Even guidance systems can be upgraded ?

And from another source:

Warhead (type)


HE 200kg (295kg SA-2E) 188kg (HQ-2B/F/J/P),
possible nuclear

http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/russia/airdef/v-75.htm
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also, another source indicates:

" Its maximum range is about 70 miles on a target at 15,000 feet."

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/vietnam/469th/p12.htm

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Regardless: missiles unaccounted for is a wee bit disturbing

[Narf]

36. True, but...

Without the launcher, the radars, and the guidance equipment the missile is a big firecracker and not worth much at all. So, even if they HAD a functional missile AND a nuclear warhead (Ukraine claims all nuclear warheads accounted for and shipped to Russia in the early '90s) they'd still have to get pretty darn close to the target to hit anything at all.

[0rion]

37. Didn't they lose a bunch of warheads too and like 52Kg of enriched...

uranium?