A report posted today at a CNN website claims the "mystery missile launch" on Monday was actually a Chinese missile test. According to the report:Posted on 11/12/2010 7:02:24 PM PST by Korah
A report posted today at a CNN website claims the "mystery missile launch" on Monday was actually a Chinese missile test. According to the report:
China flexed its military muscle Monday evening in the skies west of Los Angeles when a Chinese Navy Jin class ballistic missile nuclear submarine, deployed secretly from its underground home base on the south coast of Hainan island, launched an intercontinental ballistic missile from international waters off the southern California coast. WMR’s intelligence sources in Asia, including Japan, say the belief by the military commands in Asia and the intelligence services is that the Chinese decided to demonstrate to the United States its capabilities on the eve of the G-20 Summit in Seoul and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Tokyo, where President Obama is scheduled to attend during his ten-day trip to Asia.
However, the report - placed on CNN's user-generated iReport site - has yet to be vetted or confirmed by CNN, and is full of un-named, unquoted sources. The only link provided goes to a site with basically the same report - again, with no corroboration.
The source of the report is one Wayne Madsen, who once claimed Wikileaks was a CIA operation, and that Al-Qaeda was a front for the military-industrial complex.
No other news organization is reporting the incident as part of a Chinese missile test at this time.
A much less sinister explanation is provided by a site called "Contrail Science".
According to a report at that site, the CBS camera crew probably captured Flight AWE808 from Hawaii to Phoenix, and the perspective of the the viewer made the contrail appear to be a ballistic missile being launched, possibly, from a submarine.
The site reports a very similar incident:
An interesting contrail cropped up off the coast of San Clemente, Orange County, California on December 31st 2009. The curious shape led.......
There were plenty of observations. Even posted to the CBS story blog that started the whole event. We also have a second amateur video that appears to be the same event.
Except for that NOTAM thing from 12:00 PST to 5:00 PST.
Many very interesting posts there. I am only part way through them. They seem to have established that there was a NOTAM at that time not just afterwards as others have said.
(post #8) JG says:
November 9, 2010 at 6:41 pm
A Notam was put out for that area for 20:00 yesterday.NOTAM for LA. KZLA LOS ANGELES A2832/10 – THE FOLLOWING RESTRICTIONS ARE REQUIRED DUE TO NAVAL AIR WARFARE CENTER WEAPONS DIVISION ACTIVATION OF W537. IN THE INTEREST OF SAFETY, ALL NON-PARTICIPATING PILOTS ARE ADVISED TO AVOID W537. IFR TRAFFIC UNDER ATC JURISDICTION SHOULD ANTICIPATE CLEARANCE AROUND W537 AND CAE 1176. CAE 1155 WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE FOR OCEANIC TRANSITION. CAE 1316 & CAE 1318 WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE FOR OCEANIC TRANSITION. CAE 1177 WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR OCEANIC TRANSITION. W537 ACTIVE, CAE 1176 CLOSED. SURFACE – FL390, 09 NOV 20:00 2010 UNTIL 10 NOV 01:00 2010. CREATED: 08 NOV 20:52 2010
Those times are UTC so by PST the NOTAM was on from 12:00 PST to 5:00 PST. It ended about the time the video was made.
>>An object moving away at great speed would be far more challenging to capture even with a pro-camera designed for shooting long distance.<<
The camera does not care if the object is moving towards you or away. It only cares about relative two dimensional (x/y axis) speed. And at the distance being photographed, it is at an “infinity” focus whether it is the airplane coming at him or the rocket going away from him.
IOW, it is irrelevant.
He said it was moving northwest away from him not east. Stop changing the facts.
>>You said you would “see the same thing with the sun seen through haze.” <<
Are you being intentionally obtuse? Do you think that by “same thing” I also meant you would see a round disk?
C’mon, I give you more credit than that.
I meant you would see the same effect. Whatever it looked like without the haze, it would look exactly the same, only darker, be it a darker sun, or a darker contrail. And because the sun is significantly brighter, of COURSE you will see areas of diminishing brightness AROUND the sun as the haze/clouds reflect the light.
Sometimes I feel like I am explaining the causes of the beauty of an earthly sunset to people who have only lived on a planet with no atmosphere.
Exactly right and in the video it appears faster in the beginning and slower at the end.
That's not what you said a few posts back.
>>How many feet would you estimate ?<<
I have no idea. The picture is too blurry to come up with anything that could be verifiable, even taking into account the length of the bright spot as it would relate to the length of flight 808. It is looking in the wrong place for “decisive evidence”.
>>Exactly right and in the video it appears faster in the beginning and slower at the end.<<
Due to zooming of the camera lens. That’s the problem - what is called “raw video” is NOT raw video. We don’t get any kind of prolonged view.
Are you being intentionally obtuse?
No, are you?
If the sun was behind that same haze, it, too, would be darker.
Except for that NOTAM thing.
No, I accounted for that. He zooms in and out at several points and it appears to move slower as it goes comparing only the same focal lengths. Anyone who really cares to know will examine the video and confirm that.
>>Except for that NOTAM thing.<<
I have no idea how that suggests a missile launch.
I’m hitting the sack myself, its after midnite here in Alaska.
But in a closing note, who says if this was a missile that it had to be launched from underwater or above the surface?
The F-15 has launched an anti satellite missile, and it does this in this same neck of the woods so to speak when they test it.
Just a thought to leave here on the forums. F-15 ASM-135 ASAT
I should have been more specific in my response:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/11/video-catches-mystery-missile-launching-near-l-a/
Lots of comments there, but, as was explained on one of our threads a couple days ago, one commenter points out:
“The Notam wasn’t in effect when the launch took place and it’s not the kind of Notam associated with missile launches and it appears the Notam is north of the reported missile launch location.”
It WAS north of this site. It is irrelevant.
>>No, are you?<<
No. On what evidence do you base your question?
:)
I was photographer for my high school newspaper and annual in 1970-1972 and have been a photo hobbyist ever since. I’ve spent a lot of time in darkrooms and even won a couple of small time photo prizes.
Once you get past a certain point it is all infinity. It doesn’t matter if the object is moving towards you or away from you, until it is actually time to refocus because the object is getting too close. Well, that and as it gets closer, especially if you are zooming in, the motion will be more amplified and it will be harder to keep the subject centered. If it is moving away it will get easier. Again, it is that x/y axis movement thing.
It’s the kind of NOTAM that keeps flight 808 out of that space. 12 noon to 5 PM. 808 is scheduled to be in that space at 4:45.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.