Posted on 07/19/2007 12:13:43 PM PDT by VRWCmember
TAMPA, Fla. -- A Patriot missile with its guidance system and rocket motor was found in a Tampa scrap metal yard, according to authorities. Explosives experts at MacDill Air Force Base were called to the scrap yard on July 11 to identify an odd-looking object in a heap of junk.
The experts said the object was a surface-to-air missile, minus its warhead -- so it's harmless.
They say it appeared to be a training model, and still had its rocket motor and guidance system.
What the experts don't know is how the missile ended up in the scrap yard.
Maybe somebody put a scud in that scrapyard earlier.
Ebay!
Somebody’s got a heap of ‘splainin to do!........
bttt
Disposal contract with one of Tony Soprano’s companies?
If it actually has the “rocket motor” than it certainly isn’t harmless. And I’m sure the ChiComs, Russians, and Iranians would love to learn any details Clinton didn’t already sell them.
Even a “training” missile with a rocket motor and guidance system is pretty expensive (several million $), and the rocket motor is definitely very dangerous. If it were a “used” test vehicle it would not be very likely that it would still be intact.
The good news is that if it was an old Raytheon Patriot missile rather than the newer Lockheed Martin PAC-3, it has little value other than as a target round in a PAC-3 intercept test.
Probably just some terrorist cell got a better model, and didn't need the old launcher.
Missle is one of the most commonly misspelled words when it appears. But then, words that appear in headlines in front of the eyes of 5 million critical viewers around the world are often misspelled.
I would like to think hardware such as this would have an extensive audit trail starting when it was manufactured and ending when it was scrapped or destroyed.
Finding out how it got to a civilian scrap yard should be trivial. If not then there is bigger problem than a stray missile.
that where the Iranians who were studying it decided to put it
Maybe it fell out of the sky...
Interesting. I didn’t even notice the misspelling when I copied and pasted it from the Local6 website.
I can never not notice since I heard one of the other kids in computer class pronounce it missile with a long i in -ile like while. Same for fissile.
Training rounds have inert motors. It should be obvious to an “expert”, for instance it may have a blue square on the side or some other designation.
missal |ˈmisəl|
noun
a book containing the texts used in the Catholic Mass throughout the year. ORIGIN Middle English : from medieval Latin missale, neuter of ecclesiastical Latin missalis ‘relating to the Mass,’ from missa ‘Mass.’
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