Posted on 11/09/2010 8:05:31 AM PST by Gennie
(CBS) A mysterious missile launch off the southern California coast was caught by CBS affiliate KCBS's cameras Monday night, and officials are staying tight-lipped over the nature of the projectile.
CBS station KFMB put in calls to the Navy and Air Force Monday night about the striking launch off the coast of Los Angeles, which was easily visible from the coast, but the military has said nothing about the launch.
KFMB showed video of the apparent missile to former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Robert Ellsworth, who is also a former Deputy Secretary of Defense, to get his thoughts.
Scroll down for KFMB video showing the launch.
Video here
"It's spectacular… It takes people's breath away," said Ellsworth, calling the projectile, "a big missile".
Magnificent images were captured by the KCBS news helicopter in L.A. around sunset Monday evening. The location of the missile was about 35 miles out to sea, west of L.A. and north of Catalina Island.
A Navy spokesperson told KFMB it wasn't their missile. He said there was no Navy activity reported in the area Monday evening.
On Friday night, Vandenberg Air Force Base, in California, launched a Delta II rocket, carrying an Italian satellite into orbit, but a sergeant at the base told KFMB there had been no launches since then.
Ellsworth urged American to wait for definitive answers to come from the military.
When asked, however, what he thought it might be, the former ambassador said it could possibly have been a missile test timed as a demonstration of American military might as President Obama tours Asia.
"It could be a test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile from a submarine … to demonstrate, mainly to Asia, that we can do that," speculated Ellsworth.
Ellsworth said such tests were carried out in the Atlantic to demonstrate America's power to the Soviets, when there was a Soviet Union, but he doesn't believe an ICBM has previously been tested by the U.S. over the Pacific.
Officially, at least, the projectile remains a mystery missile.
"We don't know what it was, but we know who didn't launch it"
Sorry, don't buy that one w/o an explanation of what it was. Rush seems to think it's a Chicom SLBM. Pretty serious provocation, if so.
I noted that in a later post. Perhaps they are trying to keep the area clear while searching for the remains of the missile.
Somebody at the Pentagon better figure out WTH this is, and pronto.
LOL!! Great explanation!
Another possibility - Chinese or Indians showing they can do SLBM launches, and they can do it from 35 miles off our own coast, and they can do it without being detected prior to launch. Were this a muslim group with this capability, the headline on Drudge would have been “Los Angeles Destroyed by Nuclear Missile Lauched off of US West Coast.”
There is no doubt what this was....
The extreme scary thing here is, the Pentagon's denial of any knowledge in this matter or who might have launched it.
I find this entire event and the Pentagon's comments hard to believe and to be honest, very disturbing.
did a submarine get the date or time wrong??
Crap. Dates like “11/9” or “11-11” may be significant to AQ or other b@$t@rds.You do realize, that using UTC time (GMT or Greenwhich Mean Time) it *was* already 11-9-2010 ...
Ret. Navy Capt. Nash is on Fox News saying the government knows exactly what happened..they are just trying to figure out how in the hell they are going to explain it in words.
“This missile we lob to sea, next missile to your land in celebrate QE2!”
yep
I amend my previous statement. There was no Atlas IV.
I saw this:
The Atlas III made its sixth and last flight on February 3, 2005, with a classified payload for the United States National Reconnaissance Office.
“We’re not concerned though, no increased activity, no DEFCON 3, probably just kids...”
Restless youth, specifically.
Alex Jones and his people have to be on high alert right now.
The U.S. Navy would launch a large missile near the coast and without clearing or closing the airspace for ANY reason other than WARTIME?
I believe the missile attains a certain altitude before adjusting and heading off on its main trajectory.
That doesn’t sound good at all..
Now what the Hell does that mean????
A traffic helecopter 35 miles west of Los Angeles, over the Pacific ocean. (I assume you forgot the sarcasm tag.)
Mythbusters finally got that Confederate rocket to work!!
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