Missile Plot - Briton Arrested on Suspicion of Planning to Smuggle Missile Into U.S

ABC News ^ | 8/12/03

[areafiftyone]

A British citizen has been arrested on suspicion of being involved in a plot to smuggle surface-to-air missiles into the United States, ABCNEWS has learned.

The man was arrested in Newark, N.J., this morning as part of an international sting pulled off by the FBI, British and Russian authorities. Other arrests are under way.

The person arrested allegedly sought to smuggle a Russian-made surface-to-air missile into the country and believed he was selling missiles to would-be terrorists, sources said. The name of the person has not been disclosed

[AdamSelene235]

Heated metal - e.g. the tungsten in a lamp filament - radiates in a particular spectrum. So I'd bet there is some filter that is tuned for hot aluminum in the seeker. It could be outside the IR spectrum, of course, otherwise lightbulbs would be IR and you would not see hot metals of any kind glow.

Many lightbulbs have their peaks outside the range of human vision. ~1.3 um is not uncommon.

Blackbody curves are rather broad. Most heatseakers work in several high atmospheric transmission windows in the mid-IR . ~ 2-5 um.

Oh, and the material doesn't matter, hot AL and hot steel look pretty similiar.

[AdamSelene235]

The 9M313 missile of the SA-16 employs an IR guidance system using proportional convergence logic, and an improved two-color seeker, presumably IR and UV).

Unlikely to be UV. More likely 2 mid-IR high atmospheric transmission windows.

[CyberAnt]

After 4000 years of ingrained hatred - it will never be over until Jesus returns.

[Euro-American Scum]

Reporting that the arms dealer might be connected to the Indian underworld.

Bought and paid for by all those dollars they're making by offshoring U.S. technology, no doubt.

[King Prout]

I understand your doubts.
It is hard to believe that anyone'd be so superstitious these days as to believe that contact with pigs would damn them to Hell.
However... We ARE after all talking about the same supertitious idiots who believe that blowing themselves up in the midst of "enemy" civilians will automatically land them permanently neck-deep in p(censored) in the Pearly Gates Bordello.
*shrugging*
Blackjack Pershing found pork to be an effective moral weapon.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thanks for the ping! This thread w/ Freeper additions is far more informative than the original.

Did the BBC reporter sound 'concerned' or 'saddened'?

Was that meanspirited? Oops!

[xm177e2]

...and I wonder why....hmmmmmmm....could it be.....Muhammad al Mooselim?

There are white non-Muslims willing to sell weapons to Muslim terrorists. He doesn't have to be an Arab Muslim to be a terrorist.

[NordP]

"They said the plot involved a plan to kill the Preseident by shooting down Air Force One. Unfortunately for the British arms dealer his "arab" contact turned out to be an FBI agent."

Thank goodness this plot was discovered.

THANK YOU TO ALL INVOLVED!!!

[Mo1]

That things can do a heck of a lot of damage .. thanks for the link

[mewzilla]

FWIW, Brian Ross said tonight on ABC news that the dealer got a real Igla with an inert warhead. If the story being put out for public consumption is true, they had the dealer and his money men under surveillance the whole time. So they've not only gotten the dealer, but the pipeline for his ill-gotten gains, too, and the latter especially could be a real windfall.

[gaspar]

Wasn't the old Redeye Missile based on infra-red homing? It was followed by the Stinger, which I recall [perhaps incorrectly] was heat-seeking.

[Mo1]

So they've not only gotten the dealer, but the pipeline for his ill-gotten gains, too, and the latter especially could be a real windfall.

If true, that would be good news

[Quick1]

Once again, the gun-grabbers try to take away our right to defend ourselves with Surface to Air missiles!

;)

[Leroy S. Mort]

Gotta love this line from the ABC story:

"Surface-to-air missiles cannot reach aircraft once they are airborne, Clarke said."

Gee..who knew....?

[Bill Davis FR]

his name is mohammand madullah...

[meyer]

Air Force One has pretty sophisticated anti-missile countermeasures. It's probably more likely that they were targetting commercial airliners.

Not only that but its takeoff/landing zones are much more heavily protected.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[ladyinred]

Try shooting down Air Force One, and the terrorists would have to deal with a Dose Jihad!!

I'm with you Miss Marple, let us at them!