Posted on 03/17/2005 12:15:35 PM PST by Alex Marko
Ukraine has admitted that it exported 12 cruise missiles to Iran and six to China amid mounting pressure from other countries to explain how the sales occurred.
Svyatoslav Piskun, Ukraine's prosecutor- general, told the FT that 18 X-55 cruise missiles, also known as Kh-55s or AS-15s, were exported in 2001. Although none of the missiles was exported with the nuclear warheads they were designed to carry, Japan and the US say they are worried by what appears to have been a significant leak of technology from the former Soviet Union's nuclear arsenal.
The X-55 has a range of 3,000 km, enough to put Japan within striking range of the Asian continent or to reach Israel from Iran.
The US embassy in Kiev said it was "closely monitoring" the investigation and wanted the findings of a secret trial made public. The US is critical of European diplomatic efforts to prevent Iran developing nuclear weapons.
Japan fears it could be vulnerable to a nuclear strike from the Asian mainland if the Ukrainian missiles fall into Korean hands.
Kishichiro Amae, Japan's ambassador in Kiev, said he was hopeful that the new Ukrainian government, which took over in January, would explain the case but so far he had received no information.
Mr Amae said the new Ukrainian government had shown its readiness to investigate the previous government's misdemeanours when it indicted three high- ranking interior ministry officers this month for the murder in 2000 of journalist Georgy Gongadze. But he said the cruise missile case was more serious. "If it is handled in secrecy, the new government will lose the confidence of the world."
Mr Piskun's admission that Ukraine sold the missiles is the first confirmation by a government official that the exports occurred. The case was made public last month by a member of Ukraine's parliament, whose account Mr Piskun largely confirmed.
The acquisition by Iran of cruise missiles, if proved, would heighten concerns about its nuclear weapons programme.
Mr Piskun said he understood Japan was concerned that the missiles delivered to China could have ended up in North Korea, although there were no grounds to suspect such a transfer.
Ukraine had about 1,000 of the missiles in its arsenal after the break-up of the Soviet Union.
Yes. Reread definition no. 2.
The problem is there isn't any delivery vehicle evidence left to analyize after a thermonuclear detonation.
Remember that the Ukraine sale was under the Russian puppet government, and the new government appears to be cleaning house.
good point. We will realize the implications of this if a nuke is ever smuggled into the US and detonated.
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/russia/bomber/as-15.htm
And we helped these people last winter for what reason? I do hope the policy changes sometime soon.
Depending on how they're programmed, they cruise between .48-.77 Mach (316 - 508mph at 40,000 feet). They can be stopped by conventional antiaircraft missiles and artillery, but they can come in at low levels, below the radar detection threshold - which means that in general you either get lucky and someone eyeballs them first who has the ability to do something about it, or the first you hear about them is when they arrive at their destination. The disadvantage is that they take hours to get anywhere and if some sharp patrol aircraft (hello AWACS) sees them, there is usually time to shoot them down, and they're so slow that a guy with a rifle can bring them down if they're on the deck. To prevent this sort of thing, stealth technology is being applied to cruise missiles to reduce the chances of them getting spotted.
ICBMs (and other purely ballistic missiles) on the other hand, can carry a heavier payload and have a lower flight time (10-20 minutes). The disadvantage is that there is no surprise when you launch an ICBM - the moment it lifts off, it's clearly obvious what it is and that it's been launched (thanks to the dozens of ballistic launch detection sats in orbit) as well as where it came from. Until recently, it didn't matter, because there was no known proven way to shoot down an ICBM and the only "solution" was MAD. That's not the case any more. There is no such thing as a stealth ICBM. (There are stealth MIRV units, but that's another story.)
Glasnost, Part Deux
Hopefully the Phalcon will be circling!
Exactly.
"And we helped these people last winter for what reason?"
Which people ?
Why would we want to eliminate the people that eliminated those that sold the missles? Did you miss the Orange Revolution?
We helped them replace the people who sold the weapons. You want to change that policy???
ping
Yeah, I'd count on that being true. /sarcasm
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