Posted on 03/21/2005 9:19:21 AM PST by conservativecorner
Thanks for the article because it helps to explain much. The info in quotes says all that needs to be said concerning the possession of Kh-55 missiles in the hands of Iran. The bold parts are especially worrisome.
Perhaps it was too long, or the fact that it appeared in the opposition (Yushenko's party) paper made it suspect. Here are a few more translations of Russian/Ukrainian articles.
These 'rocket secrets' are probably the tip of the iceberg - when a high-tech nation drops into third-world status, bad things happen.
Let me try and put this into perspective. Let's say we decide to attack Iran before they can fully go nuclear.
Chances are they already have enough uranium to pack all 12 of these missles with radioactive material, even without them being able to be detonated into a nuclear explosion.
Since these missles can be launched from the air, their air force could easily fly to the bottom tip of the Spain in the gulf and into range of NYC. When launched, those missles would reach NYC in 20 minutes, no time for an evacuation and no way to stop them, they are supersonic. They could also be used to attack all of our major bases in Iraqi with radioactive, biological or chemical material. THIS IS A BIG DEAL.
"o you for an instant think that even the Iranians are stupid enough to launch 12 cruise missiles at the United State and not expect the retaliation to be total and complete? We have the region on 24/7 AWACS surveillance and could spot such a launch and know exactly where it came from."
The terrorist supporting Mullahs have been stupid for a long time. I don't think they would pre-empt such an attack, but certainly they will use these weapons if/when we go to war with them. Iraqi had beat-up antiquated scuds, most of which fell many miles outside their intented targets. These missles are pin-point accurate gives Iran an extra set of aces up their sleeve.
1) As opposed to ballistic missiles, cruise missiles travel subsonically, so they would take a few hours to travel the 3000 miles, not 20 minutes.
2) If we attempt a pre-emptive strike on Iranian nuclear facilities you can bet the farm that we'd be closely watching any movement from their Air Force and they'd be lucky to get those birds off the ground let alone be able to fly them to the tip of the Iberian peninsula.
"2) If we attempt a pre-emptive strike on Iranian nuclear facilities you can bet the farm that we'd be closely watching any movement from their Air Force and they'd be lucky to get those birds off the ground let alone be able to fly them to the tip of the Iberian peninsula."
Good points.
This is wrong on so many levels. Let me try to put it in perspective.
First of all, the Kh-55 has a maximum speed of mach 0.75.
Second of all, They have a range of 250 KM, which is about 160 miles. So this mysterious Iranian aircraft would have to fly to within 160 miles of NYC before releasing it's deadly payload.
Third, the Debka article says that the Iranians were given material to make a dirty bomb along with the cruise missiles. Iran has a nuclear reactor and has more than enough of their own radioactive material to make a dirty bomb with, they don't need to import anybody else's nuclear waste.
This is series and hugh.
.
Here's your "big frigging deal":
Ukraine probes fate of nuclear arsenal
By Tom Warner in Kiev
Published: March 23 2005 02:00 | Last updated: March 23 2005 02:00
Ukraine is investigating what became of its cold war nuclear arsenal in response to revelations that at least 18 unloaded cruise missiles were smuggled to Iran and China in 2001.
Petro Poroshenko, secretary of Ukraine's National Security Council, said he had ordered the Defence Ministry and SBU secret police to make a full account of the arsenal, which was supposed to have been destroyed or transferred to Russia after the break-up of the Soviet Union.
Mr Poroshenko also promised an "objective, unprejudiced and transparent" investigation of the smuggling case and a review and strengthening of arms-export controls "in order to rule out any recurrence".
However, he said it was up to the judge to decide whether to lift a secrecy order on the trial of one of the smuggling suspects.
Two men were arrested and accused of smuggling the missiles last year, but the case was kept secret until after the pro-western government of Viktor Yushchenko took power in January. One of the men, Russian businessman Oleg Orlov, was arrested last July in the Czech Republic, where he is being held in prison pending a hearing on Ukraine's extradition request.
Mr Poroshenko stressed that the missile sales were not official policy. "We're not talking about a crime carried out by the state of Ukraine. There's no evidence that this sale was sanctioned," he said.
Kishichiro Amae, Japan's ambassador to Ukraine, said the case was "stunning" because he thought Ukraine had completely disposed of its former nuclear arsenal. The only known exceptions were a well monitored programme in which inter-continental ballistic missiles were converted into commercial satellite launch vehicles and a small number of missiles turned into museum pieces.
The X-55s missiles allegedly exported to Iran and China are considered particularly dangerous because they can fly up to 3,000km and avoid detection by most radar. They were designed to carry a 200-kiloton nuclear warhead. These were stripped out and handed over to Russia years before the smuggling incident, according to Ukraine's prosecutor general.
The X-55 has been converted to carry conventional warheads by Russia but most nuclear bombs, especially primitive ones, would be too big for its payload.
A Defence Ministry spokesman said 483 X-55s had been destroyed under a US-funded disarmament programme but declined to say how many were in the arsenal Ukraine inherited from the Soviet Union or how many were left.
According to a member of the Ukrainian parliament who first publicised the case last month, the Defence Ministry reported that it had destroyed the missiles but had actually turned them over to the state arms export company, which sold them to the smugglers.
Ukrainian specialists were sent to Iran to help install the missiles, according to the MP.
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2,000 miles in 20 minutes, 6,000 mph. Wow!
The X-55 has been converted to carry conventional warheads by Russia but most nuclear bombs, especially primitive ones, would be too big for its payload.
Again, big friggin' deal. Fry Orlov and anybody else involved with the sale, but they sold outmoded, outdated, and unmaintained 20 year old cruise missiles, without warheads (thank God.) The warheads to fit inside this tiny missile were removed years ago, and even if Iran can build an atomic weapon, they can't build one small enough to fit into it.
But the W-88 warhead design is available to the Iranians who bought it from the Pakistanis who bought it from the North Koreans who stole it from the Chineese who stole it from the US. And that WILL most assuredly fit in a X-55.
Stinking Ayatollahs and Amadinejad are cruising for a bruising. The sooner the better as far as I'm concerned. Get rid of these Hitler wannabes early in the game
Iran has 12 cruise missiles.
How many does the U.S. have?
What's your point exactly?
A cruise missle is considered strategic???
What would you think my point would be?
Iran would be awfully stupid to pick a fight with a much more powerful country, that is my point.
Sorry it went over your head.
Note: this topic was posted 3/21/2005. Thanks conservativecorner.
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