From another one of the several lists I'm on, I figured someone might know who the new pseudo-proud owner of a fully-operational SS-1C Scud missle *WITH* moblie launcher is...
Cheers! William Knowles erehwon@dis.org Intelligence, N. 86, 5 October 1998, p. 12 USA THE SCUD THAT DIDN'T GET AWAY At "Intelligence", we're taking bets that you won't hear about the unidentified British firm which used an unnamed British freighter to import a fully-operational SS-1C Scud missile -- complete with launcher, but missing its warhead -- into the United States. According to a 25 September report in the "Washington Times", special investigators from HM Customs and Excise have been asked to determine how paperwork sent with the system came to be falsified, but they're probably going to run into ... the Pentagon because the Scud missile and its mobile transporter-erector launcher were seized on 2 September by the US Customs Service at Port Hueneme, California, about 56 km. north of Los Angeles and ... next door to the US Navy Point Mugu Pacific Missile Range, and ... the closest military port to the Vandenburg US Air Force Base where all classified US military launches take place. The Russian-designed, Czech-manufactured missile system was licensed for importation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), but ... it was wrongly described. Although addressed to a wealthy -- but so far unnamed (and bets are he will never be named) -- US citizen, who is regarded as a bona fide weapons collector rather than an arms dealer, the missile system had not been made inoperable as required by import rules. This is, of course, of interest to the Pentagon. "This is a full-blown missile," stated John Hensley, a senior agent of US Customs Service in Los Angeles. "The only thing missing is the warhead." The launch chassis is a MAZ-543 truck, commonly used by former Soviet and Warsaw Pact forces. "The guidance system was totally intact and the engine was ready to go," Mr. Hensley said. "All you needed to do was strap on a garbage can full of C-4 high-explosive and you had a weapon." The guidance system and engine would, of course, be of intense interest to Pentagon intelligence, and the Israeli Mossad, particularly if the weapon is a later date or recent model. Hensley said the buyer, who lives in Palo Alto, had previously purchased a Scud missile that had been properly demilitarized. Under US law, such weapons may be imported, provided they are first cut up with a blowtorch so that they can never be reassembled. But in this case, in an effort to fool customs officials, a photograph of the first -- cut up -- missile to be imported was attached to the illegal -- intact -- system, which was seized on 2 September. If the "buyer" really wanted his missile, then the San Francisco Bay, which Palo Alto overlooks, is a much better port of entry. Bets at "Intelligence" are also out on the "buyer" being associated with the military- funded Stanford Research Institute (SRI) or similar Pentagon- dependent firms in nearby Silicon Valley. COMMENT -- The SS-1C Scud is a liquid-fueled missile which is among the most widely deployed weapons in the world. It is in service in 16 nations. Iraq's military forces were able to extend the range of the missile ("with baling wire and plywood", according to certain specialists), and used it extensively during the 1991 Gulf war. International transfers of such missiles, which normally have a range of 300 km., are banned under the Missile Technology Control Regime. Although the major media suggested the seizure would embarrass the Clinton administration, currently engaged in a major international diplomatic effort to halt exports of weapons of mass destruction and missile-delivery systems by Russia and China to the Middle East, it would seem more likely that the affair will "drag out indefinitely" in a California court, unless an appropriate "buyer" can be "sacrificed" publicly. --------------------------------------------- Olivier Schmidt, Editor of "Intelligence" <oschmidt@francenet.fr>