Norwegian rocket incident
The Norwegian rocket incident, also known as the Black Brant scare, occurred on January 25, 1995 when a team of
Background
The Norwegian rocket incident was a few minutes of post-Cold War nuclear tension that took place nearly four years after the end of the Cold War. While not as well known an incident as the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 (nor the 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident, which was still classified at the time), the 1995 incident is considered to be one of the most severe incidents. The 1995 incident happened quickly, and occurred at a time where many Russians, especially in the military, were still very suspicious of the United States and NATO. In contrast, the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 had a much longer build-up.[4]
Detection
As the Black Brant XII rocket gained altitude, it was detected by the
EMP missile scenario
One possibility was that the rocket had been a solitary missile with a radar-blocking
Post-staging
After
Response
This event resulted in a full alert being passed up through the military chain of command all the way to President Boris Yeltsin, who was notified and the "nuclear briefcase" used to authorize nuclear launch was automatically activated. Yeltsin activated his "nuclear keys" for the first time. No warning was issued to the Russian populace of any incident; it was reported in the news a week afterward.[4]
As a result of the alert, Russian submarine commanders were ordered to go into a state of combat readiness and prepare for nuclear retaliation.[1]
Soon thereafter, Russian observers were able to determine that the rocket was heading away from Russian airspace and was not a threat. The rocket fell to earth as planned, near Spitsbergen, 24 minutes after launch.[3][4]
The Norwegian rocket incident was the first and thus far only known incident where any
Prior notification
The Norwegian and American scientists had notified thirty countries, including Russia, of their intention to launch a high-altitude scientific experiment aboard a rocket; however, the information was not passed on to the radar technicians.[1] The launch was notified in good time to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, due to an error on the part of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the notification was never given to the Russian General Staff, or any part of the Russian military.[4] An anonymous Russian general later told the press that the wording of Norway's missile launch message to "notify the upcoming launch of a meteorological rocket to sea-farers" was taken too literally by Russian bureaucrats. "Foreign Ministry officials took a literal attitude toward that request: sailors knew of the event. Not the military."[3] Following the incident, notification and disclosure protocols were re-evaluated and redesigned.[1]
See also
- List of nuclear close calls
References
- ^ a b c d e EUCOM History Office (23 January 2012). "This Week in EUCOM History: January 23–29, 1995". United States European Command. Archived from the original on 5 January 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
- ^ a b Forden, Dr. Geoffrey (November 6, 2001). "False Alarms in the Nuclear Age". NOVA. Public Broadcasting System. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
- ^ ISBN 0-275-96643-7.
- ^ a b c d e Andreas Budalen; Dan Henrik Klausen (February 26, 2012). "Verden har aldri vært nærmere atomkrig" [The world has never been closer to nuclear war]. www.nrk.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 25 January 2023.
Further reading
- Forden, Geoffrey. "Reducing a Common Danger." Policy Analysis Paper (CATO #399, 2001) online
External links
- Hoffman, David (March 15, 1998). "Cold-War Doctrines Refuse to Die". The Washington Post. p. A01. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
- A Close Call, the Norwegian Rocket Incident
- False Alarms on the Nuclear Front
- This Day in History description of the event
