Exclusive: U.S. Finds Radioactive Missiles in Iraq

NewsMax ^ | 3/9/04 | Charles R. Smith

[Blood of Tyrants]

Russian weapons designers added the uranium belt to the missile in order to knock-out western aircraft using the dense metal as a way to punch through heavily armored sections of U.S. made jets.

A "heavily armored" jet? Heavily armored and jet are mutually exclusive because of weight restrictions. It takes a relatively small explosion to bring down a jet. Something doesn't jive here.

[Frank_Discussion]

I believe this would be a reference to fighter jets, and yes, they are armored.

[Blood of Tyrants]

As far as I know, the cockpits are the only armored sections, and not all of them are.

[Blood of Tyrants]

P.S. So knowing that pilots took longer to train than it did to build an aircraft, could the idea have been to kill the pilot so he couldn't eject and mount up in another jet?

[BadAndy]

"A "heavily armored" jet? Heavily armored and jet are mutually exclusive because of weight restrictions. It takes a relatively small explosion to bring down a jet. Something doesn't jive here."


Don't forget the A-10 is armored since it flies low and slow.

[PISANO]

This makes little sense. Why would an air to air missile be radioactive. Then again what difference does it make. The rat hole idiot lost BILLIONS of dollars, many mega-castles, complete authority over 25 million people, and a dictatorship just because he would not provide documentation showing, WHAT EVERYONE NOW SAY IS A FACT, that he destroyed his WMD.

[DAPFE8900]

The radioactive sign doesnt mean it iss a smoking gun it means that it has radar that emit rads to like a nuke...

[DAPFE8900]

The radioactive sign doesnt mean it iss a smoking gun it means that it has radar that emit rads to like a nuke...

[HenryLeeII]

The discovery is not, however, considered the long-sought "smoking gun" of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

The missiles appear to be part of a cache of weapons supplied to Iraq before the 1991 Gulf War.

Ummm, since when did the acquisition date become a criteria for the Iraq invasion? I don't care if Hussein acquired these missiles on the day of the Resurrection! If he possessed them at any time that the 1991 cease fire agreements were in effect, he was in violation of them and countless U.N. agreements. Result: Bush is still correct in his decision to invade, but now with even more evidence to back him up. I'll be sure to tune into Rather's broadcast tonight for a fair & balanced report on this development!!!

[snooker]

It makes no sense to me either.

But just suppose you fired a half dozen of these into NYC. What would be the consequences?

Something smells funny.

[JasonC]

Think A-10. Those are heavily armored, to withstand ground fire up to 23mm AA. This sounds like a uranium metal liner for a HEAT warhead. HEAT channels an explosive jet to direct a stream of molten metal at the plate the warhead strikes. A denser metal makes a better "cutting tool" than a less dense one. Tungsten, lead, or uranium will all serve. (Why use uranium? Gets rid of nuclear reactor fuel byproducts). This is not a radiological weapon, dirty or otherwise. It is a conventional air to air heat seeking missile, the Russian version of the AIM-9 Sidewinder, that uses uranium for its properties as a dense metal in its HEAT warhead design.

[JasonC]

6 small holes in whatever they hit, and I do mean "whatever" they hit. Using a very dense metal helps penetrating power, that is all.

[snooker]

I agree the hole wouldn't be big. But you don't think splattering radio active material on the streets of NYC would be a problem? Terror is terror.

Maybe we could arrange an impact of one of these in highball Teddy's driveway. Just tell him to cover the hole and move on. Somehow I doubt he would be willing to go home.

[newgeezer]

After they posted the fake "AP" Kerry-Fonda pic as real, I don't trust NewsMax to tell me the going price for a bushel of beans, much less something important. If I want to read a trashy tabloid, it might as well be the National Enquirer.

[Bluntpoint]

I will have you know that Newsmax hires the best 9th grade journalist students to watch the news cable channels in their teachers' lounges and they pretty much write verbatim what is already reported. As long as it is pro-repub and anti-dem.

[Final Authority]

For years transport aircraft used uranium to affect fine balance determined in flight testing. It was depleted though but still radioactive. The only reason uranium would be used in a weapon such as the air to air missile is to enhance the kinetic properties of the device. It would make no sense at all to have enriched or even waste grade material as the users would suffer more consequences over time than any enemy. I suspect it is DU. As we have learned over the years, journalists are not very sophisticated with respect to reporting the details of any technical story and to a journalist, uranium is uranium, I suspect.

[FairOpinion]

"Each carries 1.6 kilograms or about 3.5 pounds of radioactive uranium wrapped around a high explosive warhead. "

===


Just exactly why doesn't this count as WMD???

Why isn't this leading story on all the news channels?

Why don't we see the Dems apologizing to Bush???

Yes, these were just rethorical questions.

[Dead Dog]

That's why I looked this up. I think it's pretty clear that the Uranium in this missile is simply an over glorified fragmentation grenade/pipe bomb.

[wildbill]

I wonder how close is the comparison to our depleted uranium anti-tank ammunition.

[finnman69]

I never heard of UNdepleted uranium warheads before.