False missile alarms in world history
(Baonghean.vn) - In a row this week, the US and Japan have had false alarms about North Korean missile launches, scaring people. There have been many such false alarms in the past.
October 5, 1960, a false alarm was issued after the US early warning system in Greenland transmitted to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) that it had detected dozens of Soviet missiles headed towards the US.
NORAD then raised the alert level to maximum. However, US authorities later realized that their radar system had been fooled by the "Moonrise over Norway".
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| Hawaii residents panicked after receiving an emergency alert about a "fake" ballistic missile attack on January 13, 2018. |
November 9, 1979, computers at NORAD recorded a signal that the United States was being attacked by missiles launched from Soviet submarines. The US military quickly deployed 10 interceptor systems at three bases in the US and Canada. The missile bases were also placed on "low alert".
However, after six minutes of silence, satellite data confirmed that there had been no attack. US officials decided that no action was necessary. Investigators later discovered that a training video uploaded to NORAD's computer system was the cause of the false alert. A NORAD technician had accidentally uploaded it to the computer.
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| Soviet missile made in the 1960s. |
June 3, 1980,The computer system at NORAD sent out another warning of a nuclear attack. Mr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser to US President Jimmy Carter, received an urgent call informing him that 2,200 missiles were aimed at the US.
But not long after, he received another call, confirming that it was a false alarm. Authorities investigated and found that a faulty computer chip worth about 46 cents was the cause of the false alarm.
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| Inside NORAD in 1982. Photo: NYTimes. |
September 26, 1983, Stanislav Petrov, a lieutenant colonel in the Soviet Air Defense Forces, was on duty at a secret command center outside Moscow when an alarm sounded. The computer warned that five missiles had been launched from an American base.
After the information was passed on, Petrov's superiors gathered and considered whether to launch a counterattack. Electronic maps and lights kept flashing as he tried to gather information.
But after 5 minutes, the information about 5 American missiles aimed at the Soviet Union was confirmed to be false. The satellite mistook the sunlight reflecting off the clouds for a missile launch.
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| US President Ronald Reagan. |
August 11, 1984, US President Ronald Reagan was about to appear on his weekly Saturday live radio show. While waiting to go on air, Mr. Reagan joked that the US would "start bombing" the Soviet Union "in five minutes".
After President Reagan made such a statement, a low-ranking Soviet military official ordered forces in the Far East to be placed on high alert. But after 30 minutes, the alert was canceled because the Soviets finally realized it was just a joke.
