Ukraine disables much of Russia’s nuclear missiles A group of engineers from Ukrainian YuzhMash missile production factory that, back in the Soviet times, manufactured almost all Russia’s ICBMs, claimed that it managed to execute code that prevents the rockets from launching. This essentially strips Russia of its nuclear superpower status, at least temporarily. The codes were originally introduced to prevent missiles from being launched even if they fall into the hands of terrorists or the enemy. All ICBMs, be that Russian or American, are designed so as they cannot be launched without a launch code, even if the enemy has them in physical possession. To ensure it, the rocket’s control unit and guidance system is encapsulated in a heavy duty metal container, with conventional explosives inside it. If somebody attempts to open the box, without entering the code, it explodes vigorously enough to make the missile unusable. Most of the Soviet ICBMs, including the most advanced 15A18 a.k.a. SS18 Satan, were manufactured in what is now Ukraine, at YuzhMash factory in Dnepropetrovsk. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia inherited these missiles. However, the Soviet military heavily relied on the manufacturer for maintenance. The military men only sat in the silos waiting for a command to press the big red button. All the maintenance was done by manufacturer’s engineers. This arrangement survived the collapse of the Soviet Union: all YuzhMash built missiles in use by the Russian military are maintained, now under a commercial contract, by YuzhMash, a Ukrainian company. That is, teams of YuzhMash engineers periodically come to Russian launch facilities and mess with the missiles. Apparently, sensing deteriorating relations between the two countries and growing threat of Russian invasion of the eastern Ukraine, a clandestine pro-Maidan group of YuzhMash engineers, decided to take advantage of its access privileges to Russian missiles and render them inoperable. According to the group, calling itself Ukrainian Self Defense Force, or USDF, the unauthorized launch prevention system has an additional level of security: if a special master code is entered into the system it disables the missile, even if the correct launch code is entered later. Moreover, a mere attempt to enter a launch code, right or wrong, would trigger self-destruction. USDF claims that it entered that code into the missiles. Smarter still, USDF claims that it disabled many missiles, but not all. Now the Russian military face a challenge: if they take USDF claim at face value, a good portion of its ICBMs is compromised. Touch one of those and it will explode. The only way to check if a particular missile is hacked is to try to remove the warhead, aim it at a safe target and try to launch it. If it flies, it was good. But now it’s gone. If it explodes, it’s also gone. Plus, the American spy satellites will detect the explosions and the whole world will know that Russia is not a nuclear super power anymore. If the Russians do nothing the whole world will know that Russia knows that the Ukrainians’ claim is true and it is not a nuclear super power anymore. Source: notes from a press-conference held in Dnepropetrovsk on April 1, 2014, by a Ukrainian activist hacker representing USDF Petr Kislodrischenko (translated from Ukrainian)
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 13:46:55 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015