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The 1983 Nuclear Close Call

 
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The 1983 Nuclear Close Call - 8/23/2008 12:15:18 AM   
CCCdnt

 

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According to this and other similar articles, in 1983, a computer and/or tracking system malfunction caused it to appear to the U.S.S.R. that the U.S. had launched about 5 ICBMs at the U.S.S.R. The person who detected this, Stanislav Petrov, thought that what he was seeing was a malfunction and did not report it. This was partially attributed to the fact that he knew that a U.S. first strike would likely have involved hundreds of missiles so as to knock out a U.S.S.R. counter strike, and, therefore, he did not see a first strike involving 5 missiles as making military sense.

This makes one wonder if a nuclear war/exchange could ever happen due to a computer glitch or malfunction. Granted, I know that computer technology, tracking systems, etc. are much more sophisticated and accurate compared to 20+years ago, but still, it makes one wonder.

It is interesting that this incident happened the same year that the made-for-TV movie about nuclear war and holocaust - The Day After - aired.

Here is a link to another article about this.

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RE: The 1983 Nuclear Close Call - 8/23/2008 9:14:53 AM   
Marcus.


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False alarms like this have happened over the years. Training simulations have been run accidentally over the live displays. Fighters and bombers scrambled. I used to hear the stories when I was working in air defense in the Air Force. This is a good reason why a completely automated response would be a bad idea. People have been part of the problem but other folks were the ones who kept an accidental nuclear response from taking place as well.

Wikipedia

PBS

< Message edited by Marcus. -- 8/23/2008 9:26:18 AM >


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RE: The 1983 Nuclear Close Call - 8/23/2008 10:23:47 AM   
rlj


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This sounds like Wargames. ; )

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