This material was born from a discussion on the AEN forum. The starting point was the information that in the early 1980s. due to the flight of a UFO, an equipment failure occurred in one of the military units of the Strategic Missile Forces of the Carpathian Military District, as a result of which a spontaneous launch of missiles with nuclear warheads almost occurred. The author's interest in this case is not at all ufological, it arose, rather, because the topic of weapons is close and interesting to me. There was a desire to understand. What happened in the end - judge for yourself.
First, let's try to figure out the exact date of events. Note that the information found on the Internet is extremely contradictory: in one of the sources the date is indicated on October 4, 1984, in the other - October 24, 1983. They also named October 4, 1981 and 1982, and several other dates. The details of the description also varied, the place of action remained unchanged: a military unit on the territory of the Carpathian military district.
Here are several options for describing events:
I have great respect for M. Gerstein, he has accumulated vast experience in investigating UFO sightings and has numerous publications on this issue, including those of a skeptical nature. At the moment, there is no reason not to trust the date specified in his work on October 4, 1982, especially since it will be confirmed later.
So, on October 4, 1982, the 50th Missile Division (RD) of the Strategic Missile Forces of the Carpathian Military District. At that time, it included 4 missile regiments: 163rd, 181st, 431st, 432nd …
Let's digress from the aliens and see what kind of missiles were supposed to "start at lightning speed" and thus start the "third world war." According to available information, R-12 missiles were in service with the 50th Strategic Missile Forces. R-12 (GRAU index - 8K63, according to the classification of the US Defense Ministry and NATO - SS-4 Sandal) is a Soviet liquid-propellant single-stage medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM), ground-based with a detachable monoblock warhead. Developed in OKB-586 under the leadership of M. K. Yangel, flight tests took place from June 22, 1957 to December 1958. The complex with the R-12 missile was put into service on March 4, 1959. On May 15, 1960, the P-12 went on alert in four regiments deployed in Latvia, Belarus and the Kaliningrad region.
Rocket R-12: preparation for ground launch (left) and silo version (right).
By the way, the complex with the R-12 missile was part of the very "Kuzkina mother" that Nikita Sergeevich promised to show the Americans: three missile regiments armed with R-12 were deployed in Cuba in 1962 as part of Operation Anadyr, which and caused the famous Cuban missile crisis.
Initially, the R-12 was created with the expectation of using an open ground launch complex. In order to increase the missile's resistance to the damaging factors of a nuclear explosion, it was decided to develop a modification of the R-12 for a silo launcher. On September 2, 1959, at the Kapustin Yar training ground, for the first time in the world, a rocket was launched from a silo. In May 1960, work began on the creation of a unified rocket R-12U (8K63U), designed to be used both with an open and with a silo launch complex. The standard mine complex, called "Dvina", consisted of 4 silo launchers. Tests of the R-12U missiles and the Dvina complex took place from December 1961 to December 1963 and ended with the adoption of this complex with the R-12U missiles in service in January 1964.
What is all this technical information for? But for what:
One of those who served in the 50th RD recalls:
This is consistent with the information that can be found on the Internet for R-12 complexes:
As confirmation, I will cite an excerpt from the book "Belokorovichskaya rocket red banner":
We also cite an excerpt from the book of the famous journalist M. A. Pervova "Ballistic missiles of a great country":
A reserve soldier who served in the same military unit told me in personal correspondence:
It turns out that it is impossible to launch the R-12 within a few minutes, unless the missile regiment is on high alert. However, even in this case, it is necessary to perform a number of actions, without which the start is unthinkable. None of the above high alert messages are mentioned. This means that the words about the "lightning-fast beginning" of the third world already seem somewhat far-fetched. A little later we will return to this issue, but for now we will think about who benefits from such an interpretation of events.
It is clear that the media will benefit from this, attracting audiences with “hyped” sensations. It's no secret that the appearance of such "sensational" materials in the media and on the Internet occurs primarily in order to influence the minds of ordinary people, who, unfortunately, for the most part are ready to believe in anything, even in "tricks aliens”, but not that the people responsible for the most terrible and destructive weapon on the planet are able not only to create, but also to control it!
Moreover, not only ordinary people, but also the military themselves, who should, in theory, understand the intricacies of the issue, fall for the bait and, in turn, continue to “cheat” (out of ignorance or pursuing their own interests) uninformed readers!
Here is a typical example: excerpts from a note about this case in one of the most "yellow" publications, which more than once confirmed this status - the newspaper "Life" ("UFOs hacked nuclear codes", 2010-16-06):
As you can see, there is a catchy sensational story, which is replete with details and details: the names of eyewitnesses are given, a certain report is mentioned, the codes of documents are given. However, let's not blindly trust what is written in the "yellow" rag. Was it really so?
Obviously, most of the names and the very description of the events are taken from the already mentioned book by M. Gerstein, which had hit the Internet many years before the publication of this article. It is not difficult to find it, which is what the scribe from "Life" did, presenting the already known events in a slightly different sequence and adding some details.
An interesting detail is the mention in the article of a document, a report of a certain M. Katzman, although earlier in the materials on this case, including in the book of M. Gershtein, there was a “Kataman report”. When discussing the above article on the AEN forum, Mikhail showed us the “same” scanned report. However, it turned out that this was not a report itself, but a kind of memo on the events of October 4, 1982. He explained the discrepancy between the names in the document shown as follows: "Kataman" is the same Katzman, only after a double translation - from Russian into English and vice versa.
A report or memo from a certain M. Katsman (provided by M. Gershtein).
So, before us is a scanned sheet of typewritten text, allegedly written by M. D. Katsman, senior communications assistant of military unit 52035. "Service note" tells about the events of October 4, 1982 - about the failure of communication equipment. Below is the compilation date: October 6, 1982. Below there is a kind of seal of military unit 52035. The document does not have a handwritten signature.
Despite the terrible quality of scanning of this document, it is immediately striking that it does not correspond to the standards of compiling this kind of documentation accepted in the Ministry of Defense. Several former servicemen, whom I showed him to, immediately informed me about this. They immediately noticed a number of "inconsistencies":
- there is no signature;
- there is no field “to whom”, “to name”;
- the title of the writer is not indicated at the beginning (only at the very end of the document);
- the position is not indicated at the end of the document (only at the beginning);
- there is no “copy is correct” stamp when it comes to a copy of a document.
There are also a number of other details that suggest that the document presented is most likely not genuine.
However, we have no right to unequivocally and categorically assert that this document is a forgery.
An original document from the archive of one of the military / h (recommended to compare with the one presented).
Please note that the article spoke specifically about the report, but we are presented with a memo. According to the accepted rules, the memo should be attached to the report, but in this case we do not have it. M. Gerstein explains this by the fact that the report could well have been in the folder of papers on this case, which were sold in the early 1990s. to American journalists Brian Gresh and John Knapp Boris Sokolov, the former curator of "Set-AN" and "Set-MO" - research programs of the AM in the USSR.
But what documents were sold to American journalists? Perhaps most of them are like this "memo", the authenticity of which is very questionable? Maybe B. Sokolov just got rid of a large amount of worthless waste paper, and for a long time American journalists simply fool everyone with stories about allegedly documented cases of UFO sightings, and sensationalists repeat these stories over and over again? Is it really so many years that fables have been wandering from one source to another and no one is able to subject them to analysis and verify the authenticity of the facts?
We will continue to deal with the case of observing unusual phenomena on October 4 in the military unit of the 50th RD Strategic Missile Forces of the PrikVO.
In the course of a search for clarifying information on one of the forums of former servicemen, a story was found by a certain Vladimir Matveyev, who, according to him, in 1981-1983. served in military unit 03389 in the village of Novye Belokorovichi (hereinafter, spelling and punctuation are fully preserved):
It must be assumed that this very message, which appeared on the forum of former servicemen on September 16, 2009, served as an additional source from which the journalists of the newspaper Zhizn got information (let me remind you that the note “UFOs hacked nuclear codes” was dated June 16, 2010). Unfortunately, it was not possible to contact the author of the message and to clarify with him both the details of the events of 1982-04-10, and how his story got to the journalists of the newspaper "Life". Therefore, we will be content with the given text.
So, V. Matveev says that he saw some anomalous phenomenon, describing it as a "huge elliptical saucer", which, in his opinion, "hung" 1.5-2 km above the forest in the direction of another military unit (presumably, one of the units of military unit 32156). He reports that the ZAS equipment, or some other, or the units that carried out automatic reception, wrote absolute silence on the tape and something burned out in them ("silence could not simply exist - the ether always phonetically").
Thus, the eyewitness, although hinting at a failure of some communication equipment (without specifying which one), does not state unequivocally that the failure was associated precisely with an unusual phenomenon on October 4, 1982. He only brings to us the story of other servicemen, heard after the events. The exact time of the failure, as well as the date, he does not name. If you read the further discussion of this case on that forum, you can pay attention to the fact that there was indeed described a case of failure of some equipment (presumably, ACSU - automated command and control systems), but it happened much later (another former serviceman writes about this, who served in the 50th RD in those years):
Further it is quite interesting: after reading the discussion of not only this case, but also looking for information about other similar hardware failures, we learned that they happened quite regularly! But first things first.
First, let's figure out what kind of equipment we are talking about. On one of the thematic forums, I asked to comment on this case, describing the circumstances already known to us, including citing Katsman's memo. Here's what they answered:
So, we are talking about the elements of the automated combat control system (ASBU). It is a device for receiving and transmitting signals that come through a special encrypted channel, ensuring the delivery of orders (signals) to the corresponding command posts, starting with the command post of the Strategic Missile Forces. The website of the Russian Ministry of Defense says:
The main ASBU means the aforementioned "Signal-M", under the backup - "Blizzard".
Above the board of the ASBU 15E967M "Blizzard" equipment, below the ASBU 15E781 "Signal-M" console.
On the same forum, I found several references to failures of such equipment. However, none of them is mentioned in connection with the observations of any AE (the only exception is the case under consideration). Moreover, operators who had experience of working with such equipment unambiguously "on the fly" determine the reason for this behavior of the equipment: an obvious malfunction! Here's a quote from another forum:
It is impossible not to quote such a recollection of one of the former military personnel from the forum:
“But excuse me,” the reader will object, “after all, gentlemen“military ufologists”claimed that“an unauthorized launch of a strategic missile almost happened”! (Well, yes, there was a case … only one of them - remember? - sold documents of very dubious quality to the Americans.)
Let's repeat: we are talking about the SAUV equipment, which is a means of transmitting orders, but in no way a "button that launches missiles"! Let us re-read once again what M. Gerstein wrote with reference to Yuri Borisov:
Everything falls into place, doesn't it? The “house of cards” of the failed sensation was crumbling right before our eyes!
However, there are still mysteries in this story. Let's pay attention to other details in the descriptions of events - details that at first glance are not striking.
For example, in a note about the incident in the newspaper "Life" we read the following lines:
We have already figured out the "missile launch panels", but B. Sokolov clarifies that a control banner on the control panel of the division's command post, which is "an unburdened heaped defensive structure", lit up. It is not difficult to find photographs of similar objects on the Internet - even the one where the described events took place.
Remains of a KP in the urban-type settlement Novye Belokorovichi.
However, this does not fit with the story of V. Matveev:
Does V. Matveev, who has served for two whole years as a radio operator at this very command post, confuse a building covered with earth with an underground one? Or is he just overlooking this detail? Unfortunately, there is no clear answer to this question. Nevertheless, the newspaper "Life" word for word repeats his description.
And here's another interesting point! Let us quote again M. Gerstein:
In the newspaper "Life" we read the following lines:
However, "our" V. Matveev reports:
If you have a desire, you can find information on the Internet where exactly the R-12 launchers were located and what type of missile launch they provided, ground or silo, as well as, in search of a more plausible description of events, try to determine over which particular site the described AM took place.
In both cases, we are talking about a ground launch of missiles! The 3rd Battalion (where the mine installations were located) was much further from the observation point, so we do not take it into account.
Ground launch site near Lipniki (third division 181 RP of military unit 32157/3).
The distance to the 1st division from the command post is about 1.5-2 kilometers. Up to the 2nd division - much more. We have every reason to assume that V. Matveev means the 1st division. Therefore, the direction of observation is northwest.
The location of the starting positions of RP 163: 1 - KP 163 RP (Novye Belokorovichi, where, according to V. Matveev's recollections, UFOs were observed), 2 - the first division (military unit 32156/1), 3 - the second division (military unit 32156/2) …
Note, only now we come to the description of the phenomenon itself! We again have several versions. M. Gerstein:
From other sources:
Vestnik RAS (article by Yu. V. Platov, B. A. Sokolov):
And here is a fragment of the above message by V. Matveev:
And the journalists from the newspaper Zhizn got the following: “It was incredible - about one and a half kilometers from us there was a huge plate in the shape of an ellipse,” the former rocket engineer tells Zhizni with excitement. - The size of the UFO shocked - with a five-story building! Faint lights flew up to the plate. The guys were going to dinner at that time, and everyone saw him! The UFO continued to hang, slowly moving to the left, as if drifting. When rereading, do not hold back a smile!
Let's compare all descriptions.
You can find some similarities between the descriptions of V. Platunov and V. Matveev: we are talking about a single object. However, Platunov describes "a flying saucer like in a movie, with a perfectly smooth surface" without any windows, while Matveyev describes "a huge elliptical saucer (rather a regular oval)", "split into three parts horizontally."
In M. Gerstein's versions, we are talking about several objects. A similar element of the second description by Gerstein and Matveev is the presence of “windows” inside them in one case and “similarities of windows, lights” in the other. Also in the second description, Matveyev has similar elements in the form of "streams" and "flying up / flying away" lights. Let's remember this detail and continue …
The similarity in one of the descriptions by M. Gershtein and the story of V. Matvev is that eyewitnesses believe that the object was not far away. On the forum of former military personnel, we can find another description: “I saw this crap. True, from a much greater distance (from Lipniki). She hung in the direction of the Bychkov. The above description is very similar, but I nevertheless called the light spots exactly the windows, as the closest thing that came to mind."
According to the description given (more detailed on the forum was not found) we can:
1. Note the similarity with the description of V. Matveev ("very similar" refers specifically to him).
2. Determine the place of the alleged UFO sighting ("Bulls" in slang, the servicemen called the village of Novye Belokorovichi, where the command post was located). The direction is southwest.
Near the town of Lipniki were the starting positions of the 3rd RD of the 181st missile regiment (military unit 32157/3).
Starting positions 181 RP: 1 - first division (military unit 32157/1), 2 - second division (military unit 32157/2), 3 - third division (military unit 32157/3), 4 - command post 163 RP (Novye Belokorovichi).
It would seem that the direction and the description coincide … But it is too early to put an end to this. Let us now pay attention to the words of B. Sokolov, quoted by the well-known journalist I. Prokopenko in one of the links at the very beginning of the article: “It all started with the fact that suddenly several objects appeared in the sky above the command post, which were rapidly approaching from the Western border …” …
However, according to M. Gershtein, a little later B. Sokolov reported that an unidentified light phenomenon was observed in the northern direction, linking it with lighting bombs.
Let's try to link all this in one chain and build an assumption regarding the true direction where unusual phenomena observed by the soldiers of the 50th RD could occur. What if they really saw traces of explosions of lighting bombs?
Let us turn to M. Gerstein again:
Why did the link to this settlement suddenly appear? If we assume that an unusual light phenomenon in the sky was observed in the direction of Usovo, then relative to the KP (Novye Belokorovichi) it is located to the north, and relative to Lipniki - to the northwest. If we assume that the observer in Lipniki has mistakenly determined the direction, then the general observation axis lies exactly to the northwest, in the direction of Usovo.
Usovo-Lipniki axis: 1-3 - location of three divisions of 181 RP, 4 - Usovo village. Direction to Usovo - northwest.
As noted above, V. Matveev also observed a UFO over the "neighboring part" in the northwest direction. Let's continue this line and find … the same training ground of the 26th Air Army, in the sky above which there was something that could be mistaken for an unidentified object.
"Seek and you will find"!
Let's look. And what will we find after not very long searches?
Approximately 300 km from the observation sites is the Ruzhany training ground, which in those years was called the 536th training aviation center of the Air Army of the Belarusian Military District. Colonel-General of the Air Force, Chief of the General Staff of the Air Force, First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force of the USSR and then of Russia Anatoly Ivanovich Malyukov shares his memories: “… At the Polesie range, night bombing was organized. SABs - luminous air bombs - have long been used in aviation, both during and after the war. The pilot drops the SAB, and it descends smoothly by parachute, giving a strong light effect. The pilot enters the bombing course and hits the illuminated ground target with a bomb."
The proposed axis of N. Belokorovichi / Lipniki - training ground 26 of the air army: 1 - KP 163 RP (Novye Belokorovichi), 2 - Lipniki, 3 - Usovo, 4 - Ruzhany training ground; The direction is northwest.
Drawing an imaginary line from the observation point to the 210th polygon ("Ruzhany"), let us pay attention to the fact that the distance between the points will be approximately 290 kilometers. Which differs from the data of Plaksin and Sokolov.
However, let's not forget that we are talking about military installations. For reasons of secrecy, information about them in Soviet times was subjected to the most severe censorship. It is quite possible that this is precisely what explains the discrepancies and inconsistencies between the original and later (published in the Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences) versions of Sokolov - Both regarding the direction and regarding the distance.
Another important point: that none of the eyewitnesses (of all five versions of the description of the phenomenon) does not note the movement "along the trajectories inaccessible to earthly technology", which is present in V. Plaksin's retelling by M. Gerstein. All eyewitnesses agree that the object (or objects) either appeared and disappeared, or he (or they) hung motionless, or it smoothly shifted ("drifted").
So, perhaps, the version of lighting bombs is not at all so far-fetched, as M. Gerstein believes?
Astronomer Ph. D. n. Sergei Efimov believes that events that occurred at an altitude of 10 km could be seen purely geometrically at a distance of up to 360 km, and taking into account refraction, even further (the addition can reach several tens of kilometers, depending on weather conditions). It can be assumed with great caution that several lighting bombs on the same line were mistaken by eyewitnesses for one large object. Moreover, some of them believed that there were several objects. The optical effect from the explosions of lighting bombs could be quite bizarre: perhaps they illuminated clouds or haze in the atmosphere, merging due to the distance into one large object, which, very likely, could resemble an ellipse or an oval, and the glow from the explosions that took place inside this smoke cloud, could be mistaken for "windows" or "portholes".
The explosion of a glowing bomb.
Could everything have happened this way or is it purely a figment of our imagination? Geometric calculations show: yes, it could.
There are plenty of cases when the explosions of lighting bombs were mistaken for UFOs. For example, in Feodosia, on Baikal, in the Irkutsk region, local residents saw in the sky "luminous objects" and "balls hanging over the forest" during military exercises using luminous bombs.
Of course, we cannot now absolutely accurately reconstruct the true picture of events, as well as analyze some of the details of this story: there is not enough data. The origin of the discrepancies in the indication of the year of the event is also unclear: 1982? 1983? 1984? You must admit that the probability of the assumption that the same events took place in the same place on the same day for three years in a row tends to zero.
Unfortunately, it has not yet been possible to contact the participants in those events (for example, V. Matveev). It is also perplexing why Yu. Plaksin and B. Sokolov indicate in their article in the Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences the date of October 5 (M. Gershtein explains this by the fact that the observation report was received only a day later). Therefore, we will not put a bullet in this story yet. However, on the basis of the facts discussed above, it can be stated that the connection between the equipment failure and the observation of an unusual phenomenon in the sky is an accident. And this failure itself would not have led to those "catastrophic" consequences with which journalists and some researchers scare us.
Author: Vyacheslav Akulov - Research Club "Other Dimension"
