Mystery Missile Launch Seen off Calif. Coast

[darrels joy]

Mystery Missile Launch Seen off Calif. Coast

Military Mum on Nature of "Big Missile" Rising Out of Pacific - a Possible Show of U.S. Military Might


(CBS) A mysterious missile launch off the southern California coast was caught by CBS affiliate KCBS's cameras Monday night, and officials are staying tight-lipped over the nature of the projectile.

CBS station KFMB put in calls to the Navy and Air Force Monday night about the striking launch off the coast of Los Angeles, which was easily visible from the coast, but the military has said nothing about the launch.

KFMB showed video of the apparent missile to former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Robert Ellsworth, who is also a former Deputy Secretary of Defense, to get his thoughts.

Scroll down for KFMB video showing the launch.

"It's spectacular… It takes people's breath away," said Ellsworth, calling the projectile, "a big missile".

Magnificent images were captured by the KCBS news helicopter in L.A. around sunset Monday evening. The location of the missile was about 35 miles out to sea, west of L.A. and north of Catalina Island.

A Navy spokesperson told KFMB it wasn't their missile. He said there was no Navy activity reported in the area Monday evening.

On Friday night, Vandenberg Air Force Base, in California, launched a Delta II rocket, carrying an Italian satellite into orbit, but a sergeant at the base told KFMB there had been no launches since then.

Ellsworth urged American to wait for definitive answers to come from the military.

When asked, however, what he thought it might be, the former ambassador said it could possibly have been a missile test timed as a demonstration of American military might as President Obama tours Asia.

"It could be a test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile from a submarine … to demonstrate, mainly to Asia, that we can do that," speculated Ellsworth.

Ellsworth said such tests were carried out in the Atlantic to demonstrate America's power to the Soviets, when there was a Soviet Union, but he doesn't believe an ICBM has previously been tested by the U.S. over the Pacific.

Officially, at least, the projectile remains a mystery missile.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/...n7036716.shtml

[revwardoc]

Hmm! That's somewhat disconcerting. A test run by Al-queda? A test fire from a Chinese sub? So WTF happened to the missle? Where did it land? This is some serious stuff that we need to find out about.

[darrels joy]

NOTAM for LA.
KZLA LOS ANGELES A2832/10 - THE FOLLOWING RESTRICTIONS ARE REQUIRED DUE TO NAVAL AIR WARFARE CENTER WEAPONS DIVISION ACTIVATION OF W537. IN THE INTEREST OF SAFETY, ALL NON-PARTICIPATING PILOTS ARE ADVISED TO AVOID W537. IFR TRAFFIC UNDER ATC JURISDICTION SHOULD ANTICIPATE CLEARANCE AROUND W537 AND CAE 1176. CAE 1155 WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE FOR OCEANIC TRANSITION. CAE 1316 & CAE 1318 WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE FOR OCEANIC TRANSITION. CAE 1177 WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR OCEANIC TRANSITION. W537 ACTIVE, CAE 1176 CLOSED. SURFACE - FL390, 09 NOV 20:00 2010 UNTIL 10 NOV 01:00 2010. CREATED: 08 NOV 20:52 201



Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8618-201_162-...#ixzz14oPiY79g

[darrels joy]

Update: An awful lot of people in the know seem to think that this was indeed some type of rocket, but at least a few experts think this might be the contrail from an airplane that only looks vertical because of an optical illusion. Meanwhile, Cuffy Meigs notes that military missile tests have indeed originated from that area in the recent past — although, of course, that doesn’t explain why the Pentagon seems so baffled this morning.

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/11/0...ifornia-coast/

[revwardoc]

"...only looks vertical because of an optical illusion." Hmm. Didn't they say that about TWA 800 that went down over the Long Island Sound back in '96 despite many witnesses saying they saw a firey streak then an air explosion?

[Seascamp]

From the exhaust trail it looks like it might be an LOX propelled rocket. From long ago I know the Soviet Subs had those and more than once had to emergency breach when the LOX got loose. Zow, the con tower was just billowing the same color fog and the Ivan's were hauling buns over the side, right now. LOX is very, very, corrosive stuff, not to mention exceptionally flammable.
LOX=Liquid Oxygen, and stone axe as compared to solid fuel rockets, but I assume it still works same as always.
It certainly has all the hallmarks of some messaging happining. Just who is messaging is speculatative, but one thing for sure is they have the bucks to put on some theater, big theater.

[BLUEHAWK]

L.A.’s Mystery ‘Missile’ Is Probably a Jet

• By Noah Shachtman
• November 9, 2010 |
• 4:25 pm |
• http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/

That mystery “missile” launched last night off of the coast of Los Angeles? It probably wasn’t a missile at all, several leading defense analysts say.
The various arms of the U.S. military scrambled this morning to explain the creepy footage, snapped by a CBS news helicopter, of what appeared to be a missile flying into the air, not far from Los Angeles. U.S. Strategic Command, Northern Command, Air Force Space Command, Air Force Global Strike Command, the Navy and the Missile Defense Agency were all left struggling to give an answer for what appeared to be a rogue ICBM. But to GlobalSecurity.org director John Pike, there’s an easy explanation: “It is obviously an airplane.”


“The aircraft is flying towards the observer; the air over the Pacific is clear, so the contrail is visible all the way to the horizon. This creates the optical illusion of a rocket flying up, rather than the actual situation of an airplane flying horizontally,” Pike tells Danger Room. “The object generating the contrail is moving too slowly to be a rocket; the contrail is not expanding as the ‘rocket’ gains ‘altitude’ — which would be the case as the exhaust plume expanding into less dense high altitude air.”


MIT astronomer Jonathan McDowell tells New Scientist pretty much the same thing. Although he does note that the Navy owns a missile target and launch facility at nearby San Nicolas Island.


This wouldn’t be the first time a plane was mistaken for a missile. On New Year’s Eve, an aircraft was photographed above San Clemente, California, looking eerily missile-esque. In December, 2008, there was a similar case of mistaken identity when a plane flew near the coastal town of Carmel.


“The short explanation is that we don’t see a lot of jet contrails head-on, especially from the vantage point of a helicopter. So, it looks like a missile to everyone else,” writes Danger Room alum (and New America Foundation analyst) Jeffrey Lewis. “But it probably isn’t.”


He adds, “That would explain why no one else in L.A. saw a missile launch other than the helicopter crew — or, rather, why everyone else from every other angle saw a typical jet contrail — and why [America's missile-warning system] didn’t light up like a Christmas Tree.”



Tags: Air Force, Missiles, Navy

[darrels joy]

NORAD: Er, we’re still not sure what the mystery missile is

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posted at 5:02 pm on November 9, 2010 by Allahpundit
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The good news: They don’t think it came from a foreign military. The bad news: That’s … about all they can tell us. I just asked on Twitter whether it’s normal for U.S. air defense specialists to need a full day to figure out whether and why a ballistic missile was launched off the coast of Los Angeles.

The answer, via Danger Room: No, it’s not normal. Or at least, it shouldn’t be:

When someone makes an unannounced launch what looks to be a ballistic missile 35 miles from the nations second largest city (at sea in international waters), and 18 hours later NORAD still doesn’t have any answers at all – that complete lack of information represents a credible threat to national security.

If NORAD can’t answer the first and last question, then I believe it is time to question every single penny of ballistic missile defense funding in the defense budget. NORTHCOM needs to start talking about what they do know, rather than leaving the focus on what they don’t know.

If this missile was launched at sea, was it launched from a ship or sub? If it wasn’t our ship or sub, then whose ship or sub was it? Did anyone cross-reference the launch with public AIS logs from the port of Los Angeles yet? How many dozens of times have we had someone give Congressional testimony regarding the scenario where a non-state actor launches a short ranged ballistic missile from a ship off the coast?

I raise that last point to note, if the mystery missile didn’t come from our military, you have to start looking for alternatives… and most of those alternatives are a threat to national security.

Here’s a military expert on Fox News insisting that someone, whether at NORAD or elsewhere in the government, knows exactly what’s going on and at this point they’re simply trying to figure out a way to explain it to the public. On Twitter, John Noonan assures me that this couldn’t possibly have been an accidental launch from a sub since launches involve multiple sailors and intricate procedures. It would take more than someone hitting a button by accident.

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/11/0...ry-missile-is/

[darrels joy]

Mystery Missile: Defense Dept. Issues Statement

Defense Dept. Says There is No Reason to Believe the Object was Part of a Missile Launch, Scheduled or Inadvertent

(CBS/AP) The United States Department of Defense Tuesday night issued a statement regarding the "mystery missile" seen off the coast of southern California that's been the subject of debate across the country.

The "mystery missile" is a vapor trail that crossed the skies off the Southern California coast and resembled a missile launch.

Expert Thinks "Mystery Missile" an Illusion

The Dept. of Defense statement from Col. Dave Lapan, the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, reads:

"While there is nothing at this time that leads the Department of Defense to believe this is a missile launch, the department and other U.S. government agencies with expertise in aviation and space continue to look into the condensation trail (CONTRAIL) seen and reported off the coast of southern California on Monday evening.

"All DoD entities with rocket and missile programs reported no launches, scheduled or inadvertent, during the time period in the area of the reported contrail. NORAD and USNORTHCOM confirmed that it did not monitor any foreign military missile launch off the California coast yesterday and has determined that there was no threat to the US homeland.

"In addition, the FAA ran radar replays from Monday afternoon of a large area west of Los Angeles. Those replays did not reveal any fast-moving, unidentified targets. The FAA also did not receive reports of any unusual sightings from pilots who were flying in the area Monday afternoon.

"If any new information comes to light in the coming days, we will update the press and public."

The Defense Department said Tuesday it did not know what created a vapor trail that crossed the skies off the Southern California coast and resembled a missile launch.

Video posted on the CBS News website shows an object flying through the evening sky Monday that left a large contrail, or vapor trail. The video was shot by a CBS affiliate KCBS' helicopter, the station said Tuesday.

Missile Mystery and More: Strange Sky Sightings

Pentagon officials were stumped by the event. "Nobody within the Department of Defense that we've reached out to has been able to explain what this contrail is, where it came from," Lapan said.

While the vapor cloud captured on video resembled that created by a rocket in flight, military officials said they knew of no launches in the area.

Lapan said that "all indications" were that the Defense Department was not involved with the object.

One expert called it an optical illusion. "It's an airplane that is heading toward the camera and the contrail is illuminated by the setting sun," said John Pike, director of the U.S.-based security analyst group globalsecurity.org.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, issued a statement jointly with the U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, saying that the contrail was not the result of a foreign military launching a missile. It provided no details.

"We can confirm that there is no threat to our nation," the statement said. "We will provide more information as it becomes available."

NORTHCOM is the U.S. defense command and NORAD is a U.S.-Canadian organization charged with protecting North America from the threat of missiles or hostile aircraft.

Pike said the object could not have been a rocket because it appeared to alter its course.

"The local station chopped up the video and so it's hard to watch it continuously," Pike said. "But at one place you can see it has changed course; rockets don't do that."

Pike said he did not understand why the military had not recognized the contrail of an aircraft. "The Air Force must ... understand how contrails are formed," he said. "Why they can't get some major out to belabor the obvious, I don't know."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/...n7039021.shtml

[darrels joy]

Military Says Missile-Like Object Wasn't Missile

But Expert Interviewed by London Newspaper Is Sure It Was; Mystery of California Contrail Continues


(CBS) More than a day after a CBS camera caught video of an unidentified projectile leaving a condensation trail off the California coast, the situation remains a mystery, with the Defense Department insisting that it was not a missile.

The Pentagon is still not sure what that was in the sky off the coast of California -- except that it was not a missile fired by the U.S. or some other country, reports CBS News Pentagon correspondent David Martin.

The video of what looks for all the world like the contrail of a missile was shot Monday evening by KCBS cameraman Gil Leyvas from a news helicopter over Los Angeles.

"I saw a big plume coming up, rising from looked like beyond the horizon and it continued to grow," Leyvas said.

He zoomed his camera in and stayed on it for about 10 minutes. To him it looked like an incoming missile.

"It was unique. It was moving," he said. "It was growing in the sky."

The Pentagon spends billions of dollars a year making sure it is never surprised by a missile launch - so finding out what the camera saw became a top priority. Both the Navy and the Air Force insisted they had not launched any missiles and the North American Air Defense Command - which is supposed to track incoming missiles - declared it had not been fired by any other military. But nobody could say what it was.

But Doug Richardson, the editor of Jane’s Missiles and Rockets, examined the video for the Times of London and said he was left with little doubt.

"It’s a solid propellant missile," he told the Times. "You can tell from the efflux [smoke]."

Richardson said it could have been a ballistic missile launched from a submarine or an interceptor, the defensive anti-missile weapon used by Navy surface ships.

Expert Thinks "Mystery Missile" an Illusion
Missile Mystery and More: Strange Sky Sightings

The Twitterati had a field day Tuesday, tweeting comments like "Can someone please tell me how our Department of Defense has no idea who launched a missile from California's coast?"; "So nobody in our government or military knows? Scary."; and "If you misplaced a missile off the coast of California, the U.S. government would like to have a few words with you."

The Federal Aviation Administration did not receive any reports of a missile from other pilots in the area or track any unusually fast objects. The Air Defense Command determined the object was not traveling fast enough or have a big enough exhaust plume to be a military missile.

The best guess right now is that it was either an airliner or an amateur rocket, but we may never know for certain.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/...n7040379.shtml