POSSIBLE MEDIA DISCLOSURE OF CLASSIFIED INFORMATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP92B00478R000800010003-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 13, 2013
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: January 18, 1985
• Content Type: MEMO

25X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/12/13: CIA-RDP92B00478R000800010003-0
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/12/13: CIA-RDP92B00478R000800010003-0
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/12/13: CIA-RDP92B00478R000800010003-0
?
-Errant Soviet missile
fired from submarine
autlioritita ye Jane's Weapoos Sys-
ten is.
The 55-N?3 missile is carried by
three older I ypi:s ot SIvie subma-
rines. code-named the Whiskey
Long-bin. the Juliet!. and Echo II
7_ ziaisf gC class. Analysts are not certain
By Roger Fontaine
n?E WASH,NG TON TIMES
The Soviet cruise missile that
violated Norwegian and Finnish
airspace 10 days ago was launched
from a submarine and designed to
simulate an incoming U.S. cruise
missile, according to U.S. intelli-
gence sources.
It was to serve as a target for
local naval forces on exercises in
the Barents Sea, the sources said.
But the missile, an obsolescent
SS-N-3 and an older version of the
cruise missile currently caeried by
submarines and cruisers, was not
shot down as planned, and it headed
in the wrong direction.
Moreover, according to these
same sources, the naval exercise
commandereallaTcii-nfOW-ri Soviet
air defense,LinctuTdrrig-tmissile-gai
,airEl'aff i'lirs-1/ of the errant-cruisej
missi
ruled
/but y Moscow to the o leers
'responsible for the incident-
-`U:S:iiTfelligence also reports that
there is no evidence of the missile.
NATO code-named Shaddock,
being armed with a nuclear war-
head. The Shaddock, however, can
carry a warhead with a yield of 350
kilotons, according to the
MISSILES
From page IA
flo-F20 minutes and reached a maxi-
mum altitude ot- 4,0033- meters (a lit:-
tie-more than two miles), indicating
the missile was not following its
designed capability of closely hug-
ging the ground to escape radar
detection - a leading characteris-
tic of cruise missiles. If it did land
in Finland's Lake [nail, then the
Soviet rocket reached its maximum
range of some 250 miles.
U.S. intelligence also believes the
Shaddock was not a "classic drone,"
as depicted in the Soviet apology
issued Friday, although it was
meant to be a target missile.
While the Soviets expressed
regrets, reflecting their desire to
downplay the affair on the eve of the
opening of arms-control talks, they
referred to the SS-N-3 to as "winged
target " and not a missile. Moreover,
they did not confirm that the flight
violated Norwegian and Finnish air
space.
The Shaddock is the largest of
the Soviet cruise missiles and has
been in service, according to
Jane's, for approximately a decade.
It has been steadily modified, and
can be launched from submarine or
surface ships.
American intelligence, which
tracked the missile's path over the
Kola peninsula and then Norway
and finally Finland, is still not sure .
what went wrong.
wlitilier the stray Soviet missile
?i'As fired from a submerged vessel
or from the surface.
U:Sr-tritelgena-analysts-also---
believe the incident indicates the
?Continued low state of readiness Of
'Soviet air defense - a probleni
(exposed-by-two-earlier-intrusions7
of-SoViet airspace by Korean isj?
airliners in 1978 and 1983. '11-2,y
also believe the incid-ent demon-L
Strates that. Soviet air defense.is
unala.le-to-react-to-unexpected sit
U.S. intelligence also indicates
that-the-en-Use missile was in the-air-r
---
see MISSILES page 8A
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/12/13: CIA-RDP92B00478R000800010003-0