HOW SPIES STOLE ALLIED MISSILE AND SENT IT TO SOVIET

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP70B00338R000300200055-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 15, 2005
• Sequence Number: 55
• Publication Date: October 30, 1968
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2005/12/14MCA- D YB0T33 R00tA0200055-3
How Spies Stole Allied Missile and Sent It to Soviet
Sidewinder of type stolen from Allied base in West Germany. Nine-foot-six-inch missile was sent to the Soviet Union.
BONN, Oct. 29-A nine-
and-a-half-foot-long missile
was stolen from an allied
base in, West Germany by
three en who trundled it
away in a wheelbarrow and
.drove more than 100 miles
with the rocket nose draped
in a carpet and protruding
from a shattered car window,
.a federal prosecutor dis-
closed today.
En route, the men-includ-
.ing a "Mr. X - stopped
for gasoline, and then packed
smuggled out the Sidewinder.
Two of the three men, he
said, are under arrest.
The Sidewinder theft from
a North Atlantic Treaty Or-
ganization air base, called
Zell, at Neuburg on the
Danube River in Bavaria last
year does not appear to be a
major coup for the Russians.
According to a report from
Washington today by the
West German news agency,
DPA, the rocket is considered
a relatively sim
le d
i
p
ev
ce
the dismantled 165-pound with perhaps two dozen mov-
weapon off to Moscow by air able parts and no more elec-
freight. - tronic components than a
Amid mounting concern radio. First developed in
among West Germans and 1953, its main attribute is an--,
their allies over the possibili- infrared guidance system
ty of an imminent major spy that directs it at heat-giving
scandal, the prosecutor, Lud- targets. The system has since
wig Martjn, also disclosed in been superseded in more ad-
Karlsruhe today two other vanced weapons.
thefts, - of navigational de- "We_ believe that the other
vices, by the same men who side had knowledge of these
The New York Times Oct. 36, 1968
The missile was taken from
the base at Neuburg (cross).
instruments before," the
Bonn defense spokesman,
Lothar Domrtse, said.
The prosecutor's report to-
day was set against the back-
ground of such recent eni-
sodes as the escape of six
suspected agents to East Ger-
many, three apparent sui-
cides, including that of an -
admiral, and the arrest of
four suspected agents, includ-
ing the three accused of steal-
ing the Sidewinder. All of this
has caused an uproar In this
espionage-conscious country.
Chancellor Kurt Georg
Kiesinger phoned today from
Spain, where he is on a state
visit, for an urgent report
on West German security.
Yesterday it was announced
that Mr. Kiesinger and Vice
Chancellor Willy Brandt
would take charge of improv-
ing coordination in the secu-
rity and intelligence services.
But Government-- spokes-
men have said-and Mr. Mar-
tin reasserted today - that
there is no proof that the ap-
parent espionage cases are
Continued on Page 5, Column 3
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 Approved F
Continued from Page 1, Col. 6
related.
Speaking at a news confer-
ence, Mr. Martin said that the
three men who stole the missile
had parked a wheelbarrow out-
side the airbase. While "Mister
X" waited outside, the two
others-identified as Wolf Diet-
hard Knope, a 33-year-old flight
sergeant and West German Air
Force pilot, and Josef Linowski,
a mechanic who was born in
Poland-climbed a fence and
broke into the base magazine.
Then the men hauled out the
air-to-air missile through a hole
cut in the barbed wire. Mr. Mar-
tin said that when they discov-
ered that the Sidewinder did
not fit into their waiting car,
they smashed the rear window
and covered the exposed nose
with a carpet.
The prosecutor did not dis-
close where the men drove, but
said that when, they reached
their destination they disman-
tled the rocket and sent it by
air freight to Moscow in a spe-
cial case and a suitcase.
He did not report the hour of
the theft or explain why it went
unnoticed by guards.
Woman's Case Discussed
In April, 1967, Mr. _ Martin
the device away in a w iee
barrow, then placed it in the
trunk of their car. The device
reached Moscow as "tourist
luggage," he reported.
Early in the year, he con-
tinued, they carried off a "a
newly developed navigation de-
vice" from the display of a
West German concern at the
Hanover fair. That, too, was
delivered to Moscow, Mr. Martin
said.
The prosecutor also discussed
the case of Mrs. Gisele Mock,
a 48-year-old secretary at the
Defense Ministry who was ar-
rested last month on suspicion
of spying, questioned and re-
leased under orders to or't
periodically to the police.
Mr. 'Martin said s 111 ha4
"probably" worked as an agent
for an "Eastern intel gene
service" since 1967 in return
for $850 and "a bedroom," but
he stated that she did not have
access to confidential informa-
tion and did not represent a
serious security danger.
tivity over the suggestion that
West Germany is not fit to
'share confidential Western In-
telligence. A comment by
Secretary of Defense Clark M.
Clifford Friday that the United
States considers the spy
charges as a matter of the
"utmost seriousness" brought
a testy reply from the West
German Government's spokes-
man. He said that Mr. Clifford
was not fully informed.
Today the Westfalische Rund-
schau, a Dortmund newspaper,
commented: "Either our pres-
tige in Western countries. has
been impaired to a degree that
makes our partners consider
a coincidence of insignificant
events a danger to. Western
security, or our allies know
more about these events -
which affect the NATO sphere
- than do the Bonn agencies."
Assessment of Significance
By WILLIAM BEECHER
Special to The New Yoek Times
WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 -
Some Pentagon officials tended
to play down the importance
to Soviet intelligence of the
Sidewinder missile and two air-
craft navigation instruments
stolen in West Germany over
the last year and a half.
__ Numerous Sidewinder mis-
siles have malfunctioned in air-
-to-air combat over North Viet-
nam, one source said, and some
are presumed to have fallen
intact into enemy hands.
In addition, there have been
losses in the Vietnam theater
of all types of American jet
fighter-bombers, including the
swing-wing F-111A. It is there-
fore also presumed that highly
allies and to Japan and Na-
tionalist China as well., i
There are at least four dif-
ferent models of the missile. Ac-
cording cording to unclassified informa-
tion, three of the models use
heat-seeking warheads that are
attracted by the jet exhaust of
the enemy aircraft. The fourth
by radar signals from its launch
aircraft or it homes in on the
classified navigation and bomb- j
ing instruments have reached
Soviet experts through this
means.
However, one ranking officer
said it was foolish to consider
the thefts in West Germany as
unimportant and that the stolen
equipment was in perfect con-
dition, while most equipment
picked up in Vietnam probably
was damaged.
The Sidewinder is one of the
principal air-to-air weapons for
both the Navy and the Air
Force. It has also been,supplied
to the air forces of European
radar-jamming signals emitted
by the attack airplane. The Rus-
sians are believed to have a
heat-seeking missile, somewhat
similar to the Sidewinder, alled
the Atoll.
If the Russians could learn
how sensitive these guidance
systems were, they could try
to develop, various types of
countermeasures. And if they,
could study a Sidewinder that
can home in on Soviet jamming
sjgnals, they could try to mod-
ify those signals in an effort
to thwart the missile.
Today's disclosures followed
by three weeks the death of
Rear Adm. Herman Ltidke,
found shot near his car in the
Eifel Mountains after he.-hA-d
been questioned about a `film
showing secret allied ` fbc-
ments. Admiral Liidke f[r
ently inadvertently turn irx
the film for development,
The wave of speculatlo"er
an imminent major spy s1dal
and dismay over what;
:ome
,
influential West GermaiL .a di
foreigners regard as fu b ng
and poor coordination 5e-
g~ CIA-RDP70B00338R000300200055-3
Approved F ~tts`Pfdlomp ications
of their own here.
There is considerable sensi-