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From: phil@amdcad.UUCP (Phil Ngai)
Newsgroups: net.aviation,talk.politics.misc
Subject: Re: KAL 007
Message-ID: <13052@amdcad.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 18-Sep-86 00:09:35 EDT
Article-I.D.: amdcad.13052
Posted: Thu Sep 18 00:09:35 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 27-Sep-86 14:06:02 EDT
References: <12233831641.27.CMP.WERNER@R20.UTEXAS.EDU> <490@bucsb.bu.edu.UUCP>
Reply-To: phil@amdcad.UUCP (Phil Ngai)
Organization: AMD, Sunnyvale, California
Lines: 45
Xref: watmath net.aviation:3654 talk.politics.misc:182

In article <490@bucsb.bu.edu.UUCP> berlin@bucsb.bu.edu.UUCP writes:
>If I recall correctly, the KAL007 disaster is not the first time
>the Russians have fired on or forced down a civilian airliner or
>aircraft.  In one of the cases, a civilian airliner was forced to land
>on an ice covered lake and the resulting crash killed several 
>passengers.  The Soviets do have a very large, classified facility in
>the area but, if the Soviets stated that they had confused KAL with
>an U.S. plane that was on a mission to test AIR DEFENSES....  These
>air defense games are played by both sides very often (* lemme see how
>close I can get before they come after me.... and how long does it 
>take.... ).  I can't see the point of actually firing at such a plane
>especially if you fighters are faster and you could possibly force the
>plane to land.... (scoring a major intelligence and propaganda victory...)

The accounts of the KAL007 incident I have read indicated the airliner
was leaving Soviet airspace and was not responding to the
interceptors' attempts to force it to land. Under such circumstances,
it is not surprising they shot it down.

In order to put the incident into perspective, I suggest you read
_The Puzzle Palace_ by James Bamford. I'll include a representative
paragraph.

"For close to a decade now, the NSA had been engaged in a secret and
bloody air war with the Soviet Union. In April 1950, a Navy patrol
bomber with a crew of ten was attacked and destroyed by Soviet
fighters while flying over the Baltic. A year and a half later another
Navy bomber on a reconnaissance mission off Siberia was shot down,
with the loss of all ten on board. That year an Air Force
Superfortress on another reconnaissance flight met the same fate over
the Sea of Japan.  Neither the crew nor any wreckage was ever found.
... the ELINT missions, in which the aircraft would not only skirt the
Soviet borders but actually penetrate them in order to trigger
otherwise inactive radar equipment and thus capture their telltale
signals for later analysis by the Puzzle Palace."

Given this history, how would you react, as a Russian air defense
commander, to KAL007's intrusion and refusal to land when intercepted?

-- 
 Rain follows the plow.

 Phil Ngai +1 408 749 5720
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