6 Tiny Mistakes That Almost Ended the World

my brother was sitting in front of a USAF radar screen in Scotland during the Cuban missile crises.....he's told me at one point we were less than five minutes away from nuclear war......
 
I've come across radar systems that made it difficult to determine high inputs are simulated and which are live. A friend if mine dealt with this in Iraq, where a tricky simulator got turned on, and a scramble ensued. Naturally, they scrambled to a spot where an actual asset was flying, and intercepted it, reporting its apparently friendly markings to confused controllers.
 
My knowledge of NORAD systems only goes back to 1983 when the AN/FYQ-93 system was put online (the system in place on 9/11). On all of the NORAD systems since 1983, it is easy to distinguish live from sim.
 
PostmodernProphet said:
my brother was sitting in front of a USAF radar screen in Scotland during the Cuban missile crises.....he's told me at one point we were less than five minutes away from nuclear war......
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I am not sure how well known this incident is to the general public, it was only publically revealed in 2002. The depth charges mentioned were apparently practice ones and the Russians were supposedly informed prior to their release.

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cold-war/sovietsbomb.htm

http://www.counterpunch.org/2010/04/14/nuclear-insanities/
 
his comments were related to Soviet bombers flying near the "this is the fucking end" point on the radar before turning around and heading for home....
 
Yurt said:
The president's airborne command center was readied for takeoff, but no one could find Jimmy Carter to put him on board. So his plane took off without him, presumably leaving the president to find a suitable hole in the ground to hide in.

Read more: 6 Tiny Mistakes That Almost Ended the World | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/article_19790_6-tiny-mistakes-that-almost-ended-world_p2.html#ixzz1v3oId1Nf

LOL
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That's one thing that I find hard to believe, I'm sure that the Secret Service must know the whereabouts of a President at all times.
 
You still see some interesting stuff on radar. We routinely pick up flocks of birds and mylar balloons, and of course, weather patterns are forever pissing us off. Another fun radar anomoly is mountainous areas with roads in close proximity to radars. Then we can actually pick up road traffic.
 
Threedee said:
You still see some interesting stuff on radar. We routinely pick up flocks of birds and mylar balloons, and of course, weather patterns are forever pissing us off. Another fun radar anomoly is mountainous areas with roads in close proximity to radars. Then we can actually pick up road traffic.
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Surely that doesn't happen with Doppler radars? For my sins, many moons ago I worked on guided weapons systems as a programmer and the radar systems were all Doppler radars to prevent extraneous returns.
 
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