Análisis
Antes de la caída de la URSS y durante unas pruebas soviéticas con misiles balísticos en el océano Pacífico en 1987 se desarrolló un incidente de estos que a punto estuvieron de provocar males mayores. En el juego del gato y el ratón que se desarrolló y se desarrolla entre los principales actores del panorama mundial la URSS estaba llevando a cabo pruebas de misiles balísticos y EEUU estaba monitorizándolas.
En esa pescadilla que se muerde la cola, los Estadounidenses controlaban las pruebas y los soviéticos también y, además, procuraban molestar todo lo que podían para evitar que el enemigo -EEUU- consiguiese información con facilidad...
Russian Lasers Reported Aimed At U.S. Planes
By MICHAEL R. GORDON, Special to the New York Times
Published: October 03, 1987
The Pentagon said today that a Soviet naval vessel operating in the target area for the recent Soviet missile tests in the Pacific apparently directed a laser at two American aircraft.
The Pentagon statement said the incident was under investigation and did not say why the laser might have been used.
The statement was issued after Senator Malcolm Wallop, Republican of Wyoming, charged that the Soviet vessel had fired a laser beam at an American aircraft and ''damaged the eyes of a U.S. pilot.''
The report coincided with an unusually defiant stand by the Senate today on arms control. The Senate approved amendments to the Pentagon authorization bill that would require the President to adhere to key elements of two of the major arms control agreements with the Soviet Union signed in the last 15 years. [ Page 6. ] Mr. Wallop made the accusation about the use of the laser weapon in urging the Senate to adopt a measure condemning the test of two Soviet missiles on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Though the Pentagon declined to say why the laser might have been used, Administration officials and experts outside Government said there were several possibilities.
An official said the Soviet vessel might have been trying to harass or blind the pilots of the aircraft. But a naval consultant said another possibility was that the Russians were using a laser to try to track incoming warheads and inadvertently shined it at American planes that were also monitoring the missile test.
According to the Pentagon, the incident involved two American planes that were observing the Soviet missile tests near the Hawaiian Islands.
A Navy P-3 reconnaissance plane reported that it was ''illuminated by an intense light'' from the Chukotka, a Soviet vessel. Pentagon officials said that the Chukotka is a former cargo ship that has been converted into a special vessel to monitor missile tests.
An Air Force WC-135 intelligence plane in the same vicinity also reported seeing a bright light near the Soviet ship. The Pentagon said that light ''disturbed'' the vision of the co-pilot of the plane for 10 minutes. A preliminary medical examination suggests that the eyesight of the co-pilot has not been damaged but further tests may be required.
''We believe these emissions were from a laser,'' the Pentagon said. It added that the incident was still being investigated and that there had been previous episodes in which Western patrol aircraft had been ''irradiated'' by Soviet laser devices on ships.
Lasers have a variety of potential military uses. They are commonly used by ships, aircraft and ground forces to determine the distance to targets. Lasers can also be used to guide missiles to targets. The laser is directed at a target; laser-guided missiles ride the beam to the target.
The United States lodged a protest after Moscow informed it that unarmed Soviet missiles might land about 360 miles southwest of Hawaii or in an area northwest of the islands. The Soviet Union did not fire a missile in the southwest region, but sent two into the Pacific about 600 miles northwest of the Hawaii. On Thursday, apparently in response to the Administration's protest, it announced that it had ended its test series.
Los protagonistas por el lado Estadounidense:
WC-135 'Constant Phoenix'
P-3 Orion
... según la versión estadounidense de lo sucedido, el avión de reconocimiento P-3 Orión y el WC-135 estaban en las cercanías del buque de monitorización proyecto 1129 'Chukotka'...
El protagonista por el bando Soviético:
Buque 'Chukotka'
... que se encontraba en la zona para telemetría de los test balísticos que se desarrollaban en la región. El caso es que aparentemente los aviones estadounidenses estaban siendo molestos para los soviéticos y decidieron, según la versión del Pentágono, pasar a mayores ...
... y esto se tradujo en unos "disparos" que provocaron ceguera temporal a la copiloto del WC-135 (10 minutos de pérdida de visión) y se debió, según el testimonio de la tripulación del WC-135 de la USAF, a un fogonazo de lúz que surgió del buque soviético 'Chukotka'. Concluyendo los estadounidenses que sólo podía tratarse de un haz LASER disparado intencionadamente, quizá algo parecido al dispositivo LASER de los destructores proyecto 956 Sovremenny...
PENTAGON SAYS WOMAN DID NOT SUFFER PERMANENT EYE DAMAGE
NORMAN BLACK, Associated PressOct. 7, 1987 7:12 PM ETWASHINGTON (AP) _ An Air Force woman exposed to what the Pentagon believes was a Soviet laser last week did not suffer permanent eye damage, a Pentagon spokesman said Wednesday.
The Air Force, which has not made her name public, said she was the co- pilot of a WC-135 weather and surveillance plane over the Pacific Ocean last week when Soviets conducted two flight tests of a new ballistic missile.
The United States protested those tests because the Soviets used a target area that extended within 500 miles of Hawaii.
Col. David J. Shea, a Pentagon spokesman, said the Air Force woman underwent new medical tests earlier this week and doctors found ''no evidence of damage.''
''The pilot is not experiencing any after-effects,'' he added. ''But we'll continue to monitor her condition periodically.''
According to the Pentagon, two American aircraft - the WC-135 and a Navy P- 3 surveillance plane - were illuminated by an ''intense light'' from a Soviet intelligence ship operating in the target zone.
The light ''disturbed the (Air Force) co-pilot's vision for 10 minutes,'' the Pentagon said.
''Based on the information available, and the fact that the Soviets have in the past used laser devices to irradiate Western patrol aircraft, we believe these emissions were from a laser,'' it said.
Sen. Malcolm Wallop, R-Wyo., who disclosed the incident Friday, said he considered use of the laser a violation of the Soviet Union's treaty commitment not to interfere with ''national technical means'' - the aircraft, satellites and other devices used by the superpowers to monitor each other's military activities.
As such, he said, it was ''the sort of last straw in an incident involving a series of provocative acts which started with the aiming of ICBMs at the sovereign territory of the United States.''
The Defense Department, in the 1987 edition of Soviet Military Power, said that ''recent Soviet irradiation of Free World manned surveillance aircraft and ships could have caused serious eye damage to observers.''
In the booklet was a picture of an ''electro-optic sensor laser device'' aboard a Soviet destroyer that the Pentagon said ''has been used to irradiate Western patrol aircraft.''
A senior Defense Department official said at the time the Pentagon had received reports of pilots being temporarily blinded by such laser beams.
... al final los operadores estadounidenses no sufrieron daños permanentes y pese a que al incidente le siguieron una serie de acusaciones elevando el tono todo concluyó con el lanzamiento de 2 misiles balísticos soviéticos a unas 600 millas al NorOeste de las Islas Hawaii con lo que estos decidieron dar por finalizadas las pruebas llevando la voz cantante, digamos.
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