The ships manifest had marked them as fireworks!

Finnish customs held them for questioning for two days with heavy guard on the missiles, then released them with short announcement saying "Everything is in order" and that they'll get to keep their cargo when they leave the shore...The holdup they say is that the ship is loading in tons of expensive Finnish exports before the missiles are returned to them

Now that Finland made this official, what are the chances of Civilian cargo ship making it through Chinese waters with cargo full of military grade missiles?

 

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Oh boy, this does not sound good for what this might cause to happen in the near future.

Cite?


http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/finnish-police-detain-ukrainian-captain-officer-in-missile-and-explosive-shipment/2011/12/22/gIQAMWPOBP_sto ry.html



I think your story may have been referring to another item on their manifest, a shipment of picric acid (which is used... in fireworks)

 

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Patriot missiles?

You would have to be pretty damn desperate to use those things. They are fairly good at shooting down low flying birds and your own countries aircraft.....not much use against an enemy however.

Patriot missiles are actually anti-ballistic missile weapons. The only time I can recall them seeing use was as a shield around Israel, back when Saddam was lobbing those SCUD missiles at them. I seem to recall they worked "pretty good". They did have some misses, but they also did knock out a large number of SCUDs.

I do not believe that they are at all intended for manned aircraft.

 

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What is so strange about these going to south korea?

 

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And those were all first generation Patriots. The current generation missile batteries are an order of magnitude superior to what was put in the field 20 years ago.



They weren't, but they can be and have. There have been two friendly-fire incidents with Patriots.

 

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I remember them being labeled fireworks when I heard about this like a week ago.

 

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Patriot missiles are configured in many different ways. They were initially a SAM intended for anti-aircraft duty. Under the "Star Wars" initiative....they were repurposed for anti-ballistic missile interception.

Under field testing, they failed in dramatic fashion during Desert Storm with either zero or one confirmed hits (depending upon the agency testifying) against SCUD's and zero confirmed kills (consensus of both competing reporting agencies) against them.

The newer versions performed decently (confirmed hits of around 60%, kills of around 30%) against Iraqi made missiles which were essentially crappy SCUD's using Russian 1960's SAM bodies and technology. The only confirmed kill they made against an aircraft was upon a US fighter Jet that the "new system" thought was a ballistic missile due to software problems....which are pretty much endemic to the systems no matter the generation.

They are sold all over the world and are thought to be effective against really crappy technology some of the time...as long as you keep all your own planes out of any area they might be active in.

I have an urge to build a new rocket kit, I wonder if I can get a picture of the South Korean marking to make it authentic?

 

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