« Aw man, this just sucks. . . | Main | Mars Pics »

June 20, 2005

Glad these are going bye bye. . .

Russia has decided that it's time to take the BZHRK trains off the tracks. The 36 BZHRK trains were one of Russia's most feared weapons platforms during the Cold War. Each train consisted of a command post, and up to 5 nuclear tipped SS-24 ICBM's. The trains kept on the move constantly during the Cold War, each was capable of traversing 1000 miles over 24 hours.

These moving missile silos were very difficult for American and NATO intelligence analysts to track. The rail cars housing the weapons were very difficult to disguinish from standard rail cars and they were frequently "lost" in railyards and during bad weather. In the 1990's the U.S. struck a deal to keep the trains stationary.

The Russians say that the systems are no longer guaranteed reliable, and I supposed that's as good a reason as any for getting rid of them. Regardless, I'm happy that these are being retired. The world just became a slighty safer place.

--Jason

Posted by JasonColeman at June 20, 2005 10:04 AM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.jasoncoleman.com/MT/mt-tb.cgi/49