$1.2bil goes down in spectacular fireball

[Whoha]

Originally posted by OneFootInTheGrave
according to Wiki it's more like 2.1 bn USD and that is 1997 USD... so in todays USD it is more like 2.7bn USD fireball. US is the "most expensive fireball" world record holder

The oil pipeline explosion in Russia in the 80s might also qualify.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

but I bet this one has a highest cost per measure of time after all time is money

[Darius871]

Originally posted by Whoha
The oil pipeline explosion in Russia in the 80s might also qualify.

Link?

[Alinestra Covelia]

Does a nuclear explosion qualify as a fireball?

Because the R&D for those is probably quite expensive too.

[BKWM]

Originally posted by OneFootInTheGrave
according to Wiki it's more like 2.1 bn USD and that is 1997 USD... so in todays USD it is more like 2.7bn USD fireball. US is the "most expensive fireball" world record holder

We hold that one for nuking Japan.

[Krill]

Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia
Does a nuclear explosion qualify as a fireball?

Because the R&D for those is probably quite expensive too.

Yeah, they do count...

[Darius871]

No they don't; incurring those costs was both intentional and beneficial. The loss of a B-2 or oil pipeline is neither.

[Heraclitus]

Originally posted by Riesstiu IV
I suppose so.

Off topic but is any else amazed at the longevity of the B-52? How long have they been in service, since the mid 1950s? Do they have any plans to retire them?

They should soo be in civ, can you think of any "modern unit" that has lasted that long?

[Whoha]

Originally posted by Darius871
Link?

http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=829

[Julian Delphiki]

Fireworks are cool .

Originally posted by Darius871


Link?

This one?

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/02/27/1077676970856.html

( Big Bada Boom )

Cold War hotted up when sabotaged Soviet pipeline went off with a bang

The former US president Ronald Reagan approved a CIA plan to sabotage the economy of the former Soviet Union, which resulted in "the most monumental non-nuclear explosion and fire ever seen from space" a Reagan White House official says.

The CIA covertly transferred technology containing malfunctions, including software, that later triggered a huge explosion in a Siberian natural gas pipeline in mid-1982, Thomas Reed, a former air force secretary, then a member of the National Security Council, writes in a new memoir.

Reed says the pipeline explosion was just one example of "cold-eyed economic warfare" the CIA carried out, under its director William Casey, during the final years of the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

The US was trying to stop western Europe from importing Soviet natural gas, and there were also signs that the Russians were trying to steal Western technology. A KGB insider then gained access to Russian purchase orders and the CIA slipped the flawed software to the Russians.

"The result was the most monumental non-nuclear explosion and fire ever seen from space," Reed recalls in At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War, to be published next month.

"While there were no physical casualties from the pipeline explosion, there was significant damage to the Soviet economy," he writes. "Its ultimate bankruptcy, not a bloody battle or nuclear exchange, is what brought the Cold War to an end.

"In time the Soviets came to understand that they had been stealing bogus technology, but now what were they to do? By implication, every cell of the Soviet leviathan might be infected. They had no way of knowing which equipment was sound, which was bogus. All was suspect, which was the intended endgame for the entire operation."

The CIA learnt of the full extent of the KGB's pursuit of Western technology in an operation code-named Farewell Dossier. Portions of the operation have been disclosed earlier, including in a 1996 paper in Studies in Intelligence, a CIA journal. The paper was written by Gus Weiss, an expert on technology and intelligence who served with Reed on the National Security Council and was instrumental in devising the plan to send the flawed materials to the former Soviet Union. He died last year.

In January 1982 Weiss proposed slipping the Russians technology that would work for a while, then fail. Reed said the CIA "would add 'extra ingredients' to the software and hardware on the KGB's shopping list".

"Reagan received the plan enthusiastically," Reed writes. "Casey was given a go."

The sabotage of the gas pipeline has not been previously disclosed, and at the time was a closely guarded secret. When the pipeline exploded, Reed writes, the first reports caused concern in the US military and at the White House.

"NORAD [North American Air Defence Command] feared a missile lift-off from a place where no rockets were known to be based," he said. "Or perhaps it was the detonation of a small nuclear device." However, satellites did not pick up any telltale signs of a nuclear explosion. "Before these conflicting indicators could turn into an international crisis, Gus Weiss came down the hall to tell his fellow [National Security Council] staffers not to worry."

The Washington Post

Thats actually quite spy thriller/movie material, wiki has some info about technology scam http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farewell_Dossier.

[Dinner]

"By implication, every cell of the Soviet leviathan might be infected. They had no way of knowing which equipment was sound, which was bogus. All was suspect, which was the intended endgame for the entire operation."

That is a bunch of wishful thinking from a CIA wonk who wanted to feel his job was important. The explosion itself sounds like a very successful operation but there likely weren't that many critical systems the Soviets bought/stole from the west so it's not like they didn't know which items were suspect and which weren't.

Once burned is twice learned so it is doubtful the CIA could pull anything similar again as the Soviets would be on the guard.

[Julian Delphiki]

No more fireworks then.

[Darius871]

Thanks, can't believe I've never heard of that one before. They better make a damn movie soon, it's not like they have any better ideas these days...

[Theben]

Originally posted by Lonestar


My dad is a Jew.

Then have him buy yer extra 5 damn carriers.

[Patroklos]

Out of curiosity, who would win in a combat with a B-2 attacking and a carrier group defending?

(Just checking how cost effective they are.)

Its not the B-2 that is the weak link for the USAF in this situation, it is their slow freefall high radar crossection bombs that a CG/DDG escort would eat for breakfast