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Zaphod58
reply to post by JimOberg
Chances are the first test flight wouldn't have done anything with the warhead. They would have just launched and flown to prove that the missile works. You usually do at least one to two tests without a warhead release, as a proof of missile operation.
Zaphod58
reply to post by 1ofthe9
My bet is on at least the first flight having ballast on it. You have to walk before you can run, and releasing a warhead on the first flight is trying to run before you have crawled.
Zaphod58
reply to post by 1ofthe9
This missile is supposed to have advanced capabilities to avoid ground based defenses, as well as being able to steer itself in the terminal phase of flight. That's at least part of the spiraling. Until recently there wasn't really a need to avoid defenses, but they've been improving in the last few years.
JimOberg
These tests were far from the first Topol launches, which usually went out of Plesetsk [sometimes Baykonur] all the way to Kamchatka, sometimes farther out into mid-Pacific. These Kapustin Yar tests involved developing new countermeasures to missile defense systems.
The reason I think this is a UFO topic is that these activities create a category of apparitions not widely recognized as 'UFO stimuli', and precise characterization of their visual properties can really help calibrate descriptive accounts from witnesses. It also may cast light into shadowy interests in foreign UFO reports from US intelligence agencies.
A lot of mid-Atlantic US SLBM missile tests over the decades were also creating such apparitions, witnessed from islands, ships, and planes -- a field of investigation still barely scratched.
All the factors in these Topol sightings -- angular size and motion, illumination conditions, imaging capabilities, witness misinterpretations -- are important factors in other subsets of ufology. I hope this helps. These comments are terrific.
JimOberg
Here are some draft talking points about the October 10 missile event and the lessons it has for UFO studies:
...
Consult more closely with US missile specialists in hypothesizing design of short-range ICBM profile