WTF: Patriot found in Finland on ship going to China?

:Finnish authorities have impounded an Isle of Man-flagged ship bound for China with undeclared missiles and explosives, officials say.

Police are questioning the crew of the MS Thor Liberty after what were described as 69 Patriot anti-missile missiles were found aboard.

Interior Minister Paivi Rasanen said the missiles were marked "fireworks".

The M/S Thor Liberty sailed from the north German port of Emden on Dec. 13 and two days later docked in Kotka, southern Finland, to pick up a cargo of anchor chains, Finnish Customs spokesman Petri Lounatmaa said.

"The patriot missiles are being transported from the ship to a more secure location under the protection of the Finnish military," says Rikosylikomisario Timo Virtanen, Detective Chief Superintendent in Finland's Nation Bureau of Investigation. "The explosives onboard the ship are not being confiscated... the problem with the explosives is that they are supposed to be inside containers, but they are legal."

He confirmed that the Finns are investigating two crimes; that the shippers did not ask for permission to transit the missiles and explosives via Finland, and the explosives being inappropriately loaded.

Virtanen said dock workers found the explosives — picric acid — badly stored on open pallets instead of in closed containers. They alerted inspectors who found the missiles in containers marked as holding fireworks.

Interior Minister Rasanen said she had not heard of a similar case.

"Of course, there are legal transports of weapons or defence material [through Finland] but in this case the cargo was marked as containing fireworks," she told Finnish media. "That is quite unusual."

Mr Lounatmaa said customs officials and police had launched a joint investigation into a possible breach of Finnish export and weapons trading laws.

He said that the crew of about 32 were being questioned.

The managing director of the ship's owner, Thorco Shipping, expressed surprise. Thomas Mikkelsen told AFP news agency from Denmark that he was unaware of the matter.

Another company official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the ship had been detained in Finland and said the missiles could have been loaded on to the vessel by mistake.

Police did not confirm Finnish media reports that the ship had also been scheduled to stop in North Korea, Reuters news agency reports.

Raytheon MIM-104 Patriot

The MIM-104 Patriot is the most advanced medium/long-range surface-to-air missile in current operational U.S. Army inventory. The Patriot system, complemented by the newPAC-3 missile, will remain the Army's main tactical air-defense system for some time in the future.

Studies for an advanced surface-to-air missile to supplement and eventually replace the MIM-23 Hawk already began in 1961 under the FABMDS (Field Army Ballistic Missile Defense System) program. The name was later changed to AADS-70 (Army Air-Defense System - 1970), and finally in 1964 to SAM-D (Surface-to-Air Missile - Development). Specifications were vague and changed frequently, but always included not only the ability to counter aircraft threats of all types, but also an anti-TBM (Theater Ballistic Missiles, a.k.a. short-range ballistic missiles) capability. In May 1967, Raytheon was selected as prime contractor for SAM-D development, and firing trials of SAM-D test missiles began in November 1969. The engineering development phase began in 1973, but in January 1974, a major change in the requirements occurred. It was directed that SAM-D should use Track-Via-Missile (TVM) guidance, i.e. target tracking information is not received by the ground radar directly, but by the missile which transmits it to the ground control station. Because the missile is always nearer to the target than the ground radar, this method significantly enhances accuracy and the ability to discriminate decoys from the real threat. This new requirement of course significantly delayed the development, and full-scale development didn't start until January 1976, after TVM had been demonstrated in tests in 1975. Around that time, the official designation XMIM-104A was assigned, and in May 1976, SAM-D was named Patriot. Testing of the missile and the Patriot ground equipment continued through the late 1970s, and in October 1980, the first production contract for the MIM-104A Patriot missile was issued. In 1984, the Patriot finally reached Initial Operation Capability with its first U.S. Army units.

Photo: U.S. Army

MIM-104A/B (exact model unknown)

The MIM-104A is powered by a single Thiokol TX-486-1 solid-fueled rocket motor, and armed with a high-explosive blast-fragmentation warhead. The missile is launched from canisters, four of which make up the M901 launching station transported on an M860 semi-trailer. The Patriot missile is inertially guided with command updates, using TVM for high terminal accuracy. The main item of the ground equipment is the AN/MPQ-53 G-band pulse-doppler phased-array multipurpose radar, which is controlled by the AN/MSQ-104 ECS (Engagement Control Station). The ECS is the central control agency for all missiles of a Patriot unit, and automatically coordinates the assignment of missiles to identified targets, and the launches of the individual missiles. The AN/MPQ-53 is used for tracking, IFF, and target-illumination purposes, and also includes the command uplink and TVM downlink channels. The TVM guidance method is particularly efficient in long-range and/or low-altitude engagements, when the ground radar can "see" much less of the energy reflected from the target than the MIM-104's monopulse seeker. Then the "radar image" in the missile's seeker can be used, together with the high computing power of the ECS, to discriminate decoys and calculate the interception path. At the interception point, the missile's warhead is detonated by a radar-proximity fuze.

The MIM-104B, fielded in the late 1980s, is also known as the SOJC (Standoff Jammer Countermeasures) missile and uses a modified guidance and navigation hardware. The MIM-104B adds a surface-to-surface capability against ground-based radar jamming sources to the Patriot system. The missile can fly an optimized (lofted) trajectory towards the jammer, and use its seeker to select the strongest emitter for terminal homing. The anti-aircraft/anti-missile capability is the same as for the MIM-104A.

Photo: U.S. Army

MIM-104A/B (exact model unknown)

The most important changes to the Patriot system were made by the PAC (Patriot Advanced Capability, originally Patriot Anti-TBM Capability) program. The interim PAC-1 modification, first flight tested against an MGM-52 Lance target missile in September 1986, incorporated only software changes to the search and track algorithms and the phased-array radar (the maximum elevation angle of the latter was increased from 45° to almost 90°). Because the Patriot missile itself was unchanged, no new MIM-104 designation was allocated. The first PAC-1 systems were fielded in July 1988.

The PAC-2 upgrade includes further software changes, and an improved MIM-104C missile. The MIM-104C has a blast-fragmentation warhead with larger fragments (45 g compared to 2 g for the MIM-104A/B warhead) to increase lethality against ballistic missile warheads. It also has a new pulse-doppler proximity fuze with two beams, a narrow one for missiles, and a broader one for slower aircraft targets. The first test firing of an MIM-104C (against another Patriot missile!) occurred in November 1987, and the first PAC-2 systems were delivered to the field in late 1990. During Operation Desert Storm (ODS) in 1991, PAC-1 and PAC-2 systems were used against Iraqi "Al-Hussein" (modified SS-1 Scud) SRBMs. In most of the ODS engagements, two missiles were automatically fired at an incoming target. The success rate was not bad, but not as overwhelmingly good as the first reports suggested. Furthermore, the "Al-Hussein" was far from the state-of-the-art in missile and countermeasures technology.

Photo: U.S. Army

MIM-104C

The MIM-104D, also known as PAC-2/GEM (Guidance Enhanced Missile), is a further improved MIM-104C. It has a seeker with better performance against low-RCS targets, and an improved fuze against high-speed ballistic missiles. The MIM-104D entered production in 1994.

The designation MIM-104E has been allocated to the new GEM+ version, and many existing PAC-2 rounds (MIM-104C/D) will be upgraded to MIM-104E standard by replacement of the missile forebody. The upgrade consists of a new low-noise front end to increase seeker sensitivity (improving acquisition and tracking of small RCS targets) and a modernized fuzing system for better performance against ballistic missile targets. Reliability of the GEM+ missile is also improved by replacement of older components with new technology. The first MIM-104Es were delivered to the U.S. Army in November 2002.

The PAC-3 system incorporates many changes to the ground equipment and the missile, and is fielded in incremental steps, called Configuration 1, 2, and 3. PAC-3/Conf.1 was first fielded in 1995, and incorporates changes to the ECS, a new pulse-doppler radar processor, and the MIM-104D missile. PAC-3/Conf.2, introduced in 1996, includes Link 16 JTIDS (Joint Tactical Information Distribution System) compatibility and further radar improvements against low-RCS targets and anti-radiation missiles.

The ultimate PAC-3/Conf.3 includes upgrades to the radar (now designated AN/MPQ-65) to increase detection in high-clutter environments, and to improve discrimination of closely spaced objects (better decoy recognition). The most important feature of this new Patriot system, however, will be a completely new missile, a variant of the Lockheed Martin ERINT (Extended Range Interceptor). It is commonly called PAC-3 (q.v. for further details), which is a bit confusing because the interim PAC-3 systems don't use this missile.

More than 12000 MIM-104 Patriot missiles have been built so far by Raytheon.

Specifications

Note: Data given by several sources show slight variations. Figures given below may therefore be inaccurate!

Data for MIM-104A/B (except where noted):

Length	5.31 m (17 ft 5 in)
Finspan	84 cm (33 in)
Diameter	41 cm (16 in)
Weight	900 kg (2000 lb)
Speed	Mach 5
Ceiling	24000 m (80000 ft)
Range	70 km (43 miles)
Propulsion	Thiokol TX-486-1 solid-fueled rocket
Warhead	M248 91 kg (200 lb) blast-fragmentation MIM-104C/D: 84 kg (185 lb) blast-fragmentation

Main Sources

[1] Bill Gunston: "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rockets and Missiles", Salamander Books Ltd, 1979
[2] Hajime Ozu: "Missile 2000 - Reference Guide to World Missile Systems", Shinkigensha, 2000
[3] Bernard Blake (ed.): "Jane's Weapon Systems 1987-88", Jane's, 1988
[4] Redstone Arsenal Historical Information Website
[5] Raytheon Website
[6] HAWK Site Denmark (originally at http://www.hawk.dk/, now dead link (31 March 2004))

J.C. Watts Endorses Gingrich

X-Oklahoma Rep. J.C. Watts has endorsed Newt Gingrich for president. 

“I’m not looking for a candidate that’s perfect, that’s not flawed,” he told Fox News. “All of them are flawed, and those that think they’re not flawed, that’s their flaw. I’m looking for somebody that will be willing to do the heavy lifting to get us to where we all want to be as a nation, and I think Newt fits that profile.”

Gingrich made a true difference on policy as House speaker, Watts said. "When you consider where we are today, and you think about the good old days of balanced budgets, entitlement reform, paying down our national debt, getting tax relief -- as a Republican majority, Newt Gingrich was the speaker. We haven't seen things like that in the last 13 years.”


This coming on the heels of Republican Senator Tom Coburn R-Okla. who has some harsh words for his former boss Newt Gingrich.

“There’s a lot of candidates out there I’m not inclined to be a supporter of Newt Gingrich’s having served under him for four years and personally experiences his leadership,” said Coburn said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Coburn served under then Speaker Gingrich after being elected to the House of Representatives in 1994 as part of the great Republican revival brought on by Gingrich.

“There’s all types of leaders.  Leaders that instill confidence, leaders that are somewhat abrupt and brisk.  Leaders that have one standard for the people that they’re leading and a different standard for themselves.  I just found his leadership lacking,” Coburn said.

This isn’t the first time that Coburn has spoken critically of Gingrich’s leadership style.

Coburn described the former speaker as someone who is brilliant but divisive while speaking on C-SPAN in March.

“We need someone who’s eye is critical but is not harsh in their manner,” he said.

Coburn has previously announced his decision not to run for re-election in 2016.

South Korean military declares emergency alert after Kim Jong-il's death

 

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) on Monday placed all military units on emergency alert following the news of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's death.

The JCS said it called an emergency meeting of officials handling crisis management and operations just after noon Monday (0300 GMT), after the North Korean media reported Kim's death.


Kyodo reporting Japan also convening emergency security meeting after announcement by Pyongyang of Kim Jong-il's death.

Hezbollah $$$ Laundering Probe Focuses On Tulsa Car Dealership

FBI and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration launches an investigation into a multi-million dollar money laundering scheme which starts in Oklahoma and involves Oklahoman's helping terrorists.

The scheme begins at Ace Auto Leasing, which was used as a cover for Terrorists, drugs and other illegal activity. That has allegedly funneled $483 million through terrorist-controlled channels to Hezbollah and other Terrorists groups since January 2007.

Ace Auto Leasing, 5717 E. 11th St., is one of about 30 U.S. car buyers along with several other entities accused of facilitating the arrangement, according to a civil lawsuit filed Thursday in the U.S. Southern District of New York.

The red flag for the deal? Authorities say Ace Auto in Tulsa received more than $20 million in wire transfers from Hezbollah members or Hezbollah-controlled entities to purchase and ship used cars.

Records maintained by the Oklahoma Tax Commission indicate Mohamad K. Soukieh is the only officer associated with the corporation Ace Auto Leasing Inc. of Tulsa.

Tulsa County assessor records indicate property utilized as a used car lot in the 5700 block of East 11th Street was purchased by Mohamad K and Daad Soukieh in 2002. Adjacent property and land was purchased in 2005 and 2007.

Hezbollah is a Lebanon-based terrorist organization responsible for some of the most deadly anti-U.S. attacks dating to 1983. The group was formed in 1982 after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. It has been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, a Specially Designated Terrorist and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

Fifty-six terrorists groups all over the world are looking for new sources of funding. One of the ways they can find it is through drug sourcing activities.

In all, 30 domestic companies are being investigated.

A joint terrorism task force is looking for more than $480 million dollars from Lebanese institutions.

The money laundering scheme alleged is a complicated system involving car buyers and drug dealers with the Lebanese Canadian Bank acting at the center of the operation. Used car and other consumer good sales were used to hide the proceeds of illegal drug sales, all profiting Hezbollah and its efforts, the lawsuit alleges.

"The businesses of these car buyers typically have little or no property or assets other than bank accounts that are used to receive wires from overseas to buy cars, and to purchase used cars at auction," the lawsuit states.

"The car buyers typically do not have offices, car lots, or an inventory of used cars other than cars that are in transit to the ports. Some of the car buyers purchase cars for their own account, but others simply retain a fee of a few hundred dollars for each car that they buy."

A significant portion of the cash from car sales was allegedly transported to Lebanon by a Hezbollah-controlled system of money couriers, cash smugglers and currency brokers, according to the lawsuit.

A transportation company in Michigan is accused of frequently shipping cars to West Africa and other entities. Cash was then sent on to the Beirut airport, where Hezbollah security guarded and guided its passage to its final destination, the lawsuit alleges.

"The intricate scheme laid out in today's complaint reveals the deviously creative ways that terrorist organizations are funding themselves and moving their money, and it puts into stark relief the nexus between narcotics trafficking and terrorism," Bharara stated in a press release Friday. "Today, we are putting a stranglehold on a major source of that funding by disrupting a vast and far-flung network that spanned three continents."

In addition, the same infrastructure was used to hide and move money from drug sales from West Africa back to Lebanon, the lawsuit claims.

The system involved getting cocaine from Colombia through Africa to European markets. Proceeds were mixed with the used car profits and sent to the Lebanese Canadian Bank through exchange houses, the lawsuit alleges.

The Lebanese Canadian Bank also sent money through U.S. accounts to pay Asian suppliers of consumer goods, which were shipped to dealers in South America to pay off cocaine suppliers, the lawsuit alleges.

"DEA and its partners have exposed the Lebanese Canadian Bank as a major money laundering source for Hezbollah," stated DEA administrator Michele M. Leonhart in a press release Friday.

"The connection between drug traffickers and terror networks is evident. By attacking the financial networks of those who wish to harm innocent Americans, DEA is strengthening national security and making our citizens safer."


For more Background see:

Holy Land Retrial Ends in Sweeping Guilty Verdicts

Terror in Oklahoma

2011 Social Media Timeline

Today is the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor A date which will live in infamy...

When President Franklin Roosevelt went before Congress on the morning of Dec. 8, 1941 to request a declaration of war against Japan, the outcome was a foregone conclusion. Japan had bombed the United States and killed thousands in a surprise attack at Pearl Harbor.
But Roosevelt knew history would forever remember what he said. And 70 years later, his speech continues to serve as one of the most important in American history.

Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with the government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleagues delivered to the Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.

Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island.

This morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.

Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us.

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, Dec. 7, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.

Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany and Benito Mussolini’s fascist Italy would declare war on the U.S. four days later. World War II would claim more than 400,000 American lives and millions more across the world.


It was a high price to pay to learn an important lesson — that we cannot sit idle while threats to our nation run rampant and unchecked. It is a lesson we must never forget.


And it all began 70 years ago today.