US Hellfire missile mistakenly shipped to Cuba

[UAE]

US Hellfire missile mistakenly shipped to Cuba


Dummy missile used for Nato training in Spain in 2014 accidentally sent to Havana, which has not returned the device, Wall Street Journal reports



A Predator unmanned aerial vehicle carrying a Hellfire missile lands at a base in the Persian Gulf: a dummy Hellfire missile has been mistakenly shipped to Cuba. Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images
Associated Press

Friday 8 January 2016 04.28 GMTLast modified on Friday 8 January 2016 04.30 GMT

A dummy US Hellfire missile was mistakenly shipped from Europe to Cuba in 2014, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

The inert missile did not contain any explosives, the Journal reported, but there are concerns that Cuba could share the technology with potential US adversaries such as North Korea or Russia.

The Journal report was attributed to anonymous “people familiar with the matter”.

A US official with knowledge of the situation, who wasn’t authorised to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity, confirmed its veracity to the Associated Press (AP).

According to the defense department, the Hellfire is a laser-guided, air-to-surface missile that weighs about 45kg (100lb). It can be deployed from an attack helicopter such as the Apache or an unmanned drone such as the Predator. It is manufactured by Lockheed Martin.

The US official told the AP that Lockheed was authorised to export the dummy missile for a Nato training exercise. The official attributed the shipping error to Lockheed’s freight forwarders, and said the US was working with Lockheed to get the device back.

The official said the US did not want any defense technology to remain in a proscribed country, whether that country can use it or not. The official said there is greater concern that Cuba could give more technically advanced countries access to the dummy.

According to the Journal report, the missile was properly shipped to Spain, where it was used in the training exercise. It was then taken on a somewhat roundabout journey through Spain, Germany and France before winding up at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.

From there, it was supposed to have been shipped back to Florida; instead, it was loaded onto an Air France flight to Havana.

US officials have been urging the Cuban government to return the missile, the Journal’s sources said. The US and Cuba restored diplomatic relations in July 2015 after more than 50 years of hostility.

The Journal reported that the US is also investigating whether the missile’s disappearance was a deliberate act of espionage.

US Hellfire missile mistakenly shipped to Cuba | US news | The Guardian

 

[Redheart]

Doesn't the U.S sell the hellfire missiles to other countries and aren't there spies everywhere who could share the technology to their adversaries. They should admit that sending the hellfire missile to Cuba was an embarrassing mistake but I suppose that's all there is to it because the hellfire missile program might be "killed" this year. There was talk about in 2014 . . .

 

[Susimi]

I wonder if they have insurance for it

Someone's gonna be feeling very foolish right now and possible lose their job.

 

[Diane Lane]

I've worked on federal contracts, and it's entirely possible that this was an actual mistake. There is so much bureaucracy and inattentiveness, even in sensitive positions that it could be the case, but the matter definitely needs to be investigated, to determine if in fact this was a mistake, or a deliberate act. Either way, the freight forwarder and its contact handling the transfer need to be looked into, and possibly censured and/or replaced.

 

[explorerx7]

Cuba may eventually return it after a bit of delay so that they can gather intelligence on this device. It's hardly unlikely that they would not capitalize on this opportunity. I also believed that this information would be passed on to Russia their chief ally.

 

[rz3300]

I love it when the news headlines just makes it seem like another oops that can be written off. It seems here that there was a big mistake on the part of someone. Good thing it was not shipped somewhere that we have had tensions with in the past....oh wait. Hopefully Russia did not hear the news and start to think that something is up.

 

[silentwarfare]

Hellfire "accidentally leaked to the public of Cuba" is how the media says it in America whenever a company wants it to be known that they did or just released something they want people to buy or know about. That's how this article comes across to me. They didn't accidentally do this, it was on purpose.

For anyone who isn't aware of this, there is a yearly meeting in the desert where all the top generals and officials meet to trade their stuff for millions of dollars at a time, and sometimes billions depending on what it is they want to buy. You can get everything from blackhawk helicopters to missile launchers. They have them in tents, and the rest out on display next to their tents. You just walk into the tent for that country, tell them what you want, and they'll sell it to you on the spot.