The Nation : Soviets Suspected in Loss of Missile Part

The Pentagon is investigating the loss of a flight data recorder from a long-range atomic missile test in 1987 and there is a possibility the Soviets may have recovered the device, the Pentagon said. The recorder would contain valuable information about the performance of the Minuteman 2 missile, according to the CBS Evening News, which first reported the story. The missile, which carried a dummy warhead, was launched July 7, 1987, in a test shot from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California toward Kwajalein Atoll in the western Pacific. U.S. officials recovered 400 pounds of debris from a lagoon the next morning and shipped it to the United States for analysis, CBS said. But the 45-day long analysis turned up no sign of the flight data recorder. CBS said U.S. officials believe the Soviets, using a small submarine, took the nose cone’s classified package before the Americans got to the site.