Article

2018-09-08 Britain

Inside Putin's sinister spy-killing GRU unit that boasts nuclear suitcase bombs, helped bring down MH17 and plotted Novichok poisonings

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Posted by Besoeker 2018-09-08 09:05|| || Front Page|| [4 views ] Top

#1 ...Hmmm. IIRC, back in the day, between them and the KGB they were the more practical and stable of the two.

Practical and stable being purely relative terms, you understand.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2018-09-08 09:52|| 2018-09-08 09:52|| Front Page Top

#2 And assassinated Julius Caesar, and crucified Jesus?

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2018-09-08 10:50|| 2018-09-08 10:50|| Front Page Top

#3 #2 And assassinated Julius Caesar, and crucified Jesus?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2018-09-08 10:50

...And did it before lunch.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2018-09-08 11:39|| 2018-09-08 11:39|| Front Page Top

#4 Mike:
Yeah, I was wondering: Why not use Smersh?

Posted by Frozen Al 2018-09-08 11:42|| 2018-09-08 11:42|| Front Page Top

#5 Superseded by SPECTRE?

Posted by Bobby 2018-09-08 11:47|| 2018-09-08 11:47|| Front Page Top

#6 #4 Mike:
Yeah, I was wondering: Why not use Smersh?
Posted by: Frozen Al 2018-09-08 11:42

Al,

For all its fame (or infamy) SMERSH had a very short lifespan - from just after the German invasion of the USSR to about the Japanese surrender, at which point it was folded into one of the agencies which eventually became the KGB.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2018-09-08 13:59|| 2018-09-08 13:59|| Front Page Top

#7 KGB - GRU - what about the FSB? Get current!

Posted by Blackbeard Omereling5004 2018-09-08 18:58|| 2018-09-08 18:58|| Front Page Top

#8 Suitcase nukes. Yeah, yeah.
Shortly before I rejoined the civilian world in the 70's, I got 'briefed in' on the MK54 manpack , aka the Davy Crockett manpack. (One more reason to get out...)
It was actually a warhead from a Crockett recoiless nuke rocket, with a triggering control and timer (I wanted to know if it came with a bottle of whisky, but...). Supposedly for airborne insertion or stay behinds in Europe if it went down.
I recall a critical point they harped on was that because it was a small bomb, the critical mass unit was made from very highly enriched material (to keep size down), and as such half life decay gave you a shelf life of 10 years. After that, it might not work.
It's why we have a recycling plant at Pantex outside Amarillo, to re-refine the U or Pl back into a reliable product. As it is, there is a definite lower limit to the mass required in a nuke, and it continuously degrades.

Posted by ed in texas 2018-09-08 21:30|| 2018-09-08 21:30|| Front Page Top

#9 We’ve discussed the threat of suitcase nukes here quite q few times over the years. One such discussion can be perused here.

Posted by trailing wife 2018-09-08 22:59|| 2018-09-08 22:59|| Front Page Top

23:11 746
22:59 trailing wife
22:43 Fairbanks
21:30 ed in texas
21:14 Frank G
20:18 Anomalous Sources
20:15 CrazyFool
20:14 Dave D.
20:04 Anomalous Sources
19:53 KBK
19:51 KBK
19:49 KBK
19:31 CrazyFool
19:31 CrazyFool
19:31 CrazyFool
19:21 Frank G
19:04 Glenmore
19:02 Blackbeard Omereling5004
19:00 Dave D.
19:00 Blackbeard Omereling5004
18:58 Blackbeard Omereling5004
18:29 Anomalous Sources
18:26 Anomalous Sources
17:11 g(r)omgoru