Vela incident

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Location of the Prince Edward Islands , near which the Vela incident occurred
Vela-5 satellites before their launch

The Vela incident ( English Vela incident or 22 September 1979 event ) was the recording of a double flash of light by the optical sensors of a Vela satellite on September 22, 1979 over the South Atlantic between Bouvet Island and the Prince Edward Islands .

The incident

On September 22, 1979 at around 1 a.m. UTC , the optical sensors of the Vela satellite 6911 registered two flashes of light in quick succession, as typically caused by an above-ground nuclear weapon explosion. However, the satellite could not unequivocally identify the event as a nuclear explosion, as the EMP detectors of the satellite, which was already obsolete at the time, had failed.

Hypotheses

The US government set up a commission made up of experts such as Luis Walter Alvarez . This questioned the informative value of this measurement. No corresponding radioactive traces could be found during flights by the US Air Force over the alleged explosion area. One explanation suggested by Alvarez was the impact of a micrometeorite on the satellite. However, critics see the results of this commission as partial, as the then President Jimmy Carter campaigned against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. A nuclear test, especially with Israeli participation, could have become a political problem.

If the Vela incident was actually a nuclear weapon test, South Africa , whose government began an ambitious nuclear weapons program in the 1970s, is the most likely cause. Apparently, ships of the South African Navy were also near the site of the explosion at the time in question . According to Sasha Polakow-Suransky, Israel offered nuclear weapons for sale in 1975 to South Africa, with which it also cooperated on other armaments projects; the then Israeli Defense Minister and later President Shimon Peres denied this.

Historical context

The Carnation Revolution in Portugal on April 25, 1974 was an external impetus for a changed balance of power in southern Africa. The independence of the former Portuguese colonies of Mozambique and Angola in 1975 suddenly confronted South Africa with neighboring states that openly opposed the apartheid regime, at least with the support of the ANC. Until then, the two Portuguese colonial areas had been foreign policy buffer zones for South Africa's neighborhood policy, with which it had maintained close military ties.

After the outbreak of the civil war in Angola , the South African army marched into southern Angola on October 23, 1975 with the approval of the USA , where they also encountered Cuban troops . One of the goals was to simultaneously fight the SWAPO , which began the armed struggle against South Africa in 1966 and operated from Angola. After withdrawing from Angola, South Africa continued the war against the neighboring country from occupied South West Africa .

South Africa responded to the foreign policy threats with its own nuclear weapons program . Since January 1978, the enrichment plant in Pelindaba has been supplying weapons-grade uranium, from which South Africa constructed six operational nuclear weapons. Defense Minister Pieter Willem Botha supported a nuclear weapons program and the military's preparations for a nuclear test during his tenure. German research institutions were also involved in the South African nuclear technology development. South Africa used a process that is a modified version of an isotope separation process developed in Germany . Scientific publications on this subject were also available to the South Africans. Deliveries came from US, French, German and Swiss companies. Cooperation with German partners was of considerable importance.

Botha became Prime Minister in 1978 (see Articles Botha and History of South Africa ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chris McGreal: "Revealed: how Israel offered to sell South Africa nuclear weapons: Secret apartheid-era papers give first official evidence of Israeli nuclear weapons". The Guardian , May 24, 2010, accessed May 24, 2010 .
  2. ↑ Nuclear deal with South Africa: Israel allegedly offered atomic bombs to the apartheid regime spiegel.de, May 24, 2010:
  3. ^ Ronald Meinardus: The Africa policy of the Republic of South Africa. Bonn 1981, ISBN 3-921614-50-3 , p. 85.
  4. ↑ Thomas B. Cochran: Highly Enriched Uranium Production for South African Nuclear Weapons In: Science & Global Security, 1994, Volume 4, pp. 161–176 (English; PDF; 1.9 MB)
  5. ^ Director of Central Intelligence: The September 22, 1979 Event . at www.gwu.edu (George Washington University) (English; PDF; 1.3 MB)
  6. ^ SAIRR : Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1979 . Johannesburg 1980, p. 86
  7. ^ David Albright: South Africa's Secret Nuclear Weapons . ISIS Report May 1994, online at www.isis-online.org (English)
  8. ^ David Albright & Andrea Stricker: Revisting South Africa's Nuclear Weapons Program . online at www.isis-online.org (English), p. 54

Coordinates: 47 °  S , 40 °  E