An old friend asked me, a couple of weeks ago, if I participated in NATO Command Post Exercise Able Archer 83.
I hadn’t thought about this event in years, but it’s worth sharing, for anyone interested in historical events that almost brought us to nuclear war.
When I arrived in Holland, in July of 1983, I was assigned to HQ AFCENT (Armed Forces Central Europe), as a software developer.
In November, 1983, I was tasked to serve as Lead IT (Information Technology) Analyst, at the HQ NATO War Room, Mons, Belgium, during NATO Exercise Able Archer 83 (AA83) (Able Archer 83 - Wikipedia).
I worked the exercise assisting NATO Intelligence Officers in using their Computer hardware and software tools to run and monitor the exercise.
it’s still unclear exactly why this exercise brought us to the brink, possibly because of a “comedy of errors”:
At any rate, the Politburo became more and more convinced that AA83 was, in reality, a precursor to an actual nuclear attack, by the US.
“KGB and GRU military foreign intelligence arm would begin Operation RYaN. RYaN (РЯН) was a Russian acronym for "Nuclear Missile Attack””.
Ultimately, Soviet Air Defense Lt Col Stanislav Petrov (Stanislav Petrov - Wikipedia) prevented potential nuclear war, by disobeying orders and refusing to launch, because he was in duty when the Soviet early warning system erroneously identified a US nuclear launch, over the prior two months. He felt the launch identified during AA83 was also an error. He felt the US would never launch a five warheads, they would instead launch every warhead simultaneously. He felt it simply “didn’t make sense”.
“In any case, the incident exposed a serious flaw in the Soviet early warning system. Petrov has said that he was neither rewarded nor punished for his actions.”.
This video is a very accurate and interesting account —>
“Historians such as Thomas Blanton, Director of the National Security Archive, and Tom Nichols, a professor at the Naval War College, have since argued that Historians such as Thomas Blanton, Director of the National Security Archive, and Tom Nichols, a professor at the Naval War College, have since argued that Able Archer 83 was one of the times when the world has come closest to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Other incidents that also brought the world close to such a war include the Soviet nuclear false alarm incident that occurred a month earlier and the Norwegian rocket incident of 1995.”
A glimpse at the past... I hope it’s not a glimpse at the future...
I also hope someone actually reads this post and finds it informational.
I hadn’t thought about this event in years, but it’s worth sharing, for anyone interested in historical events that almost brought us to nuclear war.
When I arrived in Holland, in July of 1983, I was assigned to HQ AFCENT (Armed Forces Central Europe), as a software developer.
In November, 1983, I was tasked to serve as Lead IT (Information Technology) Analyst, at the HQ NATO War Room, Mons, Belgium, during NATO Exercise Able Archer 83 (AA83) (Able Archer 83 - Wikipedia).
I worked the exercise assisting NATO Intelligence Officers in using their Computer hardware and software tools to run and monitor the exercise.
it’s still unclear exactly why this exercise brought us to the brink, possibly because of a “comedy of errors”:
- President Reagan’s rhetoric, over the previous couple of years, had some of the old line Soviet Politburo convinced Reagan intended to vaporize the Soviet Union.
- Soviet paranoia.
- Weapons buildup, under Reagan.
- US PSYOPS directed at the USSR, over the past couple of years.
- FLEETX 83 was a huge Sea exercise a few months earlier that included US and USSR overflights of each other’s islands.
- Korean Airlines 007 was shot down by a Russian interceptor in Sep, ‘83, killing all 269 on board.
- AA83 was a simulated nuclear attack.
- NATO “enhancements” (i.e. “unique format of coded communication, radio silences, and the participation of heads of government.”.
At any rate, the Politburo became more and more convinced that AA83 was, in reality, a precursor to an actual nuclear attack, by the US.
“KGB and GRU military foreign intelligence arm would begin Operation RYaN. RYaN (РЯН) was a Russian acronym for "Nuclear Missile Attack””.
Ultimately, Soviet Air Defense Lt Col Stanislav Petrov (Stanislav Petrov - Wikipedia) prevented potential nuclear war, by disobeying orders and refusing to launch, because he was in duty when the Soviet early warning system erroneously identified a US nuclear launch, over the prior two months. He felt the launch identified during AA83 was also an error. He felt the US would never launch a five warheads, they would instead launch every warhead simultaneously. He felt it simply “didn’t make sense”.
“In any case, the incident exposed a serious flaw in the Soviet early warning system. Petrov has said that he was neither rewarded nor punished for his actions.”.
This video is a very accurate and interesting account —>
“Historians such as Thomas Blanton, Director of the National Security Archive, and Tom Nichols, a professor at the Naval War College, have since argued that Historians such as Thomas Blanton, Director of the National Security Archive, and Tom Nichols, a professor at the Naval War College, have since argued that Able Archer 83 was one of the times when the world has come closest to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Other incidents that also brought the world close to such a war include the Soviet nuclear false alarm incident that occurred a month earlier and the Norwegian rocket incident of 1995.”
A glimpse at the past... I hope it’s not a glimpse at the future...
I also hope someone actually reads this post and finds it informational.
