Russian missile deal probed

Last month, WorldNetDaily columnist Charles Smith broke the story of how the Clinton administration procured a deal with Russia for its Zvezda-Strela Kh-31 missile to serve as the Navy’s next generation of target drone, despite the fact that it does not meet the Navy’s specifications.

Last Monday, the U.S. Navy admiral in charge of the Russian missile program suddenly announced his retirement, effective November 11, 1998. House National Security Committee members are scrambling to serve the retiring Admiral a formal request to answer questions before he leaves the service.

In a related development, Russian missile-maker Zvezda-Strela is now offering the improved Kh-31 Down Under. The Kh-31 is being pitched to Australia in a bid with aircraft makers Sukhoi and MiG to arm the Su-27 and
MiG-29. The Russians are offering the Aussies Su-27s and MiG-29s to replace American made F-111s and F-18s. The offer includes the Zvezda-Strela Kh-31A antiship missile and the Kh-31P anti-air version.

Boeing/Douglas modified an unmanned F-4 Phantom fighter to air drop the Kh-31 for the U.S. Navy drone program. Boeing and Zvezda engineers designed and built a special adapter to fire the missile from the former U.S. fighter jet.

Iran is considering buying the improved Kh-31 for the purpose of sinking U.S. aircraft carriers and shutting off the oil from the Middle East in the event of a showdown in the region. Iran flies a large number of the U.S.-built F-4 Phantoms bought by the Shah — the same plane picked by Boeing and Zvezda to fire the Kh-31 drone. Iranian F-4s flew anti-ship missions during
their “Road To Jerusalem” war games in late 1997, firing Chinese-made C.801 cruise missiles at simulated U.S. fleet targets.

Zvezda-Strela has already courted Iranian sales, showing the Kh-31 at a number of Moscow and Middle East air shows. Possible customers for the Kh-31 include India, Syria, Libya, Iran, Iraq and China.

Vice President Al Gore is said to be behind the purchase of the Kh-31 by the Navy. The Russian maker Zvezda-Strela is backed by Gore supporters Cassidy Associates and IBP International.

Cassidy Associates made hundreds of thousands of dollars in political donations to the Clinton/Gore campaign. In fact, Cassidy Associates made a total of over 2,500 political contributions between 1991 and 1998.

Cassidy Associates is also linked to the Ron Brown Commerce Department trade missions. Cassidy Associates sent a Maely Tom, a Democratic National Committee donor, to the Far East on a Ron Brown trade mission. The same mission included Charlie Trie, Pauline Kanchanalak and Nora Lum. Lum
has already been convicted of illegal campaign contributions.

IBP International is a firm based in London and McClean, Virginia, run by Gore backer Judith De Paul. IBP successfully lobbied NASA to select the Russian Tu-144 and Boeing/Douglas for high-speed test flights.

De Paul was on holiday in Connecticut and could not comment on the Kh-31 story.

IBP has also lobbied for the Zvezda-Strela K-36 jet fighter ejection seat to upgrade the NASA fleet of tiny T-38 astronaut trainer jets. In October, NASA selected U.S. contractor Martin Baker because their seat is 100 percent compatible with the T-38, cheaper, and it fit better than the huge K-36. IBP is expected to protest the selection for Zvezda.

Zvezda, however, has had more success with the Kh-31 missile. The Russian missiles tested by the Navy traveled about 16 miles, far short of the 50 mile minimum required by the Navy drone contract.

In 1998, the Clinton administration gave Boeing/Douglas and Zvezda-Strela engineers additional funding to improve the Kh-31 range to over 100 miles. The Clinton program to improve the Russian missile also requires the U.S. Navy to employ Russian engineers on board American ships to observe attempts to shoot it down.

The 1,100-pound Kh-31 is to simulate the much larger 8,000-pound SS-N-22 “Sunburn” Russian missile that has a 50+ mile range. Russian Sovremenny class destroyers recently sold to China are armed with SS-N-22 (3M80 SUNBURN) advanced ramjet cruise missiles. The Sunburn missiles and the Destroyers are now in service with the Chinese People’s Liberation Navy.

American contractors already have a missile that simulates the SS-N-22 and exceeds all Navy requirements called SEA SNAKE. Sea Snake is a 1990s version of the 7,000 pound Navy Talos/Vandal ramjet powered missile produced by Allied Signal at Mishawaka, Indiana. The Talos missile was deployed as the No. 1 surface-to-air defense missile for the Navy during the Cold war.

Unlike the Russian Kh-31 drone, more than one Sea Snake can be fired from multiple sources at the same target, simulating real combat. Sea Snake can be fired from every U.S. Navy range such as Wallops Island in Virginia and Point Mugu California. Allied Signal designed the Sea Snake to be fired from a multi-million dollar launch ship built by the Navy.

The contract award for the U.S. Navy target drone program is now expected to take place May of 1999.

Documents and images of Kh-31 and Sea Snake