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On January 25, 1995, a Norwegian rocket launched for a study on the Northern Lights was mistaken by Russian forces for an incoming nuclear missile.
During a bitterly cold winter day, the world came dangerously close to a terrifying nightmare reminiscent of the Cold War, lasting nearly an hour. Military technicians manning radar stations in northern Russia spotted alarming signals on their screens on what appeared to be an ordinary Wednesday afternoon.
A rocket had been launched from the Norwegian coast, rapidly ascending into the sky. Where was it heading? Was it truly a grave threat?
Fear
This was a time when many believed such nuclear tensions had ended after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
For the officials monitoring the skies, the signs were alarming. They knew that a single missile launched from a U.S. submarine in that region’s waters could deliver eight nuclear warheads to Moscow in about 15 minutes. This information was immediately relayed to President Boris Yeltsin.
Yeltsin became the first world leader to activate the nuclear ‘briefcase,’ which contains the controls and procedures for launching nuclear weapons.
Since the end of World War II, nations possessing nuclear arms have adhered to a deterrence policy based on the principle that a large-scale nuclear strike by a warring state would lead to total destruction.
Under such tense circumstances, Yeltsin and his advisors faced an urgent decision—to retaliate or not.
Fortunately, the grim sequence of events did not end in destruction. Despite the extreme tension, the evening news treated the incident lightly as a passing mention.
Reality
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BBC Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman stated, “Before closing, we must report that nuclear war did not break out today. At 13:46, Moscow news agency Interfax reported that the Russian side had destroyed the incoming missile. Reporters, thinking they were witnessing a nuclear war, immediately contacted the defense ministry. The ministry spokesman courageously said: ‘I am confident that Britain has not launched any missile on Russia.’ The Pentagon spokesperson was also unaware, saying, ‘We only have reports.'”
Following market turmoil, politicians, military leaders, and journalists spent an hour gathering information. Experts were only assured of the absence of danger by GMT 14:52.
Interfax later amended its report, revealing that the Russian early warning system had detected a missile, but it had descended in Norwegian territory.
A Norwegian defense official later confirmed the launch was peaceful. It was a routine scientific mission gathering data on the Northern Lights.
The rocket was intended to land in the sea near the remote Arctic island of Spitsbergen, far beyond Russian airspace.
Hours after the erroneous report, unnamed Russian defense sources told Interfax they were rushing to verify if the launch was part of Russian early warning radar tests.
After Mathias Rust, a West German teenager, flew a small engine plane over 750 km through all Soviet security systems to the Kremlin in 1987, Russia became highly sensitive about its air defense. Although the Cold War ended, this incident heightened some Russian officials’ alertness regarding nuclear threats.
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“I was terrified to see our routine missile launch create such alarm,” said Norwegian scientist Kolbjørn Aadnoy, who was in a meeting while repeatedly receiving frightened phone calls. Norway had notified Moscow about the launch weeks earlier according to protocol.
The rocket’s unusually high ballistic trajectory, reaching 908 miles in altitude, most likely triggered the Russian reaction, Aadnoy estimated.
According to Aadnoy, there was nothing unusual. “The information had been sent through foreign ministries to all relevant countries on December 14,” he said.
However, even a small miscommunication can have terrifying consequences.
Since the dawn of the nuclear age, we have come close to numerous disastrous accidents. For instance, the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis was arguably the closest the US and Soviet Union came to full nuclear war during the Cold War.
A 2020 BBC Future report highlighted how migrating geese, the Moon, computer glitches, and space weather have all prompted alerts.
In 1958, a nuclear bomb accidentally fell into a home’s garden from a ship. Fortunately, no humans were harmed, but the family’s chickens died.
Similarly, in 1966, two U.S. military aircraft crashed in a remote village in Spain, one carrying four nuclear weapons.
More recently, in 2010, the U.S. Air Force briefly lost contact with 50 missiles, lacking any automated systems to halt launches or locate their status.
Moment of Danger
When Yeltsin announced for the first time the use of the nuclear briefcase, many in Russia dismissed it as a distraction from the escalating Chechen War crisis.
The next day, he told Interfax, “Yesterday, I really used my ‘black’ briefcase for the first time, which always has the button with me.” He added, “Perhaps someone was testing us because the media has repeatedly portrayed our military as weak.”
Though BBC Newsnight reported the Norwegian rocket incident lightly, experts differ on its seriousness.
A former CIA officer called it “the most dangerous moment in the nuclear missile era.”
Military advisor Peter Pry wrote, “No leader of any nuclear-armed country has ever opened the nuclear briefcase addressing Russia as an equal with such seriousness before. A real threat was perceived that could have led to an immediate nuclear strike decision.”
United Nations nuclear disarmament researcher Pavel Podvig said, “If ranking these events, I would probably give this a 3 out of 10. More serious incidents occurred during the Cold War.” He also noted a scenario was reportedly prepared for Yeltsin the following day regarding the nuclear briefcase.
Russian nuclear expert Vladimir Dvorkin stated the incident did not create any danger. In 1998 he told the Washington Post, “Even when an alert for a major attack is triggered, no single missile would be launched by one person, no matter how irrational the leader might be. I consider this only a warning.”
Five days after the incident, a BBC radio bulletin reported that the Russian response was due to a misunderstanding and emphasized it should never be repeated. The foreign ministry spokesperson stated Norway acted in accordance with normal procedures with no hostile intent toward Russia.
Though catastrophe was averted, it is alarming that an innocuous scientific weather rocket caused such widespread fear.
