A nuclear flash from the past - Israel and S.African testing

I don't know how many people are aware that the Israeli's and South Africans conducted a nuclear test in 1979 in the South Atlantic Ocean.


November/December 1997

At 3 o'clock in the morning of September 22, 1979, a U.S. Vela satellite detected a brief, intense, double flash of light near the southern tip of South Africa. Did it signal a low-yield nuclear explosion? Will we ever know for sure?

The controversy over the mysterious flash, which has never been settled, was raised again last April when South African Minister Aziz Pahad was quoted in Ha'aretz, an Israeli daily paper, as calling the incident "definitely a nuclear test."

The Ha'aretz report continued: "This was the first time an official spokesman of [Nelson] Mandela's government had admitted that the flash was in fact the result of a nuclear test, thereby contradicting declarations made by Mandela's predecessors that South Africa had never conducted such tests." Although the article did not explicitly say so, it also implied that the test might have been conducted with Israel.

Pahad's office responded that his remarks were taken out of context. For example, his press secretary told the Albuquerque Journal in an article dated July 11 that Pahad had said only that there was a "strong rumor" that a test had taken place, and that it should be investigated.

But it was no use. Also on July 11, Los Alamos National Laboratory issued a press release touting Pahad's original statement as confirming the lab's long-stated position that the 1979 flash indicated a nuclear test. Of course, not correcting the statement may have been part of Los Alamos's current campaign for funds to put a new generation of detection equipment on future satellites.

Despite Pahad's correction, a widely reported story in the July 21 Aviation Week & Space Technology led with the statement that a "South African government official has confirmed that his nation detonated a nuclear weapon in the atmosphere in September 1979."

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (iaea), however, South Africa did not construct its first nuclear explosive device until November 1979, two months after the mysterious flash. But the iaea has not investigated allegations that the event was an Israeli test, perhaps conducted with South Africa's knowledge.

www.thebulletin.org...

if it was an Israeli test wouldn't that mean it was a South Afrikan test? i mean their program was one in the same

A lot of nuclear weapons research was done at Pelindaba.

(Look for Hartbeespoortdam on the SA map to find it)

Other bases of interest was one in the Kalahari dessert called Vastrap. A very basic but effective workshop used by the military.

nuclearweaponarchive.org...

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Interestingly enough is the existence of Camp 13 that is said to have housed a laser testing laboratory.

This laser was rumoured to have been used to shoot down a UFO by using two mirage jet fighters to chase it close enough to the laser so that the UFO would be with in firing range.

But that's a whole other story.

South Africa is acknowledged as the only country to have produced working nuclear weapons and voluntarily abandoned them.

Israel on the other hand .....

Why don't your finish your statement star wars?

I'll try a few different versions, maybe you'll find one you like.

Israel on the other hand has churned out over 200 of the micro nuclear devices to date, perhaps as many as 500 or more.

Israel on the other hand doesn't have to tell the IAEA about their nuclear program, because they're more special than the other children that inhabit our global playground.

Israel on the other hand hoards nuclear devices to use as blackmail against nations who don't comply with various programs.

Israel on the other hand..nah, I'm done. Seriously though, there is a wealth of information regarding Israeli Micro Nukes on the internet. Many also believe that these same micro nukes were responsible for recent blasts in North Korea, Bali, Jakarta, Spain, and very possibly London, Baghdad, and Saudi Arabia.

[edit on 29-12-2004 by WyrdeOne]

Becuase, like you said, there is a bunch of speculation on the state of Israels nuclear weapons, but nothing that they have admitted to. The only thing we can be sure of is that they haven't abandoned anything like S.Africa

As stated, due to world pressure, the RSA took apart their Nukes. I think we had 4 or so. We still have several nuclear research facilities and a large nuclear power plant. I think the greatest benifit to RSA was the natural materials like uranium that we have plenty of.

Our Nukes were never meant to be used against a "communist" foe but were rather a political deterent that, if ever another nation attacked SA then we would be forced to use them unless the world intervened. I dont believe we had developed any long range missiles to carry them and there were intended to be drpped by plane.

Popular thought also says that the apartheid government didnt want to hand over nukes to the new ANC lead government.

It might sound crazy, but one of my high school science teachers, Mrs Lamb, was an ex nuclear scientist who worked on the bombs. She lost her job in the early 90's when they cancelled the program. She never told us any more than that!

This just goes to show you that just about everyone is getting nukes these days.

Its like little kids with fireworks, what fun is watching all of the sparks if you did not start some of them? We are living in a state of M.A.D. anyway, if one nationf ires them , they all go up.