Little Rock Air Force Base under attack?

Start off with a picture of the air base.

goo.gl...

Now two articles about attacks.

www.arktimes.com...

The FBI is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of whoever was responsible for intentionally downing an Entergy high-voltage transmission line in Holland Bottoms on Highway 321 east of Cabot in Lonoke County.

The FBI said someone attached a cable to the framework of the 100-foot tower and placed the cable across the nearby Union Pacific Railroad tracks in an attempt to use a moving train to bring down the tower. A portion of the tower and tower dropped without harm to anyone early Wednesday. Said an FBI release:

Someone attached a cable to the large steel tower and wanted a train to rip it down.

Picture of the tower.
www.arktimes.com...

The location of the power line.
goo.gl...

The A is the power line B is the base.
goo.gl...

Now a second article.

www.thv11.com...

At approximately 7:20 am Sunday morning, October 6, 2013, officials with First Electric Cooperative reported a power outage which affected approximately 10,000 customers in the Cabot area. An inspection of two wooden power poles located near the 1400 block of Robin Road, behind the McBride Subdivision, revealed that they were intentionally cut.

The person or persons responsible for this incident took a tractor that had been parked inside a fenced area at the intersection of Poston Road and John Shelton Road, close to the Furlow community near Highway 294, and drove it through a locked cattle gate. We believe the person or persons drove the tractor south on John Shelton Road, then turned west on either Billy Lane or Phillips Road, then drove the tractor off road at County Road 466 and Phillips Road, following the cleared area of the power line to the wooded area where the poles are located. Our investigation has determined that this tractor was utilized to pull down one of the poles after the poles were cut.

So some one steals a tractor and cuts down the power lines and then cuts down the poles themself not far from the base.

A shows where Air base is and B shows where second power lines and poles were cut down.

goo.gl...

And the strange thing is. They keep doing these same attacks in Yemen.

SHEIKHS CALL FOR EXECUTION OF POWER LINE SABOTEURS
www.yementimes.com...

Its doubtful it would be an actual attack against the base. If a terrorist group did manage to get over here and open up operations they may do this but as part of a coordinated event.

I doubt they would be doing test runs, tipping their hand to the FBI that they are in the area.

Probably just some disgruntled person taking out some anger who will be serving some prison time once he/she is caught.

Haven't seen this on the news at all.......

reply to post by JBA2848


Oh oh. This is not fun to even think about. I hope they quickly find the culprits. The link to Yemen is interesting and again, horrible to think about. Here's hoping and praying they conclude this quickly with some satisfaction.

From the Yemen article:

The Public Electricity Corporation issued a statement last week calling on the government to catch those behind the attacks, warning that the power station could collapse completely if attacks continued.

I wonder if this is more directed toward a single and small power station, or if this is an attempt to fry one of our fragile major grid stations?
My first reaction was realizing the scarp metal value in one of those giant towers as a motive. The train and chain idea sounds like something a super tweak would do.
The scary thing is, this report may give some fools a new idea.

Apparently we build stronger power structures than does Yemen.

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


I doubt if anyone would do that for salvage. They couldn't cut it apart fast enough before someone would investigate. It would be easier to pull train rails off a track than to take apart a tower. Metal brought to a junk yard needs ID in most places now and sometimes even a thumb print. I don't know if it is like that all over the country but I know it is like that here. Copper wire would be quick and valuable but taking that off live wires is dangerous. Maybe if someone was drunk or high they may be stupid enough to pull that but anyone with a functioning brain would not even attempt it.

Maybe they are trying to knock out power so they can rob some place. That I would believe as a good possibility. A base has big backup generators, it would seem stupid to expect to take down a base's power grid.

I hate to be all party pooper on the budding idea of conspirators and maybe terrorists hiding in the bushes cackling while watching their evil plot play out .....

but...

this reminds me more of some half drunk bubbas who played wayyyyy too much Just Cause 2 or another game with similar game play physics and decided to go try it out.

I mean, that's just RUDE....but I can't help laughing too. It's so damn creative for being delinquent beyond all imagination. The 'ol F-150 is no match for a power tower, so what would be? '

' Hmmm...? (Bubba asks himself amid beer cans) Why....a TRAIN! Yeah... Let the train do the work and...see! it works in the game! Let's give 'er a shot! '

Really.. That kind of creativity is dangerous. Whoever did that could do unbelievable damage out of what they think is cute or funny...

As an tactic tho? It kinda fails on one fatal flaw. It requires a train ... so it won't accomplish much for multiple places to be repeated like this ..and talk about easy to foil. Just stop the train. Attack prevented. err..... Not the best brainstorm anyone came up with for that purpose. (The electrical grid has much much higher value spots than that for the real thing)

I vote for locals with WAY too much beer and FAR too much free unemployed time to kill.

** Running this out to the MSM with rewards and statements was real ignorant, IMO though. How many bubbas even thought of this before? Cables....trains... Unstoppable force is briefly connected to immovable objects? Oh.. lovely.. yeah, everyone needed this new idea to consider. (facepalm) What next?

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


You may be right, but surely if you are, then the situation is all the more dire.
It's one thing to have rocks thrown at you by people you've "bombed into the stone age."
But when your own loyal citizens start trying to wreck your infrastructure .....
Then you're really sunk.

mistersmith.

reply to post by mistersmith


It's a ...dangerously creative new development. Yes. I'll say that....

It's not entirely new though. Look at the Rail cars that carry automobiles. The ones people think (and one model I saw up close may be) capable of dual use for carrying prisoners. The sheeting down the side isn't to protect the cars from weather or something. Cars being carried on 18 wheelers are exposed to much more and aren't covered by any major efforts in most cases (Some special trailers carry them inside now, but most still don't)

Those are real real thick pieces of metal sheeting down the sides of those rail cars. Like...bullet proof thickness.

I understand the 70's was a real rough time and pretty hard on infrastructure too. History repeats in some ways for that. Worse....but a repeat cycle, too.

I live in the cabot area, have all my life. I got to go by and check out the first incident when they were still trying to fix it. It was one of those big high voltage lines. It nearly took that tower down. Half of it was dangling like it was about to fall. It looked pretty wild. I may be naive but I dont really think it was a some sort of attack. I really don't know what to think about it. Seems like a pretty bold thing to do.

I do notthink there was an attack on the AFB. Its been on the news the last couple of days. Someone has brought down power lines in three different towns. this started about 6 weeks ago.


Article on the story.
Arkansas news channel 11

reply to post by Mythos13


But it all circles the air base.
And they left the message "you should of have expected us" written on a box where they tried to burn down a power station on HWY 165.

A the air base.
B is HWY 165.
goo.gl...

It looks like they are targeting the base. Testing the power grid from different directions to see what happens to the bases power.

reply to post by rickymouse

Yea I just wondered and you are right most scrap yards require ID now, but here in Oregon we had an outbreak for a coupe of years before the ID was required and some of my country neighbors had their gates stolen and in Portland, some tweaks actually cut down a giant freeway light and tried to cash it in.
It does seem like this is more of an attempt to do damage for some reason, which could be affective given the state of our grids, with the exception of Texas's grid.

rickymouse
reply to post by speculativeoptimist

 

Copper wire would be quick and valuable but taking that off live wires is dangerous. Maybe if someone was drunk or high they may be stupid enough to pull that but anyone with a functioning brain would not even attempt it.

Maybe they are trying to knock out power so they can rob some place. That I would believe as a good possibility. A base has big backup generators, it would seem stupid to expect to take down a base's power grid.

If the line loses power when broken, only one side will be hot, the other will be ripe to pick. tie the end of a copper line via long chain and pull it through the woods. Could get a HUGE section and easily keep it hidden

speculativeoptimist
reply to post by rickymouse

 

Yea I just wondered and you are right most scrap yards require ID now, but here in Oregon we had an outbreak for a coupe of years before the ID was required and some of my country neighbors had their gates stolen and in Portland, some tweaks actually cut down a giant freeway light and tried to cash it in.
It does seem like this is more of an attempt to do damage for some reason, which could be affective given the state of our grids, with the exception of Texas's grid.

Super tweaks, that is funny.

You are making tweaks seam kinda fun to watch.. freeway light? that is HILARIOUS.. somebody should just follow them around with a camera..

A pair of 500kv lines on that tower. But, someone would have a 50-50 chance of picking the money end.

Sooner or later, the feds will find out who did it. They will be locked away as a terrorist using our "new" laws.

I think the message written means it was not some druggies looking for copper.

www.fox16.com...

YOU SHOULD HAVE EXPECTED U.S.

Was written on the power box where they set fire to a power station.

That would relate to Anonymous.

fc07.deviantart.net...

But they don't use those periods. U . S .

reply to post by JBA2848

Yea, it seems so. What is up with the U.S. for "us?" Homeland security ought to put some funds towards CCTV and security at the major plants. Maybe they can transfer some TSA workers to assist.

Seems it was happening in California in April.

www.reuters.com...

Gunfire was heard about 1:46 a.m. at the Metcalf substation on the southeast outskirts of San Jose, according to Kurtis Stenderup, a spokesman for the county sheriff. Investigators later determined a high-powered rifle had been used, and they are treating the damage as an act of vandalism, he said.

About a quarter of an hour before the shots, someone cut fiber optic cables belonging to AT&T, located about a half-mile from the power station and due to the close timing and proximity, investigators believe the incidents are linked, he added.