Message posted by The Major on August 22, 2006 at 0:34:04 PST:
It looks like both operational SSGNs (Ohio & Michigan) are home-ported at Bangor, and the one due to be delivered in October (Florida) will be based at Kings Bay. We have a lot of Los Angeles Class subs here, and over the years, I have seen a few Ohio Class SSBNs offshore (I had a great view of the south shore and the entrance to Pearl Harbor from the office I formerly worked in). Seems like I read somewhere that SSNs can shoot cruise missiles from torpedo tubes. Is there any truth to that? Anyway, I doubt the object sighted was an errant cruise missile. It's been a few years ago, but on an inbound flight to Hilo on final approach, I did see three Blackhawks flying away from the airport over a marsh southeast of the main runway. On Google Earth, there seem to be 2 Blackhawks at Bradshaw AAF in the Pohakuloa Training Area ( 19°45'32.49"N 155°33'16.31"W ), so it seems certain that platforms capable of mounting the M260 (7 tube) and M261 (19 tube) Hydra 70 rocket launchers are in the area. Could one of the helicopters have accidentally fired a missile over the airport and neglected to report it? I'm sure stranger things have happened. The Hydra 70 motors, however, only burn for a little over a second. That seems to be at odds with witness reports of a what I assume to be a sustained "loud sound," but I have never heard a Hydra 70 rocket in flight, so I have no idea how loud they really are. The length of the rockets vary, depending on warhead, from 55.125" to 70.4" and certainly falls within the reported size range of the object: 12"-120." None of the witnesses mention the tube diameter. The Hydra 70 tube diameter is only 2.75". The unknown object reportedly had no control surfaces, but the tiny fins on the Hydra 70 could easily be missed. The Hydra 70 missiles are not silver, but perhaps could look silver in the bright Hawaiian sunshine.
Mark, you could be right!
In Reply to: Re: OT- Hawaii UFO looked like a wayward missile posted by Mark on August 20, 2006 at 18:36:30 PST:
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