Warhead design ties Libya nuke project to Khan
From the
Indian Express comes this interesting story:
bq. Warhead design ties Libya nuke project to Khan
WASHINGTON, FEBRUARY 4: About two weeks ago, a 747 aircraft chartered by the US government landed at Dulles Airport here carrying a single piece of precious cargo: a small box containing warhead designs that US officials believe were sold to Libya by the underground network linked to Khan. The warhead designs were the first hard evidence that the secret network provided its customers far more than just the technology. Libyan officials have told investigators that they bought the blueprints from dealers who are part of that network, apparently for more than $50 million. What the Libyans purchased, in the words of an American weapons expert, was both the kitchen equipment ‘‘and the recipes.’’ Experts say the designs resemble warheads that China tested in late 1960s and passed on to Pakistan decades ago.
bq. US officials say it is difficult to believe that Pakistan’s nuclear secrets could have been exported without the knowledge of some in the military and the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, especially since some shipments were made on Pakistani military aircraft. Whoever was responsible, the warhead design appears now to have been a sought-after prize of the network of nuclear middlemen and parts producers that US officials say is being broken up, from Germany to Malaysia, and from Dubai to the Netherlands. ‘‘Ever since the Libya revelations, there have been a lot of detentions,’’ one US official said.
As I blogged
here, it is very good that the Libyan WMD materials are being shipped to the USA and nobody else. We have the technology to take them apart and find out where they got the designs, machine tools and materials to manufacture them.
For an example - for any metal, there are always small ammounts of impurities and these vary depending on where it were mined and refined. By quantifying the impurities, we can determine the country of origin with pretty amazing accuracy.
Good to see this happening
Posted by DaveH at February 6, 2004 12:20 PM