GCXXVM Moscow Air Defence System (Traditional Cache) in United Kingdom created by Grumpy793

This cache has been archived.

Grumpy793 and Pippa: Time to kill it as I've no time to look after it.

GCXXVM ▼

A cache by Grumpy793 Message this owner

Hidden : 8/24/2006

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Size: Size: regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

This cache is the located in Moscow if you dont belive me check the OS map. But what is the link with a German that worked as a shoe salesman in Moscow - read on and find out.

During the cold war Moscow in Russia had probaly the strongest air defence system in the world. The system was fully intergrated and using surveillance radars, fighters and Surface to Air Missile Systems (SAMs). The place you are now standing is also called Moscow and it too is falls under the protective shield of Russian SAM systems. How come? A little further down the road is RAF Spadeadam which is an Electronic Warfare Tactics Range. It is used by NATO air forces to practice flying against targets that are protected by SAM systems. The use of tactics, such as terrain masking and flight profiles, and the use equipments such as jammers to avoid detection or confuse the SAM systems and protect themselves from being targeted is practiced here. There are a number of targets for aircrew to attack, some are mock ups some are actual ex Soviet Equipments and include supply convoys, armoured battle groups, Scud Launchers and even an airfield, there are many others too.

Some of the threat systems used at RAF Spadeadam are from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and were aquired during the re-unification of Germany. These systems were sold widely around the world to nations friendly with the FSU and today still pose a threat in many parts of the world where NATO forces may be required to operate. Having these systems at RAF Spadeadam provides very realistic training for pilots conducting missions through the RAF Spadadam Electronic Warfare and Tactics Range and the development, training and practice of methods to over-come these threats has undoubtedly saved lives of aircrew that have flown in conflicts including the Falkland War, Kosovo and both Gulf Wars. Ironically one of the many events that lead to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the re-unification of East and West Germany that in turn enabled these Russian SAM systems to be in place at RAF Spadadam was a failure of the Soviet Air Defence System. On the morning of the 30th May 1987, 19 year old Mathias Rust flew a hired Cessna 172 from Helsinki to Moscow undetected and Landed in Mosscow's Red Square beside the Kremlin Wall. Mathias was sentenced to 4 years in a labour camp for his adventure but only served only 432 days. Upon his release he reurned to West Germany but eventually returned to Moscow and worked as a shoe sales-man. He now lives in Berlin with his Trinidad born wife. A'int the world weird.