Bulgaria:  Officials Begin Destroying SS-23 Missiles

Workers began destroying more than 100 Bulgarian SS-23, Scud and Frog ballistic missiles yesterday at a military facility in central Bulgaria (see GSN, June 3).  They are scheduled to complete work by October 30.

Experts from Controlled Demolition, a U.S. contractor aiding the disposal effort, are expected to document the disposal process, which is taking place near the city of Veliko Tarnovo (Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Aug. 12).

Technicians will destroy most of the missile components by incinerating them, but some components will be disposed of separately.  Workers at the Terem military repair facility are disposing of electronic missile system components, facility officials said. 

Bulgaria plans to destroy another two components of the missiles at a site in Romania, said Gen. Nikolay Kolev, Chief of the General Staff of the Bulgarian army.  Bulgaria currently does not have the necessary destruction technology, Kolev said Saturday.  The warheads from the missiles, however, can be disposed of at any missile testing range in Bulgaria, he added (Sofia BTA, Aug. 10 in FBIS-EEU, Aug. 10).

The full destruction of Bulgaria’s stockpile of former Soviet missiles is scheduled to be completed by November, according to the AP (Associated Press, Aug. 12).  The U.S. State Department is expected to cover the $14 million cost of the project (Defense News, July 15).

In a piece published last month in the Sofia Trud newspaper, two Bulgarian commentators said the United States has assured Bulgaria that destroying the missiles will enhance Bulgaria’s efforts to join NATO.

“Washington assured us that the destruction of the missiles would be considered as a dowry that should facilitate an invitation to join NATO at the Prague summit in November,” wrote Vasil Lyutskanov and Angel Naydenov (Lyutskanov/Naydenov, Sofia Trud, July 16 in FBIS-EEU, July 16).

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India:  Task Force Predicts Lunar Launch Ability in Five Years

Indian space scientists believe that they will be able to launch an unmanned lunar probe within five years, the Times of India reported yesterday (see GSN, July 26).

A task force assembled by the Indian Space Research Organization released a report in July saying that India has the technical capability needed to conduct a lunar mission by 2007.  The project would probably cost 4 billion rupees ($82 million), the organization said.  India already has a useable satellite launch vehicle — the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle — and would use a modified version for the lunar mission, according to the Times.

“Our studies clearly indicate that this country has the technical capability to launch this mission and place a satellite in the lunar orbit for carrying out scientific studies,” said George Joseph, head of the lunar mission task force (Times of India, Aug. 12).

India has long maintained that its space program is only for civilian purposes.  Defense experts have said, however, that continued developments in India’s rocket technology are part of an attempt to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile(CNN.com, Aug. 13).

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