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JGSDF Vice-Camp Wakkanai

Japan / Hokkaido / Wakkanai / Ebisu 5-chome, 2-1
 military, radar station

Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   45°26'16"N   141°38'59"E

Comments

  • zoli (guest)
    This is the radar base that monitored and recorded as KAL007 was intercepted over Sakhalin in September 1, 1983. Yet they neither JASDF military, nor Tokyo civilian control ever contacted KAL007 to warn him about the danger. How is this humanly possible?
  • billt
    There was also a USAF EC-135 (COBRA DANE/COBRA BALL) operating in the vicinity at the time of this incident. The USAF crew has stated that their radar was incapable of detecting airborne contacts, as their particular variant of C-135 was only equipped with weather/ground mapping/navigational radar. The crew was concentrating on an anticipated missile launch from a known point. A point upon which they would be wholly focused. As such, every (yes, EVERY) entity in the area was aware of the pending ballistic missile test and the expected telemetry/ELINT/TELINT/COMINT mission of the C-135. Since a totally unarmed C-135 type airframe has absolutely no defensive armament, and their ECM measures would be optimized for interference with ground-to-air/air-to-air radar (and not their own air-to-ground navigational radar), I can say that C-135 was emitting MASSIVE amounts of ECM. There has also been speculation that the flight crew of the 747 had set the autopilot switch in an erroneous manner (easy to do with a slide switch. Or maybe they were deliberately trying to shave time off the flight because their departure had been delayed and they would be docked pay for a late arrival. And all that, my friends, coupled with the fact that a Boeing 747 looks much like a Boeing 707 at high altitude in the darkness is why KAL007 got splashed. Yes, it was a needless tragedy, but these things happen when governments scare people with lies and the people believe. BT
  • Able Danger (guest)
    @Billt, It would be more logical, that the over flight was intentional, hoping that the USSR would not shot down a civilian aircraft. The EC-135 would NOT been using there ECM systems, So to monitor every signal/radar/comm system that came up during the overflight. This would give them battlespave awareness only achivaible by overflight, And fore a fighter pilot, a 707/EC-135 is very very different then an 747 with civilian markings. Or it was a shoot down, because of the playbook of the time (violation of airspace, result shoot down) Or is was an intelligence run, with unintended consecuenses. missle test and over flight, USSSR defense would have gone to there highest state of readynes. (wich would be perfect for the stuff the EC-135 are good at. Sigint and Elint
  • Bob Gannon
    Subsequent info indicates that, though hard to believe, the JASDF facility was manned only on an "8 to 5" basis with the overnight operation completely automatic. Any overnight intel was evaluated the following morning by the oncoming dayshift. Sounds unbelievable, I know. True, or not, you decide. But remember that Pearl Harbor was forewarned by a radar test station that whose warning went ignored. History is full of strange occurrences and happenstances.
This article was last modified 6 years ago