Russian Missile Forces Have ‘Safe Busting’ Sledgehammer. © RIA Novosti. Sergei Piatakov
Russian Missile Forces Have ‘Safe Busting’ Sledgehammer -- RIA Novosti
Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces are equipped with a special ‘safe-busting’ sledgehammer that can be used in an emergency to break open the safe containing launch codes if it fails to open, a spokesman for the Rocket Forces, Col. Vadim Koval said on Wednesday.
The sledgehammer's existence first came to light in 1980, when a group of inspecting officers from the General Staff visiting Strategic Missile Forces headquarters asked General Georgy Novikov what he would do if he received a missile launch order but the safe containing the launch codes failed to open.
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My Comment: An urban legend .... maybe. But the Russian in me tells me that this story is probably 100% accurate.