1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident - wikipedia 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( May 2017 ) On 26 September 1983, the nuclear early warning system of the Soviet Union reported the launch of multiple USAF Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles from bases in the United States. These missile attack warnings were correctly identified as a false alarm by Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov, an officer of the Soviet Air Defence Forces. This decision is seen as having prevented a retaliatory nuclear attack based on erroneous data on the United States and its NATO allies, which would have probably resulted in immediate escalation of the cold - war stalemate to a full - scale nuclear war. Investigation of the satellite warning system later confirmed that the system had malfunctioned. Contents 1 Background 2 Incident 3 Aftermath 4 In popular culture 5 See also 6 References 7 External links Background The incident occurred at a time of severely strained relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. Responding to the Soviet Union 's deployment of fourteen SS - 20 / RSD - 10 theatre nuclear missiles, the NATO Double - Track Decision was taken in December 1979 by the military commander of NATO to deploy 108 Pershing II nuclear missiles in Western Europe with the ability to hit targets in eastern Ukraine, Belarus or Lithuania within 10 minutes and the longer range, but slower BGM - 109G Ground Launched Cruise Missile ( GLCM ) to strike potential targets farther to the east. In mid-February 1981, and continuing until 1983, psychological operations by the United States began. These were designed to test Soviet radar vulnerability and to demonstrate US nuclear capabilities. They included clandestine naval operations, in the Barents, Norwegian, Black, and Baltic seas and near the Greenland - Iceland - United Kingdom ( GIUK ) gap, as well as flights by American bombers, occasionally several times per week, directly to Soviet airspace that turned away only at the last moment. `` It really got to them, '' told Dr. William Schneider, ( former ) undersecretary of state for military assistance and technology, who saw classified `` after - action reports '' that indicated U.S. flight activity. `` They did n't know what it all meant. A squadron would fly straight at Soviet airspace, and other radars would light up and units would go on alert. Then at the last minute the squadron would peel off and return home. '' From the accounts of CIA and senior KGB officers, by May 1981, obsessed with historical parallels with 1941 and Reaganite rhetoric, and with no defensive capability against the Pershing IIs, Soviet leaders believed the United States was preparing a secret nuclear attack on the USSR and initiated Operation RYaN. Under this, agents abroad monitored service and technical personnel who would implement a nuclear attack so as to be able either to preempt it or have mutually assured destruction. On 1 September 1983 the Soviet military shot down a South Korean passenger jet, Korean Air Lines Flight 007, that had strayed into Soviet airspace. All 269 people aboard the aircraft were killed, including U.S. Congressman Larry McDonald and many other Americans. The first Pershing II missiles were reportedly deployed in late November 1983. Bruce Blair, an expert on Cold War nuclear strategies and former president of the World Security Institute in Washington, D.C., says the American -- Soviet relationship at that time `` had deteriorated to the point where the Soviet Union as a system -- not just the Kremlin, not just Soviet leader Yuri Andropov, not just the KGB -- but as a system, was geared to expect an attack and to retaliate very quickly to it. It was on hair - trigger alert. It was very nervous and prone to mistakes and accidents. The false alarm that happened on Petrov 's watch could not have come at a more dangerous, intense phase in U.S. -- Soviet relations. '' In an interview aired on American television, Blair said, `` The Russians ( Soviets ) saw a U.S. government preparing for a first strike, headed by a President Ronald Reagan capable of ordering a first strike. '' Regarding the incident involving Petrov, he said, `` I think that this is the closest our country has come to accidental nuclear war. '' Incident On 26 September 1983, Stanislav Petrov, a lieutenant colonel in the Soviet Air Defense Forces, was the officer on duty at the Serpukhov - 15 bunker near Moscow which housed the command center of the Soviet early warning satellites, code - named Oko. Petrov 's responsibilities included observing the satellite early warning network and notifying his superiors of any impending nuclear missile attack against the Soviet Union. If notification was received from the early warning systems that inbound missiles had been detected, the Soviet Union 's strategy was an immediate and compulsory nuclear counter-attack against the United States ( launch on warning ), specified in the doctrine of mutual assured destruction. Shortly after midnight, the bunker 's computers reported that one intercontinental ballistic missile was heading toward the Soviet Union from the United States. Petrov considered the detection a computer error, since a first - strike nuclear attack by the United States was likely to involve hundreds of simultaneous missile launches in order to disable any Soviet means of a counterattack. Furthermore, the satellite system 's reliability had been questioned in the past. Petrov dismissed the warning as a false alarm, though accounts of the event differ as to whether he notified his superiors or not after he concluded that the computer detections were false and that no missile had been launched. Petrov 's suspicion that the warning system was malfunctioning was confirmed when no missile in fact arrived. Later, the computers identified four additional missiles in the air, all directed towards the Soviet Union. Petrov suspected that the computer system was malfunctioning again, despite having no direct means to confirm this. The Soviet Union 's land radar was incapable of detecting missiles beyond the horizon, and waiting for it to positively identify the threat would limit the Soviet Union 's response time to a few minutes. It was subsequently determined that the false alarms were caused by a rare alignment of sunlight on high - altitude clouds and the satellites ' Molniya orbits, an error later corrected by cross-referencing a geostationary satellite. In explaining the factors leading to his decision, Petrov cited his belief and training that any U.S. first strike would be massive, so five missiles seemed an illogical start. In addition, the launch detection system was new and in his view not yet wholly trustworthy, while ground radar had failed to pick up corroborative evidence even after several minutes of the false alarm. Aftermath Petrov underwent intense questioning by his superiors about his actions. Initially, he was praised for his decision. General Yury Votintsev, then commander of the Soviet Air Defense 's Missile Defense Units, who was the first to hear Petrov 's report of the incident ( and the first to reveal it to the public in the 1990s ), stated that Petrov 's `` correct actions '' were `` duly noted. '' Petrov himself stated he was initially praised by Votintsev and was promised a reward, but recalled that he was also reprimanded for improper filing of paperwork with the pretext that he had not described the incident in the military diary. He received no reward. According to Petrov, this was because the incident and other bugs found in the missile detection system embarrassed his superiors and the influential scientists who were responsible for it, so that if he had been officially rewarded, they would have had to be punished. He was reassigned to a less sensitive post, took early retirement ( although he emphasizes that he was not `` forced out '' of the army, as it is sometimes claimed by Western sources ), and suffered a nervous breakdown. Oleg Kalugin, a former KGB chief of foreign counter-intelligence who knew Soviet chairman Andropov well, says that Andropov 's distrust of American leaders was profound. It is conceivable that if Petrov had declared the satellite warnings valid, such an erroneous report could have provoked the Soviet leadership into becoming bellicose. Kalugin said, `` The danger was in the Soviet leadership thinking, ' The Americans may attack, so we better attack first. ' '' The incident became known publicly in the 1990s upon the publication of Votintsev 's memoirs. Widespread media reports since then have increased public awareness of Petrov 's actions. In popular culture The incident was relayed in the first episode of the 2010 American web series Pioneer One. The false alarm incident was depicted in the 2014 feature film The Man Who Saved the World. The incident is also mentioned in the 1 November 2015, episode # 2.5 of the U.S. television show Madam Secretary. Oleg Burov tells the story of the false alarm in episode 48, `` The Day After, '' of the period spy drama, The Americans. The Doctor Who audio story Protect and Survive takes place in an alternative history where Stanislav Petrov, controlled by the Elder Gods, launches a ' secondary ' nuclear strike See also Soviet Union portal Cold War portal 1980s portal International relations portal Able Archer 83 -- NATO military exercise that happened over a month after the Petrov incident Deutschland 83 List of nuclear close calls Norwegian rocket incident -- a rocket carrying scientific equipment to study the aurora borealis resembled a submarine - launched Trident missile Vasili Arkhipov -- another nuclear war - averting incident during the Cuban Missile Crisis WarGames -- a 1983 movie released four months prior to the incident, depicting an early warning system 's false alarm of a thermonuclear strike World War III -- Situations resulting in close encounters of a third world war 1961 Goldsboro B - 52 crash -- another nuclear accident which narrowly missed widespread destruction References Jump up ^ Peter Schweizer, Victory : The Reagan Administration 's Secret Strategy That Hastened the Collapse of the Soviet Union ( New York : The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1994 ), p. 8, as quoted at Fischer, `` A Cold War Conundrum '' ( CIA Centre for the Study of Intelligence, 2007 ) ( 1 ). Retrieved on 18 May 2013. Jump up ^ Peter Schweizer, Victory : The Reagan Administration 's Secret Strategy That Hastened the Collapse of the Soviet Union ( New York : The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1994 ), p. 8, as quoted at Fischer, `` A Cold War Conundrum '' ( CIA Centre for the Study of Intelligence, 2007 ) ( 2 ). Jump up ^ Andrew and Gordievsky, Comrade Kryuchkov 's Instructions : Top Secret Files on KGB Foreign Operations, 1975 -- 1985, 74 -- 6, 86, Stanford UP 1993 https://books.google.com/books?id=6ahujvo6ukwC ISBN 0 - 8047 - 2228 - 5 Jump up ^ Fischer, Ben B. `` The 1983 War Scare in US - Soviet Relations '' ( PDF ). National Security Archive. Archived ( PDF ) from the original on 28 March 2015. Retrieved 21 November 2015. Jump up ^ Kennedy, Bruce. `` War Games : Soviets, Fearing Western Attack, Prepared for Worst in ' 83 ''. CNN. Archived from the original on 19 December 2008. Jump up ^ Oberg, James ( 1993 ). `` KAL 007 : The Real Story ''. American Spectator. 26 ( 10 ) : 37. Retrieved 22 July 2017 -- via UNZ.org. ^ Jump up to : Pieta, Ewa. `` The Red Button & the Man Who Saved the World '' ( Flash ). logtv.com. Archived from the original on 16 October 2006. Retrieved 27 September 2006. Jump up ^ `` War Games ''. Dateline NBC. Burrelle 's Information Services. 12 November 2000. Jump up ^ Дайджест : Тот, который не нажал ^ Jump up to : `` The Man Who Saved the World Finally Recognized ''. Association of World Citizens. Retrieved 7 June 2007. ^ Jump up to : Hoffman, David ( 10 February 1999 ). `` I Had A Funny Feeling in My Gut ''. Washington Post. Retrieved 18 April 2006. Jump up ^ = brink > `` 1983 The Brink of Apocalypse '' Channel 4. The sequence specifically on this incident starts at 29.06 mins. Background is in the documentary leading up to that point Jump up ^ `` Stanislav Petrov - the man who quietly saved the world - has died aged 77 ''. Metro. 2017 - 09 - 18. Retrieved 2017 - 09 - 19. Jump up ^ Molniya orbit ^ Jump up to : Тот, который не нажал. Moskovskiye Novosti ( in Russian ) ^ Jump up to : BBC TV Interview, BBC Moscow correspondent Allan Little, October 1998 Jump up ^ В Нью - Йорке россиянина наградили за спасение мира. Lenta.ru ( in Russian ) Jump up ^ Shane, Scott ( 31 August 2003 ). `` Cold War 's Riskiest Moment ''. Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on 19 August 2006. Retrieved 20 August 2006. ( article reprinted as `` The Nuclear War That Almost Happened in 1983 '' ' ) External links BrightStarSound.com Stanislav Petrov tribute website, multiple pages with photos and reprints of various articles about Petrov Nuclear War : Minuteman Article from Weekendavisen, 2 April 2004. The Nuclear War that Almost Happened in 1983 ( posted September 5, 2003 ). History News Network, Originally in the Baltimore Sun of 31 August 2003 Armageddon Almost Not Averted link is dead on 30 September 2013 `` Sept. 26, 1983 : The Man Who Saved the World by Doing... Nothing ''. 30 years on : The day a computer glitch nearly caused World War III. The Register. 27 September 2013 Politics of the Soviet Union 1964 -- 1985 Events 1964 -- 1982 Collective leadership Glassboro Summit Conference Six Day War Prague Spring Invasion of Czechoslovakia 1968 Red Square demonstration Brezhnev Doctrine Brezhnev assassination attempt Sino - Soviet border conflict Détente 1973 oil crisis Fall of Saigon Vladivostok Summit Helsinki Accords 1977 Moscow bombings 1977 Soviet Constitution 1978 Georgian demonstrations Cambodian -- Vietnamese War War in Afghanistan 1980 Summer Olympics Reaction to 1980 -- 1981 Polish crisis Exercise Zapad Death and state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev Legacy of Leonid Brezhnev Events 1982 -- 1985 RYAN Korean Air Lines Flight 007 1983 false nuclear alarm incident Able Archer 83 1984 Summer Olympics boycott Friendship Games Politburo members 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th Aliyev Andropov Brezhnev Chebrikov Chernenko Demichev Dolgikh Efremov Gorbachev Grechko Grishin Gromyko Kirilenko Kiselyov Kunayev Kosygin Kulakov Kuznetsov Masherov Mazurov Mikoyan Mzhavanadze Pelše Podgorny Polyansky Ponomarev Rashidov Romanov Shcherbytsky Shelepin Shelest Shevardnadze Shvernik Solomentsev Suslov Tikhonov Ustinov Voronov Vorotnikov Leaders The Troika ( Brezhnev Kosygin Podgorny ) Yuri Andropov Konstantin Chernenko Governments Kosygin 's 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Tikhonov 's 1st 2nd National economy Reforms OGAS 1965 1973 1979 Food Programme 1984 Five - year plans 8th Plan 9th Plan 10th Plan 11th Plan Brezhnev 's family Churbanov ( son - in - law ) Galina ( daughter ) Lyubov ( niece ) Viktoria ( wife ) Yakov ( brother ) Yuri ( son ) Soviet Union portal Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alarm_incident&oldid=801416662 '' Categories : Cold War military history of the Soviet Union 1983 in the Soviet Union Soviet Union -- United States relations Early warning systems Nuclear command and control Computer errors Hidden categories : Articles needing additional references from May 2017 All articles needing additional references Use dmy dates from May 2017 Articles needing more detailed references All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from September 2012 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Español Français Русский Edit links This page was last edited on 19 September 2017, at 15 : 04. 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Question: when did the cold war almost turn hot
Answer: 26 September 1983