A delegation led by U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar watched a team of demolition workers use blow torches to hack the tail off a Tu-160 'Black Jack' this Monday as Ukraine added a bomber to the list of nuclear weaponry it has destroyed. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
Ukraine's first effort toward scrapping its Tu-160 fleet floundered on Sept. 28 when Priluki airfield mechanics carefully removed an engine and electronic components from a T-160 instead of demolishing it as a visiting Pentagon delegation had expected.
American arms controllers at a Friday press conference predicted more aggressiveness from their Ukrainian colleagues the second time around.
'In Ukraine we're still evaluating the proper procedure for bomber destruction,' said John Connell, chief of the Strategic Arms Elimination Program for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. '[But we have been informed the Ukrainians] will be using high-speed saws and plasma arc cutters.'
They got what they expected. A brigade using what appeared to be plasma and conventional blow torches completely severed the Black Jack's tail from its fuselage, according to a Western eyewitness.
'Cut it right off,' he said. 'No way that thing is going to fly again.'
Senators Carl Levin of Michigan and Pete Domenici of New Mexico reportedly were on hand as well.
The demolition team first removed all classified material from the Tu-160 plane before hacking off its tail, Defense Ministry spokesman Dmytro Shkurko told the Associated Press.
Shkurko was unable to say whether the Black Jack got its wings cut off as well. According to the terms of the weapons destruction agreement, a bomber must have its wings and tail cut off to be considered destroyed.
Independent clarification was not possible due to a Defense Ministry media lockout.
'No press is allowed to the event whatsoever,' another Defense Ministry spokesman said before the event. 'If a journalist is found at Priluki [air field], he will be arrested.'
He then hung up and failed to return subsequent calls. Reporters were invited to the Sept. 28 event.
At a news conference on Friday, U.S. Ambassador Stephen Pifer offered the embassy's service to members of the Ukrainian media wanting to observe the destruction of an American bomber the next time one is destroyed.
But he conceded he had less influence when it came to gaining access on the Ukrainian side. 'That's a different defense ministry,' Pifer explained.
Disagreement between Ukraine's Air Force and Strategic Rocket Forces over which service branch would gain title to the 200 tons of spare parts and scrap metal resulting from the destruction apparently stymied September's Black Jack demolition.
'There is only one decision for them [strategic bombers] – recycling,' Defense Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk told Interfax in July, explaining why his ministry was reluctant to destroy the bombers. 'We are looking for other ways [to comply with START].'
U.S. officials acknowledged at the Friday press conference that Ukraine would strip the Black Jack before destruction.
'There will be an effort to recover to the maximum extent possible parts of the Black Jack for use in the economy,' Pifer said.
U.S. officials said they didn't know whether the Rocket Forces or the Air Force would get the juicy bits from Monday's smashed bomber.
'That's a very good question,' said Connell. 'It's the responsibility of [Ukraine's] Ministry of Defense [to decide].'
Connell speculated that the bomber's engines could find application in industry or agriculture.
Pifer, however, said a strategic bomber is not worth a lot of money these days.
'[We have found] there aren't many economic uses for our [B-52] heavy bombers,' he said. One possibility is simply as scrap metal.
'We've recovered much high-quality steel from SS-19 silos,' Connell said. 'We expect the same results from heavy aircraft.' Which might make for new complications.
In September, Ukraine's State Security Service arrested a 200-ton shipment of high-grade steel that until recently had been SS-19 missile silos in the Khmelnitsky oblast.
The U.S. company Bechtel delivered at least some of that steel to a collection facility as the contractor responsible for helping the Ukrainians convert missile remains into cash for new military housing.
'From what I understand the SBU is investigating the possibility that some of the steel in the shipment … did not come from SS-19 silos,' said J. Randall Regan, a Bechtel official coordinating the arms elimination project. 'Our role stops when the steel is packaged and cut up at the storage site.' The Post was unable to contact the SBU for comment.
The steel is almost certainly still in Ukraine, Regan said. The aluminum from the rockets themselves is in a Dnipropetrovsk holding facility, he added.
Ukraine's bomber fleet includes 19 Tu-160 Black Jack bombers and 25 Tu-95 MC Bear bombers. In case of war they were to have launched nuclear-tipped cruise missiles at American targets over the polar ice cap.
Based at two airfields in Kyiv and Chernihiv regions, now around one in four can still get off the ground.
With its first Black Jack now apparently smashed to the Americans' satisfaction, Ukraine has moved to a new phase of compliance with its strategic arms reduction commitments.
Since 1995 Ukraine has decommissioned dozens of ICBM silos by detonating plastic explosive inside of them. In recent years the blast, with assorted generals and civilian officials in attendance, has become a regular television event.
Ukraine has destroyed all 130 of its SS-19 nuclear missile silos. The massive missiles themselves will all be dismantled by next January, U.S. officials said at the press conference.
Ukraine blasted its first SS-24 missile silo into oblivion on Sept. 29. Forty-six in number, the smaller missiles also are slated for disassembly.
Ukraine transferred its last nuclear warhead to Russia in 1995, becoming the first country in the world to exit the club of nuclear nations.
The United States has shelled out millions to help make it all happen. The Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, which Lugar initiated, has provided Ukraine $500 million to disarm, according to the U.S. Embassy.
Ukraine expects to destroy its last strategic bombers and ballistic missiles by December 2001.
