This is mostly history now, but may still be interesting. Below is the text of the notification letter that the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent out to alert countries in the region about the launches of its scientific rockets in January-February 1995.
It was suggested that this letter somehow got lost in the Russian bureaucracy, so when the Black Brant XII rocket was launched on January 25, 1995, operators of the Russian early-warning system did not expect it. This may well be the case, but it is quite possible that the letter was registered, but no one noticed that the rocket this time will be much bigger than anything launched from the Andoya test site before. The operators may have decided that it's going to be just another launch (there had been more than 600 launches by that time) and were not prepared to see a bigger that usual rocket.
A PDF copy of the original is here. The text is below:
Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs
21776/VII/94
The Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs presents its compliments to the Heads of Mission accredited in Oslo and has the honour to inform them that an international scientific rocket campaign will take place from Andøya Rocket Range in the time period January 15 to February 10 1995. In this period three rockets will be launched, one Black Brant XII which is a four stage configuration and two meteorological Viper 3 A/Dart Falling Sphere.
The launching of the rockets can take place any day within the specified launch period dependent on the scientific criteria, and the launch window will be between 0500 hrs LT and 1200 hrs LT.
Seagoing traffic should be aware of the predicted impact areas as specified below:
1A. Impact area for the 1st stage; Black Brant XII:
A sector with origin in the launcher coordinates:
N 69° 17' 40" E 16° 01' 15"
True bearing: 270° - 020°
Sector length: 0.7 nautical miles
1B. Impact area for the 2nd stage; Black Brant XII:
A circle with radius 2.5 nautical miles in the predicted impact point: N 69° 25' E16° 00'
1C. Impact area for the 3rd stage; Black Brant XII:
An ellipse with maximum length in North/South direction of 68 nautical miles from a predicted impact point: N 73° 27' E 15° 04' and a maximum length in East/West direction of 45 nautical miles from the same predicted impact point.
1D. Impact area for the 4rd stage; Black Brant XII:
An ellipse with maximum length in North/South direction of 325 nautical miles from a predicted impact point N 85° 38' E 08° 40' and a maximum length in East/West direction of 245 nautical miles from the same predicted point.
2A. Impact area for 1st stage Viper 3 A/Dart Falling Sphere:
A sector with origin in the launcher coordinates:
N 69° 17' 40" E 16° 01' 15"
True bearing: 270° - 020°
Sector length: 4 nautical miles
2B. Impact area for final impact of Viper 3 A/Dart Falling Sphere:
A circle with radius 25 nautical miles from a predicted impact point N 70° 10' E 15° 45'
The Royal Ministry would be grateful to the Heads of Mission for their assistance in conveying this information to their national authorities.
No reply to this note is necessary.
The Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs avails itself of this opportunity to renew to the diplomatic Heads of Mission accredited in Oslo the assurances of its highest consideration.
Oslo, 21 December 1994
The book
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