Officials Sent State-of-the-art Hellfire Missile to Cuba After Loading it on the Wrong Plane

To give you an idea of the destructive power of this particular missile, it’s the same weapon the United States military is using in its air campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The weapon is often fitted onto helicopters, aircrafts and unmanned drones. It’s used to destroy ground-based targets, and it’s really good at it.

The Wall Street Journal, quoting ‘people familiar with the matter’, claimed that one of the missiles had been shipped in the wrong container and instead of being returned to Florida, it went to Cuba.

Luckily, the 50kg missile did not have an explosive warhead or a complete guidance system. It was also missing its rocket motor.

But officials fear the remaining technology on board the munition could be reversed engineered by Russian, Iranian or North Korean scientists.

Once the mission was completed, it was sent through Spain, Germany and France where it was loaded onto an Air France aircraft at Charles De Gaulle airport.

Officials have made it clear that the missile had been on the wrong aircraft while the jet was en-route to Cuba, but all efforts to contact the aircraft and divert it had failed. Once the aircraft landed in Havana, the package was recognized and seized.

Something about this doesn’t add up. The U.S. government, even under the Obama Administration, isn’t that careless. So either a deal was being made or it was an act of espionage. Either way, this doesn’t seem like a great way to carry on “diplomatic relations” between our two countries.

Source: dailymail.co.uk