Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Mystery missile launched off coast of California caught on tape near Los Angeles



Found: a massive ballistic missile streaking across the sky off the coast of California last night.

Anyone want to claim it? Because the U.S. military says it's not theirs.

A news helicopter for CBS station KCBS captured stunning video of what appeared to be a missile launch 35 miles off the California coast, just north of Catalina Island. The video shows a giant streak across the sunset sky, leaving a column of white smoke in its wake.

For now, though, the missile's origins and purpose are a mystery.

A Navy spokesman told CBS affiliate KFMB in San Diego that the missile did not belong to them and that there had been no Navy activity reported in the area.

Officials at The Pentagon also did not know any details about the launch and said that it could not have been a planned military action, NBC San Diego reported.

Former Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Ellsworth told the San Diego station that the missile was “not a Tomahawk” but could possibly have been a test firing from a submarine to serve as a demonstration of American military might to Asia.

On Friday night, an Air Force base in California launched a rocket carrying an Italian satellite into orbit, but a sergeant at the base told KFMB there had been no launches since then.

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