The incident is popularly known as the Black Brant scare and not something you would have anticipated happening just a few years after the Cold War ended.
• HOW IT STARTED
Norway and US scientists wanted to conduct a test off the northwestern coast of Norway. They admittedly notified the Russian federation of the tests they wanted to carry out but somehow, the message never got to the appropriate quarters (Russian Defense Agency) before the launch date.
On January 25, 1995, a team of Norwegian and US scientists launched a Black Brant XII rocket from the Andøya Rocket Range in the northwestern part of the country as planned.
Expectedly, Russian air defense systems picked up the projectile which was fired off an American submarine and mistook the research rocket as an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile probably carrying a nuclear head.
