Saw a truck carrying a missile on side of highway, smoke was

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 9:55 am

It was on September 8th, around 6-7pm.

Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to take a picture as we drove by it too quickly, and I was in a bit of a "What the hell is that a missile launcher on the back of a truck with smoke coming out of its wheels??" shock.

It was pulled over on the right hand side of the road. The big rig had a flat bed back, which carried a caterpillar treaded vehicle with what looked like a single large missile (missile launcher, missile transporter? My knowledge of this sort of thing isn't good enough to identify it). There was white smoke coming from the flat bed itself (maybe the wheels?)

I've been trying to google information about it and checked twitter, but nobody's posted pictures. All I've been able to find is just a tweet from one other person who saw it on I-880 North today.

This is one of the strangest things I've seen. Is it just a movie prop? Was it a real piece of military hardware? I want to solve this mystery but god damnit I can't find any news online about it.

Pseudo Stupidity · Post by **Pseudo Stupidity** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 11:59 am

Did you see the plates at all? Government plates would be a dead giveaway as to whether it was a real weapon or not. Also, if the missile was being carried parallel to the ground it's more likely to have been a real one (they only angle them for launch).

Most of the single-missile launching vehicles are around the size of a humvee with a big, ladder-ass looking thing on the back. But they also tend to not be treaded. Source: I used to work for a magazine about military equipment and went to a bunch of trade shows where they'd show it off.

It could be that they were just transporting a missile from base to base or something, but I don't think you'd want to use civilian equipment that isn't designed for transporting those sorts of things.

Edit: The closest I can think of to a construction-equipment looking launcher is the m39, and I think it might be kind of old.

Sigil · Post by **Sigil** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 11:16 pm

It doesn't necessarily have to be a US manufactured vehicle either, the US military maintains fleets of foreign produced vehicles for testing weapon targeting systems of weapons and other similar things, and bases regularly loan one another vehicles that they wouldn't normally have access to.

Amusing anecdote, when my father was in the civil service they would hang deactivated manpads in their offices as decoration. One of his coworkers was moving buildings, but didn't manage to move all his stuff to the new building before it closed for the weekend. He ended up getting a visit from the FBI because a guy on probation called his probation officer and told him "I saw my neighbor putting missile launchers in his garage."

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 12:31 am

Would the military just transport missiles around in plain sight? You'd think they'd at least put a tarp over it so as to not worry people needlessly. I was going to say "to protect it from the elements", but then I remembered it's a missile, if a bit of rain fucks it up, you need to go back to the drawing board.

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 12:51 am

I've occasionally seen big convoys of clearly military vehicles on highways, jeeps and army transport trucks. Wouldn't be surprised to learn that the army transports missile launchers by truck, though I'm pretty sure most mobile missile systems have a lot of missiles ready to fire near-simultaneously.

As for the smoke, my guess would be the brakes overheated. Military vehicles weigh a lot, so I would imagine going downhill in a truck carrying one for long enough could cause problems.

Grek · Post by **Grek** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 1:04 am

Koumei wrote:Would the military just transport missiles around in plain sight? You'd think they'd at least put a tarp over it so as to not worry people needlessly. I was going to say "to protect it from the elements", but then I remembered it's a missile, if a bit of rain fucks it up, you need to go back to the drawing board.

They do. They have these big shit green trucks with canvas tents in back. Like this:

Not only do they not want to scare the public and avoid whatever it is they're shipping getting rained on, there's also a valid strategic reason to not let people look inside the truck - they don't want enemy spies to be able to hide outside a military base and make a list of the trucks are carrying as they go by.

Morat · Post by **Morat** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 5:47 am

Was it this thing?

If so, that's a (nonfunctional!) Scud launcher previously owned by the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation, one of the largest private collections of the kind. The owner died a few years ago, and the collection was signed over to a foundation in Massachussets last year, while ~120 vehicles were sold to fund a new museum to hold the rest.

And since there were hundreds of vehicles that needed to be moved and they've only had a year to do it, I wouldn't be surprised that they were still in the process. Also, the MVTF was in Portola Valley, CA, so the (probable) route to Massachusetts runs north all the way up 880 to hit I-80 E.