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Sacramento McClellan Airport on Russian Nuke Target List

Russian television has announced a list of nuclear targets in the United States, and Sacramento McClellan Airport is one of them.

McClellan was a U.S. Air Force base from 1935-2001, but is now a privately-owned public use airport. However, the Russian broadcast included McClellan in a list of targets it describes as U.S. presidential or military command centers. Maryland's Fort Ritchie, decommissioned in 1998, is also on the list.

NewsRadio KFBK asked Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA), Chairman of the Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee, why McClellan would be a potential Russian nuclear target. Garamendi's office declined comment, citing "a large amount of classified information."

What's not classified, but not widely known, is the existence of a nuclear reactor at McClellan. It's part of UC Davis' McClellan Nuclear Research Center, was commissioned by the Air Force in 1990, when McClellan was still an active Air Force Base, and is one of the newest research reactors in the country.

The other targets include the Pentagon, the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland and Jim Creek Naval Communications Center in Washington State.

The Russian report follows tough talk last week by Russian President Vladimir Putin in which he said Russia was ready for a "Cuban Missile-style crisis if the United States wants one". The report also said that Russia is developing a hypersonic missile which could hit Sacramento McClellan Airport and the other targets in the U.S. within five minutes of being launched.


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