Cuba Buys Successors to Russian Missiles That Downed Brothers to the Rescue Planes

Cuba Buys Successors to Russian Missiles That Downed Brothers to the
Rescue Planes / 14ymedio
Posted on August 30, 2015

14ymedio, 30 August 2015 – In 2015 Cuba will have modern air-to-air
missiles acquired from Russia, according to the state-operated Russian
Agency of International Information. The island's government will
receive a consignment of VYMPEL R-73Es, which will add to the missiles
already imported in recent years, said Yuri Klinshin, president of the
Duks company.

The note added that the missile is highly maneuverable and can reach a
top speed of 1,500 miles/hour, and a maximum height of 18.6 miles. Other
countries that have already bought these arms include Vietnam, Angola,
Venezuela Uruguay and Indonesia, among others.

The Vympel R-73E is the successor to the R-60MK, which the USSR gave to
Cuba and which was used by the Cuban Air Force to shoot down two
civilian Cessnas belonging to Brothers to the Rescue on 24 February
1996. The attack cost the lives of four crew members and provoked a
strong reaction from the Cuban exile community. The scandal led
President Bill Clinton to sign the Helms Burton Act.

Twenty years later, in the midst of a fragile and tortuous process of
normalization of relations between the US and Cuba, this new purchase of
Russian rockets is disclosed.

Source: Cuba Buys Successors to Russian Missiles That Downed Brothers to
the Rescue Planes / 14ymedio | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cuba-buys-successors-to-russian-missiles/