What lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces correctly identified a false alarm on 26 September 1983
1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident On 26 September 1983, the nuclear early warning system of the Soviet Union reported the launch of multiple USAF Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles from bases in the United States. These missile attack warnings were correctly identified as a false alarm by Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov, an officer of the Soviet Air Defence Forces. This decision is seen as having prevented a retaliatory nuclear attack based on erroneous data on the United States and its NATO allies, which would have probably resulted in immediate escalation of the cold-war stalemate to a full-scale nuclear war. Investigation of the satellite warning system later confirmed that the system had malfunctioned.
Vladimir Fedorovich Vladimirov Vladimir Fedorovich Vladimirov (Russian: Владимир Фёдорович Владимиров; 9 July 1914 – December 1943) was a Red Army Lieutenant during World War II and a Hero of the Soviet Union. He was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin for his actions during the Battle of the Dnieper. Vladimirov was killed in action during December 1943.