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.
Vasily Reshetnikov Vasily Vasiliyevich Reshetnikov (Russian: Василий Васильевич Решетников ) (born December 23, 1919) was a Soviet pilot during World War II. Reshetnikov flew 307 missions mainly as a pilot for a long-range bomber and in the summer of 1943, received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. After World War II concluded he was named commander of Air Division, Air Corps. Reshetnikov was subsequently promoted to Colonel General and took command of Long-range Air Forces from 1969 to 1980 and was made Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force of the Soviet Union from 1980 to 1986.