5 ms·

Man, he is mostly right. Almost everything industrial in the USSR was either military, or dual purpose. E.g. in my home town huge chemical plant was supposed to

Man, he is mostly right. Almost everything industrial in the USSR was either military, or dual purpose. E.g. in my home town huge chemical plant was supposed to produce chemical fiber, however if needed in 24 hrs it could be switched to produce explosives.

jedmeyers 11y ago
Was it in Chernihiv by any chance?
- ommunist 11y ago
  Never heard of ЗХВ-type plant in CHernihiv. There was one in Cherkassy, one in Svetlogorsk (Belarus), one in Sillamae (Estonia), one in Daugavpils (Latvia). Later two were sold for $1 to Tolaram Fibers, which basically shut down plants the next day and fired around 3500 people from each one of them in the 90-ies. UPD: there are others, but I do not know details. The design of the plant is 60-es. The one in Daugavpils built in 1963. Currently what remains of it is owned by french Rhodia.
gdy 11y ago
The plant wasn't pretending it wasn't only capable of producing explosives, it was actually producing fiber.
- ommunist 11y ago
  You wont't believe, but driving chains plant in the same location was capable to produce and fix damaged T-72s. Actually it still can, and current owner has a collection of Soviet tanks, driving on small parade on the 9th of May each year. UPD: have a look - T34 and ИС-2 on the backyard of Driving Chains Plant - http://www.gorod.lv/novosti/253080-v-daugavpilse-strelyali-sovetskie-tanki http://www.gorod.lv/novosti/253080-v-daugavpilse-strelyali-s...
  - gdy 11y ago
    Thanks for sharing this
kjs3 11y ago
That's true of many industrial process; they're often inherently dual-use and it's only a matter of time/effort before the hardware is re-purposed[1]. Fun Fact: if you're sophisticated enough to have an agricultural organophosphate pesticide plant making, say, malathion or diazinon (i.e. not particularly sophisticated), it's a straightforward process tweak using the similar chemical precursors to produce nerve agents like Sarin. If you're interested in more, the Wassenar agreement[2] is the framework within which dual-use non-proliferation is dealt with. It's kind of daunting to see how much industrial output is considered dual-use. [1] One should, of course, always be dubious of claims like "24 hrs" out of context. Such things are famously exaggerated and often posited on contrived pre-conditions like "all safety protocols ignored", "all raw materials and additional personnel already on site and ready" and "logistics infrastructure already converted to military needs". [2] http://www.wassenaar.org/ http://www.wassenaar.org/

jedmeyers 11y ago

Was it in Chernihiv by any chance?

ommunist 11y ago
Never heard of ЗХВ-type plant in CHernihiv. There was one in Cherkassy, one in Svetlogorsk (Belarus), one in Sillamae (Estonia), one in Daugavpils (Latvia). Later two were sold for $1 to Tolaram Fibers, which basically shut down plants the next day and fired around 3500 people from each one of them in the 90-ies. UPD: there are others, but I do not know details. The design of the plant is 60-es. The one in Daugavpils built in 1963. Currently what remains of it is owned by french Rhodia.

gdy 11y ago

The plant wasn't pretending it wasn't only capable of producing explosives, it was actually producing fiber.

ommunist 11y ago
You wont't believe, but driving chains plant in the same location was capable to produce and fix damaged T-72s. Actually it still can, and current owner has a collection of Soviet tanks, driving on small parade on the 9th of May each year. UPD: have a look - T34 and ИС-2 on the backyard of Driving Chains Plant - http://www.gorod.lv/novosti/253080-v-daugavpilse-strelyali-sovetskie-tanki http://www.gorod.lv/novosti/253080-v-daugavpilse-strelyali-s...
- gdy 11y ago
  Thanks for sharing this

kjs3 11y ago

That's true of many industrial process; they're often inherently dual-use and it's only a matter of time/effort before the hardware is re-purposed[1]. Fun Fact: if you're sophisticated enough to have an agricultural organophosphate pesticide plant making, say, malathion or diazinon (i.e. not particularly sophisticated), it's a straightforward process tweak using the similar chemical precursors to produce nerve agents like Sarin. If you're interested in more, the Wassenar agreement[2] is the framework within which dual-use non-proliferation is dealt with. It's kind of daunting to see how much industrial output is considered dual-use. [1] One should, of course, always be dubious of claims like "24 hrs" out of context. Such things are famously exaggerated and often posited on contrived pre-conditions like "all safety protocols ignored", "all raw materials and additional personnel already on site and ready" and "logistics infrastructure already converted to military needs". [2] http://www.wassenaar.org/ http://www.wassenaar.org/