[6] The failure of the Soviets to acquire a VAX-11/782, a dual-processor variation of the VAX-11/780, the original VAX, unraveled much of their smuggling system.
[4] The computer had been exported from the United States to South Africa,[7] from which it was to clandestinely be reshipped; it was seized "moments before its scheduled shipment to the Soviet Union.
"[4] Weinberger stated at a news conference that the VAX was intended for assisting production of "vastly more accurate .
The exact configuration was not released even by over a year later: APnews, which noted that the smuggling operation was spread across ten countries, cited $1.1 million as the system's price[9] The Los Angeles Times described the same system's price as $1.5 million.
American government wiretapping revealed that some of the parties involved considered even settling for a VAX 8700, a uni-processor system.