ARTICLE: Cloudy Skies Knock Out Anti-Missile Defense!

[mindseye]

Originally posted by Geronimo

Has anybody been able to come up with any other scenarios where the missle shield might make any difference?

The only one I can think of involves Airforce One.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by BeBro
Five out of eight isn't that bad. Just hope they don't attack with nuclear warheads

Actually, five out of eight is misleading. In the tests where they were "successful" they were proof of concept tests, not tests to see whether the system was actually useful. In these tests, the targets were usually outbound drones, not inbound (which means the radar had a lot more time to track and lock on to their target than the few minutes an inbound missile would allow us. In addition, they generally wore great big targets saying, hit me, as opposed to flinging twenty decoys out to confuse the sytem.

The good news is that sucha system might eventually work. The bad news is that we are deploying a flashlight that was sold to us as a laser.

[Odin]

Re: ARTICLE: Cloudy Skies Knock Out Anti-Missile Defense!

Originally posted by Gatekeeper
those missile fields in North Dakota are still on somebody's "to-kill" list ...

I didn't want to be reminded about that.

[DRoseDARs]

Hey, did you hear? Missile silos in the United States, especially those in North Dakota, are still being targetted by other nuclear powers.

Mwahahahaha!!

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Arrian
ICBMs are not what we must worry about. We have the ultimate deterant : a ****load of our own ICBMs.



This made at least a modicum of sense during the Cold War arms race. It makes none now.

-Arrian

Exactly. Who thinks retaliation will be appreciated by a potentially psycho (who might have a terminal illness) ruler of some banana-rice republic?

Mr Kim, you've won the dictator for life game, but you're dying, what do you want to do?

'I want to make Disneyland glow!'

MAD only works with groups of people who think they have something to lose. It might be warm comfort to know that you can make Korea, and all of East Asia a radioactive hot spot for a few centuries to come, but wouldn't your efforts be better spent in trying to make the obligatory response a non issue because the few missiles a madman could luanch might not come back down again in operable condition?

[Urban Ranger]

It's amazing how often this line of bollocks comes up, i.e. some madman's gonna to vapourise LA if the missile shield's not in place blah blah blah.

Fortunately, us IT types are very used FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt).

[notyoueither]

Fortunately, you IT types don't run countries.

If you think for a moment that Kim is a nice, stable, influence with the bomb, you are mad.

What was the last gem? Something about if Japan didn't continue to give him stuff it would be a declaration or war?

The only Chinese who would be stupid enough not to take such a threat seriously would be the Chinese who hope that Kim catches the US with the proverbial pants down.

I'd really like to see how long he would last if Beijing were threatened with one of his toys. My money would be that N Korea would be 'under new management' in about 48 hours.

[Patroklos]

Anyone remember when they started designing the F-22?

Anyone remember when the first flight was?

Anyone remember the first time if flew in anything but perfect conditions.

Product: The best fighter plane the world has ever seen.

And does anyone here understand how ****ing hard it is to shoot down an ICBM? You guys will whine about anything.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by notyoueither
Fortunately, you IT types don't run countries.

The propaganda is working fine

Originally posted by notyoueither
If you think for a moment that Kim is a nice, stable, influence with the bomb, you are mad.

That's nice, but I have seen nothing but assertions so far.

Originally posted by notyoueither
What was the last gem? Something about if Japan didn't continue to give him stuff it would be a declaration or war?

Did he declare war?

Originally posted by notyoueither
I'd really like to see how long he would last if Beijing were threatened with one of his toys. My money would be that N Korea would be 'under new management' in about 48 hours.

How do you know he has missiles with nuclear warheads ready to launch?

[notyoueither]

I'd be surprised if Japan is not secretly preparing themselves for the eventuality that they need to make N Korea an isotope soup when Kim finally goes totally off his rocker and they can't chance it anymore.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Did he declare war?

Your're trying to make a joke, right?

You do have a clue where rattling sabres and threatening war ends up, don't you?

How do you know he has missiles with nuclear warheads ready to launch?

He says he has warheads? The world says he has warheads? He lobbed a missile over the Japanese mainland?

Are you being intentionally dense?

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by notyoueither
I'd be surprised if Japan is not secretly preparing themselves for the eventuality that they need to make N Korea an isotope soup when Kim finally goes totally off his rocker and they can't chance it anymore.

Incidently, I should think China should be concerned that the Japanese might feel that way. I should think that China should pull on the choker of their lap dog instead of snickering at the commotion it is causing.

China's choice.

However, if the US detects a missile launch from the Korean peninsula, I would think some of their scenarios assume that they have to obliterate China as part of the response.

I hope that everyone is thinking of these things. It could get awefully messy if everyone just poses for points.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by shmily_dana
The always want to have good weather on flight tests so that they can get photos.

Also, I imagine they have telemetry coming out of the missile. Need good weather for good reception.

There are also range safety issues that mandate good weather.

Yes, yes and yes.

[mindseye]

Who cares if the tests are successfull.

Even if it works 100% perfectly, given that it's ridiculously easy to circumvent, as a defense system it's less than useless - it's a WASTE.

Even the Maginot Line at least provided speed bump value.

[Patroklos]

If it is so ridiculously easy to circumvent, why don't you with your wealth of classified technical knowledge explain?