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Missile Defense

Russian military leaders have expressed concern about US plans for a national missile defense system. Will defense technology be limited by possibilities for a strategic imbalance? Is this just SDI all over again?

gisterme - 05:11pm Jul 5, 2001 EST (#6646 of 6649)

gisterme 7/5/01 4:59pm continued...

WRT aircraft based lasers. I think the aircraft would need to be within a few hundred km of a launch site to get an ICBM booster. I can't help but think that the aircraft based laser is intended more for theater defense against scud-like missiles or against aircraft. As far as aircraft safety goes, I doubt that those kinds of aircraft would be deployed without plenty of escorts, but if I were an enemy pilot I'd certainly think twice before trying to approach an aircraft that carried such a big stick. Recall that all kinds of large aricraft like AWACS, aerial tankers and JSTARS were constantly loitering in and around Iraqi airspace during the Gulf War with none lost or even attacked. I noticed that one of the links referenced above mentioned that airborn lasers have already been used to destroy sidewinder missiles; also, any pilot caught in a beam would need one hell of a pair of sunglasses.

gisterme - 05:33pm Jul 5, 2001 EST (#6647 of 6649)

rshowlter wrote ( rshowalter 7/4/01 9:10am )

The numbers on how far short the radars are on angular resolution are compelling - there's a shortfall, if I remember, of many factors of ten from what would be needed - but I haven't gathered them, and my memory could be wrong.

gisterme 7/3/01 8:34pm

Nobody but you has suggested that radar would be used to aim a laser weapon, Robert. Infrared sensors would probably be used to aim a low-power wider-beam laser, that would illuminate the ICBM booster body for the high-power laser. Quit tossing out these red herrings, Robert, with or without fur...you do yourself a disservice by compromising any calim you may have to sincerity with stuff like that.

gisterme - 06:08pm Jul 5, 2001 EST (#6648 of 6649)

rshowlater wrote ( rshowalter 7/4/01 9:12am ): Just now, I'm feeling a good deal of sympathy for gisterme.

No need for that, Robert. I'm not the one with egg on my face.

Most of the high officers in the Bush administration, as usual, are not trained scientists or engineers -- they are lawyers and political scientists.

What does that have to do with me, Robert? I have nothing to do with the Bush administration or the US Government other than being a taxpayer and a voter. But you've known that for a long time.

gisterme 5/4/01 11:25pm

Are you trying to pull some wool here, Robert? Trying to create another red herring by suggestion?

gisterme - 06:33pm Jul 5, 2001 EST (#6649 of 6649)

rshowalter wrote: ( rshowalter 7/4/01 8:14am )

[quoting gisterme] ..."A large-antenna radar could probably give position data about as accurate as GPS

(Comment: that's a few meters resolution..."

I smell kipper snacks. Once again, NOBODY BUT ROBERT SHOWALTER has ever suggested that a radar could be used to aim a laser weapon.

"...-- for aiming a lasar weapon, with real controls, you'd need resolution to a few millimeters, real time.)..."

Wrong.

[quoting gisterme] "Information for data for a re-entry vehicle a couple of thousand miles distant. Since the BMD radar hasn't been built yet , I'm sure it was being simulated by the GPS data being transmitted from the target vehicle in the recent intercept tests.

(Comment: That's an admission.

Is not, Robert. The only information I have heard about GPS position data being relayed from the re-entry vehicle came from you. I trusted your truthfulness. However, now I'm once again seeing the lack of wisdom in so doing.

"...The people in Congress being told of how far along the program was weren't told that, were they?..."

How the hell would I know? Do you know? Of course not.

"...They were left to make inferences that were much more impressive than the facts, weren't they?..."

How the hell would I know? Do you know? Of course not.

"...And the information is significant for very high dollar high risk decisions, isn't it? )..."

It's just a test program, Robert. We've been over this before...

gisterme 6/29/01 7:20pm

Trying to build another tempest in the teapot, Robert? Asking questions that are based on...NOTHING? At least you're predictable in your consistency.

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