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Missile Defense

Technology has always found its greatest consumer in a nation's war and defense efforts. Since the last attempts at a "Star Wars" defense system, has technology changed considerably enough to make the latest Missile Defense initiatives more successful? Can such an application of science be successful? Is a militarized space inevitable, necessary or impossible?

Read Debates, a new Web-only feature culled from Readers' Opinions, published every Thursday.

fredmoore - 07:36am Oct 20, 2003 EST (# 15268 of 15278)

wrcooper - 11:16pm Oct 19, 2003 EST (# 15251 of 15266) "It would be too expensive for attackers to mount such tests for a deception only. Really? How would you know that? Also, if it isn’t too expensive for such a nation or group to buy or build an ICBM system tipped with a nuclear, chemical or biological (NBC) warhead, then I fail to understand why a much simpler addition of countermeasures wouldn’t lie within their power. Once tests were in the MIRV phase US satellites and ground bases could characterise ALL materiel and log the different signatures for cross referencing. Log away.How would we distinguish warhead from decoy. They might not even launch an actual warhead in a test. So all the signatures we logged would not tell us what the actual warhead looked like. "

Will,

Whoa neddy! Launching MIRV systems to decieve the US is a tall order for attcakers as launch costs are so high. Additionally these tests would risk a full scale US counter attack out of misunderstanding. As for logging the data, it's the quality of the data that is imporant and each different RV should give unique return signals. If any MIRV tests were launched one would be expecting the current technology to log precise chemical signatures of a range of depths within the RV's. High PRF coherent sources in the X-ray region could do this as coherent recollision electrons from the missile surface would penetrate any shield and provide a modulated return signal which could be analysed. Now as I said I don't expect such techniques are current but that doesn't mean that research could not be steered in that direction. This kind of technology would have many other applications as well and R&D dollars would therefore be well spent even if the NMD application met with difficulties. However from my understanding of the technique I don't see any problems that time and ingenuity cannot solve.

You are correct however that if a serious MIRV attack was launced NOW then reading between the 'classified' lines an NMD shield would perform badly. What I am saying is that this will not remain the case as university and defence labs come to grips with emerging technologies. Short of espionage, attackers wouldn't have a snowball's in hell chance of getting into this technology realm or even extending their current decoy regime to more exotic levels for that matter.

Ciao

lchic - 07:37am Oct 20, 2003 EST (# 15269 of 15278)
ultimately TRUTH outs : TRUTH has to be morally forcing : build on TRUTH it's a strong foundation

RU - a link to a previously made point

http://www.russiajournal.com/news/cnews-article.shtml?nd=40895

lchic - 07:44am Oct 20, 2003 EST (# 15270 of 15278)
ultimately TRUTH outs : TRUTH has to be morally forcing : build on TRUTH it's a strong foundation

Trading partners? http://www.russiajournal.com/news/cnews-article.shtml?nd=40795

lchic - 07:58am Oct 20, 2003 EST (# 15271 of 15278)
ultimately TRUTH outs : TRUTH has to be morally forcing : build on TRUTH it's a strong foundation

'He saw that the world was an entity and that one incident in one country could have a tremendous effect on another country and another and another, until it has an effect on the United States.' (Nix on JFK)

Morality and Pragmatism in US Foreign Policy

http://adnetsolfp2.adnetsol.com/ssl_claremont/1_ballismiss.cfm

fredmoore - 08:01am Oct 20, 2003 EST (# 15272 of 15278)

lchic - 07:37am Oct 20, 2003 EST (# 15269 of 15270

http://www.russiajournal.com/news/cnews-article.shtml?nd=40895

Re:Russian Triumf MD system -- good job, well done Lchic!

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