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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?

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lchic - 07:12am Oct 24, 2003 EST (# 15551 of 15554)
ultimately TRUTH outs : TRUTH has to be morally forcing : build on TRUTH it's a strong foundation

The fetish of fetlock - Talked yourselves hoarse?

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July 4, 1945: Despite conclusions by U.S. Industry that available technology precludes building an effective defense, the Army makes its first recommendation to begin a research and development effort to counter ballistic missiles. October 4, 1957: Sputnik is launched into space, initiating the era of long-range ballistic missiles.

May 26, 1972: President Nixon and Soviet General Secretary Brezhnev sign the ABM Treaty that prohibits a nation-wide missile defense while permitting each side two deployment sites limited to 100 interceptors at each location.

July 3, 1974: The ABM Treaty is amended to permit only one defensive missile site for each party.

October 1, 1975: The Nekoma, ND (Grand Forks) Safeguard ABM site becomes operational.

March 23, 1983: President Reagan delivers a national television address in which he calls for research into defenses that would make "nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete."

October 11-12, 1986: President Reagan declines to agree to limitations on SDI proposed by Soviet President Gorbachev.

December 5, 1991: President Bush signs the "Missile Defense Act of 1991," (part of H.R. 2100) which mandates the Department of Defense "develop for deployment by the earliest date allowed by the availability of appropriate technology or by Fiscal Year 1996 a cost effective, operationally effective, and ABM Treaty-compliant anti-ballistic missile system...designed to protect the United States against limited ballistic missile threats, including accidental or unauthorized launches or Third World attacks."

March 1996: The "Defend America Act" which declares as U.S. policy that the nation will deploy a limited missile defense by 2003, is introduced in both Houses of Congress, but does not come to a vote because of the estimated cost of deployment.

January 21, 1997: A new version of the "Defend America Act" is introduced in the Senate, but it does not come to a vote.

August 6, 1997: Members of a congressionally chartered panel chaired by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld are named to "examine the current and potential missile threat to all 50 States and to assess the capability of the U.S. intelligence community to warn policymakers of changes in this threat."

July 15, 1998: The Rumsfeld Commission states that the ballistic missile threat to the U.S. could emerge with little warning and likely will appear sooner than U.S. intelligence agencies have estimated. Some panel members dissent.

August 31, 1998: North Korea launches a Taepo Dong 1 three stage missile over Japan, but the third stage malfunctions and fails to put the satellite payload in orbit.

March 16, 1999: "The National Missile Defense Act of 1999," which declares as U.S. policy that America will "deploy as soon as technologically possible an effective National Missile Defense system," passes the Senate.

March 17, 1999: The House of Representatives approves a measure committing the U.S. to deploy national missile defense.

October 2, 1999: The first Integrated Flight Test (IFT 3) that attempts to bring down a target missile employing elements of the proposed NMD system is hailed by the Pentagon as an unqualified success. Later it is revealed that the kill vehicle initially homed in on the single decoy released by the target.

January 18, 2000: The second attempted intercept (IFT 4) fails when the infrared sensor on the kill vehicle malfunctions. The Pentagon nevertheless declares the test a success because it "learns" so much even from a failure.

July 7, 2000: The third Integrated Flight intercept (IFT 5), delayed twice from the original April test date, fails. The EKV does not separate from the surrogate booster and therefore does not activate its sensors. Additionally, the Mylar decoy on the target rocket rails to inflate.

July 14, 2001: The Bush administration carries out its first missile defe

lchic - 07:15am Oct 24, 2003 EST (# 15552 of 15554)
ultimately TRUTH outs : TRUTH has to be morally forcing : build on TRUTH it's a strong foundation

July 14, 2001: The Bush administration carries out its first missile defense test. The prototype "kill vehicle" demolished a mock warhead 140 miles above the Pacific Ocean. Pentagon officials downplayed its significance and after the test, warned that the program still had a long road ahead.

Full Chronology of the U.S. National Missile Defense Programs available at the Center for Defense Information http://www.cdi.org/

lchic - 07:18am Oct 24, 2003 EST (# 15553 of 15554)
ultimately TRUTH outs : TRUTH has to be morally forcing : build on TRUTH it's a strong foundation

http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=1798&from_page=../index.cfm

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