Russia: No System Will Stop New Missiles (

Las Vegas Sun ^ | March 01, 2005 at 17:07:15 PST | STEVE GUTTERMAN

[Fenris6]

Maybe its paranoia? Putin's recent comments on CBS Rathergate already show he's not in touch with the real world. Putin may really think we intend to bully him with threats of a launch when we have our shield? Weird.

[bd476]

Hey! LOL. Well like minds are great...

[Norman Bates]

The warheads will be going mach 15 at top speed. What they are doing I think is trading off the MIRVs for an advanced evasion system designed to get one warhead (per missile) through an ABM defense. This could be overcome with SBL (space based lasers) or nuclear ABMs. Something like Brilliant Pebbles with an SBL component would be impervious to their "impervious missile."

[Spktyr]

In some ways, Mach 10/hypervelocity missile is actually easier to intercept, if we have sea or ground based interceptors in the right place. Because of the speed, deploying countermeasures from the missile becomes a problem. And going that fast, the thing can't do much by way of evasive manuvers. And of course the added velocity will magnify the damage when something hits it.

[Norman Bates]

I would very much appreciate a link to that.

[Salman]

Considering that we don't actually have a missile defense at this time, what exactly is "any possible missile defense"?

Maybe it's not us that they are trying to impress?

[Bogey78O]

The faster a missile travels through the air the greater the pressure upon the missile by the atmosphere. If it's doing Mach 15 then slight damage to it could destroy it. The ABL can punch a basketball sized hole in a regular missile. I doubt this system could survive that.

[jveritas]

he said it is developing a new nuclear missile system unlike any weapon other countries have or could come up with in the near future.

This guy is utterly delusional. If he does not know about the unlimited power of the American engineering and technology then he is a complete fool. He needs to know that it is an impossibility that any nation on this planet can have any technology in any area that can be superior to ours.

[Gumption]

Why?

Well, that's when you'll hear the leftists try to explain how a completely defensive weapon (BMD) is aggressive and how obvious offensive strike weapons (actual nuclear tipped missiles) are defensive.

[SaltyJoe]

I don't underestimate the ability of Russian scientists locked away in laboratories studying for months on end because it's very very cold and dark most of the year.

Yes, there are many secrets that the old cunning Soviet stole and bought from willful leftist socialists, but who came up with stealth technology that brought about the first F-111? Who developed HUGE WIG (wing-in-ground) effect Ekranoplans? Who developed a tank that beat the Germans in their own tank warfare tactics? Who put the first satellite into space? Who never retires their old equipment and has the ingenuity to keep it running for decades on end? And which people are best known for their ability to suffer and endure through the most miserable of conditions?

Like I said, I don't underestimate the Russians' ability.

[KC_for_Freedom]

Uh, Russia, we weren't thinking of you re the Missile Shield. Thanks for the heads up.

Right, our defense was never intended for a large number of missiles, (which Russia has) so they don't need to do much, just overwhelm us. We could stop a single rogue launch, and the countermeasure game is one that we play too, so its tough to predict success on either side. Hitting a non-evading missile is quite a trick, but the easy counter measures have been accounted for as well.

[ken21]

forgive me for asking, but why is russia so focused on this?

i may be wrong, but i doubt that europe has militaristic goals with russia. nor the united states. china? who knows.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

What is that .... thing?

[normy]

The Bush administration has said its prospective missile defense system would be aimed against potential missile threats from nations such as Iraq or North Korea, and would be unable to fend off a massive nuclear strike Russia is capable of launching

Putin should know this, unless he is a paranoid lunatic. Maybe the second coming of Ivan the Terrible? Maybe its just something for the Chinese to consider?

If the Chinese were to steal or buy the technology once it is perfected, the Russians would have more to fear from them than us.

[Spktyr]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/commentary/20050228-084038-9858r.htm

Search FR for other posts about it, too.

[familyop]

Here's an update to reflect recent events and an added guess. It's actually a lot more complicated than the following, BTW.


Supply line:

Russia ----------------------------> Iran
     |                                              |
     |                                              |
    V                                             V
Syria ---> Islamic Jihad ---> Hezbollah ----> Mediterranean Port

[Shortwave]

Just some silliness I found on the web. I found it very appropriate. One thing you can always count on is Russia being Russia. Putin is a paper tiger and I don't see him doing all that much. It's like every now and then he has a KGB flashback . Once a Communist always a Communist.

[Norman Bates]

Those warheads are pretty hardened. They certainly couldn't take a direct hit by a kinetic kill vehicle but might or might not survive a near miss by a conventional ABM. The ABL has stabilization issues that are trying to be overcome. The main worry about lasers is that they could polish the surface to a mirror-like gloss to reflect the laser-shine or they could rotate it. To be honest I don't know if they could actually rotate a missile effectively enough to reduce laser-shine or how powerful the laser would need to be to oversome such countermeasures. But frankly that stuff is a long way off if ever (Is anyone worried if the N.Koreans can rotate their mirrored missiles?). The fact is a deployment of off the shelf SBL technology right now would be a strong deterrent.

[Leatherneck_MT]

Anything that man can build and deploy, man can defeat.

Putin either doesn't know history, or he's ignorant of human nature.