Posted on 06/20/2006 4:39:31 PM PDT by familyop
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration is weighing responses to a possible North Korean missile test that include attempting to shoot it down in flight over the Pacific, defence officials said Tuesday.
Because North Korea has made it a practice not to announce its missile tests in advance, U.S. officials say they cannot be sure of the government's intentions. Under that circumstance, the Pentagon is considering the possibility that it might need to attempt an interception, two defence officials told the Associated Press.
The officials agreed to discuss the matter only on condition of anonymity because of its political sensitivity.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said he could not say whether the multibillion-dollar U.S. anti-missile defence system might be used in the event of a North Korean test. That system, which includes a handful of missiles that could be fired from Alaska and California, has had a spotty record in tests.
Although shooting down a North Korean missile is a possibility, the Pentagon also must consider factors that would argue against such a response, including the risk of shooting and missing and of escalating tensions further with Pyongyang.
Signs of North Korean preparations to launch a long-range, ballistic missile, possibly with sufficient range to reach U.S. territory, have grown in recent weeks, although it is unclear whether the missile has been fully fuelled. U.S. officials said Monday the missile was apparently fully assembled and fuelled, but others have since expressed some uncertainty.
Also unknown is whether the missile would be launched for a flight-test or to place a satellite in orbit.
Bush administration officials have publicly and privately urged the North Koreans not to conduct the missile test, which would end a moratorium in place since 1999. That ban was adopted after Japan and other countries expressed outrage over an August 1998 launch in which a North Korean missile overflew northern Japan.
At the time of the 1998 launch, the United States had no means of shooting down a long-range missile in flight. Since then, with the investment of tens of billions of dollars, the Pentagon has developed a rudimentary system that it says is capable of defending against a limited number of missiles in an emergency.
A single nuke would be jumping the shark as far as N Kor is concerned.
Man a sucessful interecept would be the ultimate smackdown. Not to mention discrediting the damn dems that have fought this program so much over the years.
Stop the game playing. If they fire it, and its a threat of course knock it down. Then level the place. I dont want to hear about that country again. No money, no bargaining, no nation building!(psst..clear out our troops at the DMZ..TONIGHT!!!)
Shoot it down as it leaves the silo.
Regarding headline: So what would we do otherwise, let it hit NY? or Washington, D.C.?
Bump
A miss would be devastating. Better to not shoot at it maybe, or not have announced that we are going to shoot at it.
If they are using Kerosene as the fuel and LOX(Liquid Oxygen) as the oxidizer it may blow up on the pad.
Base to test laser-shooting planes: Modified aircraft to track, destroy missiles
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1652245/posts
Ping
It would be better if we preempted it.
No prob. We made the stuff for DoD in Mississippi a few years back. IRFNA (Inhibited Red Fuming Nitric Acid) is the oxidizer in several missiles including the Phoenix, late of Tomcat fame....IRCC.
If that NK missiles trajectory indicates it is headed our way. I think the intercept decision will be easy to make.
I dont want that thing splashing in the ocean ten miles from my home. I would rather they shoot everything we have at it and take the chance of missing.
I did not know that fuel was used in the Phoenix.
Of course, a successful NK launch and an interceptor miss would be the ultimate "I told you so" for Dems. Personally, I don't think they've tested it enough to be confident of an intercept. Even the Pentagon's OT&E office says that.
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