Ruh Roh!
Posted on 06/20/2006 4:53:29 PM PDT by Momaw Nadon
WASHINGTON — Those in charge of the nation’s missile defense system have often said the interceptors based at Fort Greely could be used in a pinch. Today, amid reports that North Korea is about to launch a missile capable of reaching the United States, officials wouldn’t say whether that pinch has arrived.
“There are many options available, and we are simply not going to tip our hand as to what the possible response would be,” White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters on a flight to Vienna with President Bush earlier today. Snow’s comments were made to pool reporters traveling with the president and made available by the White House.
North Korea is reportedly in the process of fueling one of its Taepodong-2 missiles, which experts say have a range that put Alaska and the western U.S. within their reach.
Military spokesmen also declined to speculate about media reports quoting unnamed officials who say the missile defense system has been placed in “operational” status in response to North Korea’s threatened missile launch.
“The Department of Defense does not comment on the operational status of any weapons system,” said Pentagon spokesman Brian Maka.
Missile Defense Agency spokesman Rick Lehner said his agency is in charge of developing the system, not operating it, so he had no comment on whether it is now operational. Not that he could say anything anyway, he added.
“Anytime it’s ever been brought to operational status, it’s been classified,” he said.
If the interceptors are in an “operational” mode, as opposed to a “test” mode, it would mean several things, according to those who have studied and debated the system from outside the government.
Sensor systems such as radars and satellites will “essentially focus on the fairly well-known launch point of this missile,” said Baker Spring, a defense expert at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C.
Also, he said, “it means having the interceptor missiles in a position where they can be launched in accordance with what the sensors are telling them would be some kind of substantial threat to the United States.”
John Isaacs, executive director of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, said the most noticeable difference would be that military personnel would start covering essential posts around the clock.
When the system is not in operational status, “they don’t have soldiers staffing it at all times, especially at the interceptor sites in Alaska and California,” Isaacs said.
Leslie Ozawa, public affairs officer at Fort Greely, said today that “we’re not doing anything different.” He said he could not discuss the status of the interceptors, nine of which, at last report, rest in silos at the post 100 miles southeast of Fairbanks. Two more interceptors are located at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
I would like to think we have several cruise missles locked on to the launch site prepared to take the thing out BEFORE it lauches. A ounce of prevention and all that...
Another good post!
Keep 'em coming!
That plus an Aegis or three? Hehehehe!
Well, if NK believes it has a "right" to test it's missle, I suppose we have a right to test our missle defense.
Good post!
Maybe so, but the system was declared operational several months ago.
Cannot they use the airborne laser zapper ??
Any word on David Gregory???? Has he been eliminated from the Pool?
Well that cinches it for me. Welcome to 21st Century warfare everyone. This is going to be exciting.
Even better will be when a batch of Trident D5s can be targeted on N. Korea....... OK, I know that ain't gonna happen, but it sure would be good to remove that tyrannical totalitarian troll once and for all........ OK, I'll settle for seeing this Kim-dork missile blown up on its launch pad.
btw, don't miss this remarkable photo-journal on the insanity of North Korea. In particular, look at the photos of the 100-story hotel in Pyongyang that could not be finished because the construction was so horribly shoddy that the elevator shafts were not aligned properly, major structural flaws throughout, etc. It's been "unfinished" since 1991, because they don't want to admit the truth of the disaster and tear it all down, but they can't "finish" it since it's a hopeless catastrophe.......
Amazing photo journal by a Russian computer guy who was in North Korea:
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=82755
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=82755&page=2
Is he a spokesman for the N.K. launch facility?
Yes, the ABL would work but keeping it airborne for 24 hours a day is a problem. Especially since there is only one of them.
Ruh Roh!
"I'd piss on a sparkplug if I thought it would do any good..."
Loose lips....
Kim Il Jong will become scared now and decide not to launch. He's probably very afraid of being humbled.
The missiles don't "lock" on to anything. They assume a ballistic path calculated to intercept the incoming missile derived from our sensor network. The intercept payload "locks" on to the incoming payload when it is within range.
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