Could missiles be slowed down at will and converted, in effect, into drones with ability to loiter and with, of course, television capabilities? If you put a bunch of warheads into polar orbit, they can loiter in orbit indefinitely, and be triggered to reenter and hit a target on command.
So not now but perhaps sometime in the future, missiles will render surface fleets too vulnerable to act as the world's policeman in the role bequeathed to our Navy by the British Navy. I thought the idea of a mach 10 missile was a bit much, not to mention the sideways jig. But it also seems likely that eventually, within a decade or two, missiles will if not overwhelm fleet defenses at least render surface ships and their crews so vulnerable as to lose their geopolitical impact not to mention their warfighting abilities.
So what will be the shape of naval warfare and of our Navy's traditional role as the cavalry? will the Navy have to submerge? will the battle for the control of the seas actually be fought in space? how does all of this superduper stuff mesh with the pedestrian needs to whack a terrorist in a mud hut?
