Posted on 08/31/2017 8:20:51 AM PDT by EliRoom8
The military’s record of hitting intermediate-range missiles is less than perfect. That makes the decision to attempt an intercept much harder.
This story has been updated to reflect recent developments overnight.
North Korea launched another medium-range missile on Monday, this one right over Japan. Despite Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’ threats to shoot down missiles aimed at Guam and President Donald Trump’s Pyongyang-aimed bluster, the United States and Japan let it fly. Why?
After the test, Trump on Tuesday said that “all options are on the table,” as every president has said for decades. But the Pentagon is still reluctant to use some of the most obvious options, such as shooting down a missile above the earth’s atmosphere with another missile fired from a ship.
(Excerpt) Read more at defenseone.com ...
That's not good.
We have not lived up to our rhetoric .
I would also imagine that the trajectory can be immediately calculated and it is expensive to shoot things that will land in the sea anyway.
Why Didn’t the US Shoot Down That North Korean Missile?
...
Most likely we determined it wasn’t a threat.
We don’t want the Norks (and the Chinese who are actually the ones behind this entire charade) to find out that we might not actually be able to shoot down their missiles.
Better to keep them guessing.
We should shoot the bastards down about 500 feet above the ground.
That is my guess, too. My knowledge is dated but our success rate was shaky years ago when we knew the missile was being fired & its trajectory. Which doesn't bode well for those times we don't know a missile is being fired & where it is going. I don't know if the success rate is any better now. I would like to think so given the billions of dollars we have spent on the technology.
Don’t want to give away your hand....................
I figured that was the reason although we did have a recent success which is good.
My blind guess is that we are regularly recovering the vehicles in their underwater resting place.
The recoveries probably yield discoveries that make Intercept in a real-world situation more likely.
I wonder if Obama’s 32% increase in welfare and similar transfer payments during his reign might have been better spent on programs that make the US safer? Interestingly, my SS check has increase about 2/10 of one percent since he took office. But then, I worked for my check.
What would really be fun is if the missile could be secretly messed-with to fly over, self-destruct over, or land in Chinese territory.
Our missiles fly in a path. They roll and drop the warhead. You can’t predict the warhead path until it is dropped. You don’t know it is not a threat. Only the missile has a prediction long length of time.
Bingo, William Wallace yelling "Hold! Hold! Hold!" comes to mind :-), at the same time you are recording data on their projectile, radar signature, track, speed, maneuverability etc, Juan-Little-Fat-Bassturd just gave that all away LOL !!!
I hope I live long enough to read the story on this and how our interceptors worked and possibly how a group of consultants from a country the size of NJ surrounded by enemies and needed Saturday off for Services helped. That I'd love to know....
Because we didn’t want to.
If Kim Jong Whatever wants to waste his time, energy and money shooting missiles into the sea, well, let him.
Let old fish bait shoot a million missiles into the sea.
I’m sure that his people who are eating grass and tree bark get a warm glow in their bellies watching their tin horn dictator shooting money into the ocean.
And American university professors applaud.
“Nice shot, Kim. You hit something. I can’t even hit the toilet when I pee in the faculty lounge.”
Why bother?
I imagine with satellite imagery we know what is lifting off, where its course is, and within a few minutes where its going to land.
If the missile is not going anywhere important, there is no need to shoot it down. We can learn more from watching it and reading its data than we can in shooting it down.
Finally, how many of these have broken up over the ocean?
Do you think they are all made poorly? Or do you think they are getting help on their way down?
“I can’t even hit the toilet when I pee in the faculty lounge.”
And that’s the female professors.
I guess because they didn’t ask you??
Childishly arrogant and ignorant.
What if we try and miss? Successful tests are tests. Tests are not real.
It’s not my peeve or query, it’s just an enlightening article from a defense magazine.
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