Posted on 06/17/2006 1:05:02 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
New Taepodong on launch pad
06/17/2006
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
The government Friday played down U.S. intelligence reports suggesting North Korea may be gearing up to launch a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile.
Japanese officials said they had received reports that a Taepodong 2 missile capable of hitting the U.S. West Coast had been set up on a launch pad in Musudanri in Hamgyongbuk-do, a province in the northern part of North Korea.
Some senior officials said it was possible the missile could be launched as early as Sunday. However, others saw the development as another example of North Korea's brinkmanship.
Even so, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe warned that the move was in violation of the 2002 Pyongyang Declaration in which North Korean leader Kim Jong Il agreed to extend a missile freeze.
Officials said there was no sign that the missile, which was brought to the launch pad this week, had been fueled.
"If a ballistic missile is launched, it would directly affect the security of our nation and would be against the Pyongyang Joint Declaration signed between Japan and North Korea," Abe said Friday.
A senior government official noted that Abe's words constituted "an open warning" to Pyongyang.
North Korea lobbed a Taepodong over Japan in August 1998 that landed in the Pacific Ocean.
Some government officials suggested Pyongyang was adopting a hostile posture in a bid to break the impasse in negotiations with Washington.
Pyongyang has already said it wants to invite Christopher Hill, chief delegate to the six-way talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions, to Pyongyang.
"It could very well be Pyongyang's strategy to raise tension so that it can bring Washington to a forum of dialogue," said a government source.
Still, officials are monitoring the situation closely. They calculate it would take about 24 hours to fuel the missile, making it ready for launch.(IHT/Asahi: June 17,2006)
I'd say the chances are close to 100% that it's a show. It's just a matter of what they intend to show and what they actually do. My guess is they want to put a satellite in low earth orbit, just to "show" they can do it.
Next most likely scenario they send a payload on a long (like 15,000 km) trajectory, again just to show they can do it.
Seems your "show" is my "do.":) To me, "show" means that they threaten to launch it and stop it at the last moment, putting out some face-saving excuse.
".....If they launch, surgically remove it from the air."
I disagree. It's time we take a firm stand and show our force. Take it out on the launching pad prior to launch. They've already threatened us with an attack on the west coast. Why sit around and wait for it to happen and then launch a counter-strike?
This post is actually in code (of sorts).
After all, we all know what Clinton's folly was...
And Jimmy Carter the Peanut farmer would have all had us working for peanuts...
Just wish we had a tricky Dicky for a situation like this...
There was an school yard tale I heard circa 1960 that was reversed after Mary Jo and Ted had their plunge from a bridge.
It went something like "Kennedy-Kennedy in the White House, Nixon-Nixon in the doghouse".
Then after Chappaquidick, it went something like:
"Nixon-Nixon in the White House, Kennedy-Kennedy in the dog house..."
I have always liked Ronnie's Ray Gun and that film George Lucas made in the late 70s (Star Wars).
Maybe it is the time for the attack of the clones...
Ah, but what will the future bring...
It would be a great Fathers' Day present for me if this thing would explode spectacularly on its launch pad. An indescribably juicy bonus would be if Krazy Kim was inspecting it up close at the time.
So good it's not worth the vig.
I wonder if that missile might suffer a slight "accident" on the launch pad :-)
I guess it's time for a shop accident :-)
No.
How soon could they determine its trajectory upon its launch? Could U.S. shoot it down after booster stage with current capability?
I don't think taking it out of the sky is really a counter strike. I think its a demonstration to those who would attempt, to sneak, a launch at us of our ability to defend ourselves.
Taking it out on the pad, which I agree is tempting, would make us look " The Aggressor' on the world stage.
Jamming that S. O. B. in flight and slamming it down in international water is one heck of a demonstration of our power. Once it's in international airspace and heading toward us or our interest its fair game.
(sorry)
Exactly. Remember there was merely an armistice in this conflict. No real end to the war itself...we could go hot in a second. But primarily our role along the DMZ is not to keep the north from attacking south. It's to keep the south from attacking north.
This is a sensitive issue for me. My wife has a close family member still MIA from 1953. He was shot down as a UN Observer on a U.S. bombing mission just six months prior to the end of the war. There was a rare UN commando mission run by a unit codenamed White Tiger who tried to rescue this downed crew and the evidence seems to be that they were decoyed into a communist trap and nearly wiped out. My wife's uncle never came home. Why? He along with several HUNDRED other POWs were kept by the communists for their backgrounds in science. Our government just abandoned them and remains steadfast in denial. Ike knew. Truman Knew. Kennedy knew so did every other President to right now.
Wouldn't it be great if it blew up on the launch pad??
That would really bum out the DUmmies and the KOSanostra, it'd probably ruin their Sunday, that their Dear Leader met with failure...
A ballistic trajectory is completely determined by position and velocity vectors. Once you have the position and 3-dimensional velocity accurately fixed, you know where it's going. The interceptors in Fort Greely, Alaska, have hyperbolic velocity, if they miss they will escape the earth's graviational field. (Actually, they will become objects in earth crossing solar orbits.) They can win a tail chase with a ballistic missile, although North Korea's geographic location with respect to the U.S. affords much more favorable engagement geometries.
I see your ding-dong missile and raise you a Minuteman.
What is their maximum velocity, relative to the Earth's center?
It would be at least 25,000 mph.
That is almost certianly classified. Try the union of concerned scientist website.
That would be too cool if we knocked down the "No-Dong" right back on top of his fuzzy little head!
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