I'd like to see us knock the thing out of the sky as soon as it is launched.
I say we try them out
Veeeeeeeeeery interesting. Colonel Hunt said on Fox today that if we shoot it down, it means war.
Shoot it down in a "test" of our own. Can't afford to take the risk, and it would send a clear message to any belligerent/rogue state.
Notice that this didn't say US Navy. I read yesterday that the Japanese had to Aegis destroyers out off the coast and said that if the missile were launched, they'd shoot it down. Can an Aegis bring that thing down?
bump
One of the generals on Fox news said that if we knock it down, it would be an instant war...not sure I agree with him.
You know that the missle defense techs have to be secretly happy. They get a free test run! :P
just a groveling PING to let you know that we are on the same sheet of music!
The JSDF Konga Class Aegis destroyers are all supposed to be upgraded to the capability of an AEGIS Ballistic Missile Defense Block 2004 capability by November 2007.
North Korea doesn't want to wait until they have that capability.
U.S. intelligence officials said there are signs that the North Koreans recently began fueling the Taepodong with highly corrosive rocket fuel. Normally, when liquid fuel is loaded into missiles the missile must be fired within five to 10 days, or it must be de-fueled and the motors cleaned, a difficult and hazardous process.
Five decades into research and billions of dollars into ABM's is culminating into this. It would be rather interesting and fascinating to see the results.
I hope the SOB veers off course and heads towards the US....then it would be the perfect excuse to take out "The Sun"....
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I'd be surprised to see a boost or even a midcourse phase intercept. I don't think Aegis could pull it off, and I really don't think Japanese Aegis systems could pull it off.
At the end of ODS, after the Scud hit the QM barracks in Dhahran, 6 of 7 Scuds "exploded in mid-flight", well out of range of PAC-3 Patriots. FWIW. Prior to ODS, a guy who knew his way around FELs and knew enough to get pretty upset when I attempted to discuss lasing frequency with him told me that the wiggler cavity scaling problems had been resolved, that toughput was no longer an issue and that all components of a ground based laser defense system had been tested and were status operational. Personally I doubt this information, at the very least Bush acts like he's unaware of it if true.
Popping somebody else's missile is roughly on a par with taking your 30-06 out to Canaveral and running target practice on the shuttle. Unless it's inbound towards your territory. Then you have a clear right to self defense.
Conventional air to air missiles, like Phoenix, for example, aren't an option. They are designed for targets travelling at Mach 1 or 2. Orbital velocity starts around 17,000 mph, and escape velocity up at 25k. We had some cold war options for the F-15 that were notionally effective at those speeds, but I don't kow the current status of those systems, and besides, you need multiple, stable orbits to set up that kind of an intercept.
NMD might have a midcourse shot at a Korean missile, and any time after it tips over, headed for North America, I'd expect to see all efforts made to destroy it. Japan might have a terminal phase shot, if Japan was the target.
If Korea gets uppity over a shot-down missile, they will prep with artillery and invade South Korea conventionally. I don't believe Seoul would be "vaporized" but it won't be a fun place to be. If the NK's mass and head south, well in OIF, during the great "operational pause", standoff air delivered loitering cluster munitions put which between 2 and 6 RGFC divisions combat ineffective in less than 48 hours.
NK might clear Seoul, but they'd never see Pusan. That would also be the end of the joyous leader and he knows it.
Whether he's sane enough for the prospect to inhibit him is anyone's guess.
Sometimes I wonder if the Iranian bloviating and this NK missile crisis is an orchestrated attempt to get our attention off something else.