Re: metaTHAAD was: Son of Star Wars

Spike Jones (spike66@ibm.net)
Thu, 14 Oct 1999 22:09:07 -0700

O'Regan, Emlyn wrote:

> Wouldn't it be a lot cheaper to just assemble massive arsenals of bombs
> which are exploded in-situ?

Edward Teller proposed just such a system. Nicknamed it the backyard weapon: if you get enough fusionable material to explode, you will nuke the whole world, so why bother hauling it elsewhere? Set it up in your own back yard.

> How about this: What happens if your nuclear-armed ICBMs are designed to
> blow up if they are about to be hit by a THAAD? So, even if your 5000 THAADs
> do effectively take out 1000 nuclear missiles, the lot of them explode in
> the atmosphere. That can't be good.

Ja, but as it turns out, it is not easy to ignite a nuke. If there is much damage
done to the reentry vehicle, the warhead will most likely be destroyed without detonating. I dont see how a missile could be set up to see a THAAD coming in, or at least not very feasibly. Too fast. And, the THAAD takes out its quarry way up there, above most of the atmosphere. spike