From: spike66 (spike66@attbi.com)
Date: Sun Jan 19 2003 - 10:33:55 MST
John K Clark wrote:
> "spike66" <spike66@attbi.com>
>
> > The only two places? What about from 10km with a B747 ABL,
> > the airborne laser?
>
> That might work very well against short range scuds and would have been
> helpful in the 91 gulf war, but it's of no use against a ICBM because Russia
> won't let you fly your 747 around Siberia 10 km from the launch point.
Russia isn't the problem. China isn't the problem.
Terrorists are the problem.
> > would give the attacker some real headaches, especially considering
> > he knows he only has 35 minutes to live after squeezing off
> > a missile.
>
> Huh?
We will fire back if fired upon. The shooter might
as well fire everything he has simultaneously
because he gets only one chance. 35 minutes is about
how long it takes for targetting and return fire.
> > Missile defense is certainly a difficult problem, but we
> > should not declare it impossible.
>
> As long as it take a dollar's worth of defensive hardware to shoot down 5
> cents worth of offensive hardware a practical ICBM defense will be
> impossible and I don't see that changing anytime soon because shooting down
> a ICBM is fundamentally more difficult that sending a ICBM.
Of course, but the shooter gets only one shot.
Nuclear submarines put the AD in MAD.
> > the Muslim extremists would be tempted to deliver a nuke by missile
> >if at all possible.
>
> I can't imagine why they would want to go to all the trouble of delivering
> their nuke by missile when they could send it by Federal Express.
The terrorists use a missile in the fond hope of
blaming the Russians, so that a TN shootout is
triggered. Granted it probably wouldn't work,
for the US has invested in sophisiticated means
to detect the source of a missile launch.
What concerns me is that Russia hasn't invested
in parallel technology, so the terrorists use
the option of dropping a nuclear missile on
Moscow. Boris doesn't know for sure who fired
it, but in brutal desperation, retaliates against
New York. Europeans are drawn into the unspeakable
horror, and two hours later most of the world's
population is either dead or sincerely wishing
they were.
The Muslim extremists see their opportunity to
cleanse the sinful planet. They cheerfully seize
this opportunity. This nightmare scenario is
shaping military strategy.
spike
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