donsutherland1

Earlier today, Russia announced the test of an intercontinental ballistic missile that is designed to avoid detection by existing missile defense systems. The launch had reportedly been planned in advance and, therefore, was not likely to have been related to the recent mini-war between Russia and Georgia.

Russia tests ICBM designed to overcome missile shield - Forbes.com

independent_thinker2002

The Cold War II?

Not good, not good at all.

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tryreading

Okay, but our missile defense systems don't actually work, do they?

RightinNYC

File that under "Obsolete Before Development"

If Russia actually needed to get missiles past our missile shield, they're going to be sending a lot more than 2 or 3, which is all our system can handle anyways.

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independent_thinker2002

What if Russia started undermining our efforts in Afghanistan like we did to them?

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RightinNYC

How would this missile come into play?

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rathi

Not true. No anti-missile shield currently in deployment is capable of taking out ICBMs. Nobody has any defense against ICBMs except the threat of retaliation. Russia designed this system in case somebody does develop a working system. Mostly, this is just political posturing.

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kamino

YOu need to catch up on your news. This was my last ship.

THE TENSION: Combat Camera: Navy Shoots Down Missile in Test

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independent_thinker2002

We wouldn't have a decided advantage over them. It's an equalizer. I'm sure we wouldn't invade them if they undermine our efforts.

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RightinNYC

My point is that we don't already. Even without this new missile, they can defeat our shield simply by sending 20 or 30 missiles at once, which they're more than capable of. I just fail to see what new power this brings to the table. It would be useful if they only had one nuke and needed to get it past a working missile shield, but that's it.

Hell, maybe that's the reason for its development - so they can build a bunch, neglect them, and let terrorist groups steal them.

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