• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

U.S. missile defense system fails latest test

Rogue Valley

Rogue Valley

Lead or get out of the way
DP Veteran
Joined
Apr 18, 2013
Messages
94,281
Reaction score
82,665
Location
Barsoom
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Independent
U.S. missile defense system fails latest test

CBS/AP
February 1, 2018

20170205002390.jpg


WASHINGTON -- A missile interceptor failed to hit its target in a test conducted over Hawaii on Wednesday, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency says. Test data is being analyzed to determine why the interceptor, known as a Standard Missile 3 Block IIA, didn't shoot down the target, the agency adds. The agency, which manages U.S. missile defense systems, issued a statement saying the interceptor was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai, Hawaii. "The primary objective of the test was to intercept an air-launched intermediate-range ballistic missile target," the statement said. … "However, this objective was not accomplished." The test comes at a time of heightened tensions over North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense component of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System is being developed in cooperation with Japan and is to be deployed on land as well as aboard ships. An intercept test of the missile in June also failed, but a successful test was carried out early last year, the Reuters news agency points out. Last month, a mistaken missile alert sent to mobile devices and TV and radio stations caused widespread panic and confusion in Hawaii.
Click to expand...

A worrisome result. Such a vital defense system can't work only some of the time.
 
Rogue Valley said:
U.S. missile defense system fails latest test



A worrisome result. Such a vital defense system can't work only some of the time.
Click to expand...

Missile defense systems in general are a crapshoot, shooting a missile out of the sky is very complicated, with too many variables to ever be reliable. However you need to realize being able to shoot down some missiles is way better than being able to shoot down none.
 
beerftw said:
Missile defense systems in general are a crapshoot, shooting a missile out of the sky is very complicated, with too many variables to ever be reliable. However you need to realize being able to shoot down some missiles is way better than being able to shoot down none.
Click to expand...

And in standard Air Defense operations, 2 missiles are fired at every inbound missile. This greatly increases the odds of an interception.
 
Casper said:
Same thing many of us have been saying for a while now, there is no and probably never will be a missile defense system that is 100% reliable.
Click to expand...

You all are stating the obvious. However, the false premise is common.....

November 29, 2017

At a Nov. 6 press conference with US President Donald Trump, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe was asked if Japan would respond to North Korean missile launches by shooting them down.

“I could just take a piece of the Prime Minister’s answer,” Trump interjected, “He will shoot them out of the sky when he completes the purchase of lots of additional military equipment from the United States. He will easily shoot them out of the sky, just like we shot something out of the sky the other day in Saudi Arabia.”
Click to expand...
 
Casper said:
Same thing many of us have been saying for a while now, there is no and probably never will be a missile defense system that is 100% reliable.
Click to expand...

Which is why outside of testing purposes, 2 or more missiles are fired at each inbound missile.

But in a test, they only fire a single missile.
 
Oozlefinch said:
Which is why outside of testing purposes, 2 or more missiles are fired at each inbound missile.

But in a test, they only fire a single missile.
Click to expand...
]
Problem is logistics, we do not have a curtain of anti-missile systems and we never will do so enough to be truly secure. Is what it Is.
The system I worked on came in at over Mach 5, once you picked it up incoming and by the time one could react, it would hit you. That is Life with tactical nukes.
 
Rogue Valley said:
U.S. missile defense system fails latest test



A worrisome result. Such a vital defense system can't work only some of the time.
Click to expand...

The current way to ensure the successful defeat of the current system is to flood said system. The current iteration of the missile defense system is only capable of defending against very small numbers of missiles. Over time as the system becomes more robust and there are more detection and interception it becomes more and more expensive to defeat said system. The reason the Reagan administration wanted a system that could handle a simultaious luanch of 50,000 of MIRVed and FOBed missiles was to make it extrodinarilly risky and exceptionally expensive make such a massive attack and make retailation in kind far more successful. The shield was to allow us the time to fully thrust our sword so to speak and deflect a large chunk of the incoming blow. A 99% interception rate is 500 nukes still landing with an average yield of 1 megaton. Thats a serious blow, but recovery would be possible even probable versus total anihilation.
 
Casper said:
]
Problem is logistics, we do not have a curtain of anti-missile systems and we never will do so enough to be truly secure. Is what it Is.
The system I worked on came in at over Mach 5, once you picked it up incoming and by the time one could react, it would hit you. That is Life with tactical nukes.
Click to expand...

Oh not hardly. You are forgetting the distances involved here.

The typical IRBM has a flight radius of over 2,000 miles. That means you have around 15-20 minutes from launch detection to impact. That is a hell of a long time, in a system designed to be operational in less than 1 minute.

The worst part in conduction ADA drills is simply waiting for the target to get within range. I have done a great many over the years, and just like in RL exercises, seeing the target long before you can hit it is far to common. When doing a MANPAD exercise with an AN2 Colt, we had to wait 10 minutes before we could shoot it down, that was annoying.

And also with ADA, rarely is the unit firing the target itself. The target is something else that is being protected.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom