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And China won't be launching ICBMs back immediately?
Originally posted by NWguy83
China has just 30 low-tech ICBM's and the US is sufficiently prepared to fend off those. Check out the US's anti-missile systems
I heard China currently only has about a dozen ICBMs.
The window, which is shaped like a huge contact lens, took five years to manufacture and is one of the most complex optics ever developed. It is mounted in a rotating turret-ball assembly on the nose of the ABL aircraft. During takeoff and landing, the window is rotated into the "stowed" position where it is protected by a gasket and metal shield. During an operational mission, three of the four ABL lasers that propagate outside the aircraft, including the megawatt-class "killer" laser, are fired through the window.
The Space-Based Laser (SBL) is one of the United States’s most daring and sophisticated anti-missile projects. As envisioned, it would consist of a 20-satellite constellation orbiting the globe at altitudes of 1,300 kilometers, each satellite equipped with a high-energy chemical laser that would detect, track, target, and destroy hostile ballistic missiles at the speed of light.
SBLs would be capable of destroying enemy missiles of all sizes just after they have been launched, i.e. during the vulnerable boost phase when missiles are large and slow moving. By eliminating large numbers of incoming warheads quickly and efficiently, SBL would significantly reduce the burden on midcourse and terminal phase defenses. If completed, the SBL constellation would be the most important “layer” of the broader Ballistic Missile Defense System.
a fully operational 20-satellite constellation of SBLs would provide the United States with an effective means of eliminating large quantities of enemy missiles. In addition to providing continuous global coverage, SBL would take between one and ten seconds to destroy each missile and as low as 0.5 seconds to lock on to its next target (depending on the range). In other words, SBL would be able to respond instantaneously and comprehensively to missiles launched from anywhere on the globe. It is estimated that a 20-satellite constellation would destroy almost all threats, while a 12-satellite constellation would eliminate 94 percent.
An added benefit of SBL is that it would force aggressors to think twice before launching nuclear, chemical, and biological warheads, since the destruction of a ballistic missile in its boost phase would cause payload debris to rain down on its launcher’s own territory.
The opeartional SBX will use its finely focused beam to track an incoming ballistic missile through space during the 20 or so minutes that it is outside the Earth’s atmosphere. The radar will transmit detailed tracking information to GMD’s command unit, which will calculate a fire mission and launch its Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) missile. As the GBI streaks towards the threat, SBX will distinguish between warheads and decoys, ensuring the interceptor’s accuracy. The radar will continue to relay updated targeting information after GBI launches its Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV), which will proceed on a collision-course trajectory toward the target. SBX will determine whether or not the EKV destroyed the warhead, and prepare to support a second launch if necessary.
It consists of thousands of antennae driven by transmit/receive (T/R) modules. T/R modules are multi-functional circuits that can transmit, receive, and amplify signals. In the X-band radar, they will provide the full fire control sensor functions for the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system, including search, acquisition, tracking, discrimination, and kill assessment. The radar will be capable of distinguishing between objects as close as 15 centimeters.
Originally posted by chinawhite
Originally posted by ulshadow
Originally posted by chinawhite
this war is going to be fought for oil or other resources.
[edit on 29-6-2005 by chinawhite]
So every war the US got into is about oil? sad really
I said this war.
Originally posted by ulshadow
Originally posted by chinawhite
Originally posted by ulshadow
Originally posted by chinawhite
this war is going to be fought for oil or other resources.
[edit on 29-6-2005 by chinawhite]
So every war the US got into is about oil? sad really
I said this war.
What war... This war your talking about didn't even started yet and might not ever in the future... lol
Originally posted by Stealth Spy
This airborne laser will fry any missile in the air.
In 1999, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the U.S. Air Force created a joint venture—the Space-Based Laser Integrated Flight Experiment (SBL-IFX)—that included Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and TRW. SBL-IFX initially planned to perform a complete demonstration of SBL’s capabilities by 2012, although MDA recently canceled this test date.
Despite its manifest advantages, the future of SBL remains uncertain. In 2002, MDA suspended research and development in order to concentrate on other components of the Ballistic Missile Defense System. At present, no decision has been made to deploy an operational SBL as part of a nationwide missile shield. Yet the fact remains that SBL’s potential to instantaneously destroy almost all missiles launched against the United States would force terrorists and aggressive nations to abandon their ballistic missile programs—since SBL would render them essentially useless.
Originally posted by WestPoint23
chinawite did you read your post? It talked bout the SBL not the ABL two different projects. Let me explain, the SBL stands for Space Based Laser which is a project for the future like around 2010-2015+. The ABL is the Airborne Laser program which is currently being tested right now and could be operational by the end of the decade.
Originally posted by Zaphod58
Not enough to make any sort of difference. It depends on several conditions. But it wouldn't hurt the range of the beam enough to make a difference.
Originally posted by Zaphod58
Ok, way to change your mind. You went from "minimum deterence value" to "I doubt they only have 20-30."
Originally posted by chinawhite
more than 20-30 doesn't mean over 200
i meant was that china now should have more than 20-30 so it still has a minimum deterence againest american ABM defence.
china had 20-30 DF-5 in 1980's-1990s and now the DF-31 is already in service.
Originally posted by NWguy83
And China won't be launching ICBMs back immediately?
Not if the U.S takes them out first. And why would China even risk having every square centimeter of it vaporized by America's vast nuclear arsenal?