U.S. Activates Missile Defense System

In a response to South Korea's Foreign Minister, Ban Ki-moon's report that North Korea had placed its long range, Taepodong-2 missile on a launching pad in preparation for a possible test, the United States has responded by activating it's Missile Defense System. The system has been in the developmental stage for years.



The U.S. has stated that any launch of the missile towards the U.S. would be seen as "provocative". I sincerely hope that both "sides" understand the "big picture" here.

The U.S. Missile Defense System has been in a "developmental" phase for a while now, I hope it's up to the possible challenge that could be coming.

I'd like to ask your opinions on this... is the Missile Defense System going to work, should we need it. What if N.K. does fire, how long before we attack?


[edit on 20-6-2006 by elevatedone]

[edit on 20/6/2006 by Mirthful Me]

Sweet. Now I can not waitfor NK to test launch their missle, it would be nice to see our tax money in action. Next time if they want to test a missle, they should just lunch it straight up into space from their land without flying over anyone else's and have computers use sensors to measure the distance it reaches.

Let’s say NK launches the missile towards the US or its allies.

What would be the proper response-that is after we shoot down the missile?

How about (1000) 10,000 pound cruise missiles hitting every military installation on the surface and about 100 ground penetrating missiles for their underground facilities

This is exactly what Missile Defense was designed for, single launches of long range missiles from rogue states, whether or not it will work as advertised depends. We can detect, track and target their ICBM(s) without much effort but intercepting it is a bit tricky. If they just launch a single warhead with no countermeasures then we could probably hit it with a ground launched interceptor or two. However if they launch a fairly sophisticated warhead with multiple bogeys and countermeasure systems then we might not be able to intercept it. Now, before you get exited, I doubt the US will fire anything, if launched the Taepodong-2 will likely just splash down somewhere in the pacific not warranting a response from the US. If the predicted trajectory places the ICBM near Alaska or Hawaii however we might see a response.

[edit on 20-6-2006 by WestPoint23]

Originally posted by mrmonsoon
Let’s say NK launches the missile towards the US or its allies.

Let's say that North Korea Already LANDED a Missile on US...

NK Missile Warhead Found in Alaska

The warhead of a long-range missile test-fired by North Korea was found in the U.S. state of Alaska, a report to the National Assembly revealed yesterday.

"According to a U.S. document, the last piece of a missile warhead fired by North Korea was found in Alaska,’’ former Japanese foreign minister Taro Nakayama was quoted as saying in the report. "Washington, as well as Tokyo, has so far underrated Pyongyang’s missile capabilities.’’

Now THATS Weird...

Originally posted by WestPoint23
This is exactly what Missile Defense was designed for, single launches of long range missiles from rogue states, whether or not it will work as advertised depends. We can detect, track and target their ICBM(s) without much effort but intercepting it is a bit tricky. If they just launch a single warhead with no countermeasures then we could probably hit it with a ground launched interceptor or two. However if they launch a fairly sophisticated warhead with multiple bogeys and countermeasure systems then we might not be able to intercept it. Now, before you get exited, I doubt the US will fire anything, if launched the Taepodong-2 will likely just splash down somewhere in the pacific not warranting a response from the US. If the predicted trajectory places the ICBM near Alaska or Hawaii however we may see a response.

We may see a response sooner than that if the missile overflys Japan.

You think so Jim? What kind of capabilities does Japan have, in terms of ABM systems? I don’t think the US would shoot it down if it over flew Japan.

can someone please comment on this article from the Korea Times. It's the only one I found regarding this issue

times.hankooki.com...

The warhead of a long-range missile test-fired by North Korea was found in the U.S. state of Alaska, a report to the National Assembly revealed yesterday...

Looks like it allready happened once in 2003.

[edit on 20/6/2006 by KrisFromGenk]

Sorry!!!! looks like souljah allready beat me to it, didn't see, sorry...

[edit on 20/6/2006 by KrisFromGenk]

The question is not what will happen after the U.S. Missile Shield destroys the North Korean launched Taepodong-2, but what will happen if the U.S. Missile Shield is unable to destroy it's target?

Such an occurrence would be a huge black-eye for the DoD. Many have contended that the tests of the U.S. Missile Shield were failures and that the limited "successes" which the Missile Shield has seen are the direct result of the tests being rigged to ensure "success" (i.e. known tragectory, position, velocity of target).

Additionally, a failure of the Missile Shield demonstrates a weakness to Kim Jong-Il that the U.S. can scarcely afford to reveal. There will be no chance in hell that the North Koreans will return to the 6-party talks if the Missile Shield fails. As a result, I suspect one of two scenarios to play out should the Missile Shield fail:

1) The U.S. will contend that they never deployed the Missile Shield against the North Korean ICBM. (Didn't fire it = no failure)

2) The U.S. will get "lucky" and the Taepodong-2 will splash down in the Pacific of its own accord and the U.S. will release canned footage of the "shoot-down" and claim that the shield was effective. (It missed us, so we MUST have shot it down).

I am actually less afraid of the launch of this ICBM than I am of the potential failure of the U.S. Missile shield should it not strike its intended target.

Originally posted by WestPoint23
You think so Jim? What kind of capabilities does Japan have, in terms of ABM systems? I don’t think the US would shoot it down if it over flew Japan.

Well they have advanced Standard missiles, SM-2 Block IV I think, that they can deploy from their Kongo class DDGs and probably the Patriot PAC3 TMD system. The US has some Aegis cruisers and some Burke class DDG's based in Japan. They have SM-2 Block IVs and might have Standard SM-3s.

Chaosrain You’re assuming that the North Koreas have an intention to hit US soil, which they most surly do not. As such there is no need for the US to shoot anything down if all it’s going to do is fall into the Pacific. By the way ABM tests weren’t rigged because the position, trajectory or velocity were know, FYI you at least need to know that to even attempt an intercept and we can attain those three pieces of information without needing to rig anything. What many people consider rigging are tests in which a single non-maneuvering warhead with no countermeasures is intercepted. So like I said before if that’s what North Korea launches, and I suspect it will be then we have a good probability of intercept. And ABM systems have had more than limited success.

Originally posted by Souljah
Let's say that North Korea Already LANDED a Missile on US...

NK Missile Warhead Found in Alaska

Cannot find much in the war of US response to this missile in Alaska.
www.navyseals.com...

Can we be SURE this report is reliable?

[edit on 20-6-2006 by DontTreadOnMe]

to hell with all the macho bullhooey, its bad enough that NK plans to launch this test rocket that we have to respond this way....every account I have heard and read says that they are years away from making a warhead small enough to fit on a missle so its just posturing on our part which NK will of course interpert as a provacation on our part just as we are doing. Dumb all the way around dumb and dumber. Its bad too because our so called missle defense system is a way too expensive boondoggle that doesn't even work. The last I heard, the only time it actually shot down a target, the controlers had to cehat and point it out to the computer and tell it you shoot this down. Makes me feel real safe.

Originally posted by chaosrain

The question is not what will happen after the U.S. Missile Shield destroys the North Korean launched Taepodong-2, but what will happen if the U.S. Missile Shield is unable to destroy it's target?

Just what is the nature of this missile defense shield?

article: U.S. laser technology could beat Qassams

-> granted Qassams & Katiusha missiles (in the above article) are much smaller than the NK inter-continental on the launch pad right now....

( ! ) ...but if a joint US/Israel, 400 m USD, project Nautilus was created, functional,
then shelved after 1996 in favor of future smaller more practicle Laser Cannon (see Nautilus Project/ northrop grumman)

then I'd betcha the defense shield is a lot more than we laymen can imagine

Originally posted by DontTreadOnMe
Cannot find much in the war of US response to this missile in Alaska.
www.navyseals.com...

Can we be SURE this report is reliable?

Here's an excerpt from an article in the Anchorage Daily News regarding the "warhead" that was [not] found in Alaska.

Newspaper says N. Korean missile pieces found in Alaska
Officials puzzled, say closest one splashed down hundreds of miles off coast
Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said Tuesday he's never heard of such a thing. Neither had Chris Nelson, the state's missile defense coordinator.

Air Force Lt. Col. Rick Lehner, spokesman for the Missile Defense Agency, said the report probably referred to a three-stage missile tested by North Korea in 1998.

"It splashed in the water hundreds of miles from Alaska," Lehner said. "I've never heard of any piece of a missile landing in Alaska from that test or any other test."

Seems to paint quite the different picture. Funny, that.

Originally posted by WestPoint23
Chaosrain You’re assuming that the North Koreas have an intention to hit US soil, which they most surly do not. As such there is no need for the US to shoot anything down if all it’s going to do is fall into the Pacific.

Then why the hubub over the U.S. activating the system in preparation for a possible NK launch? That's the very topic of this thread.

By the way ABM tests weren’t rigged because the position, trajectory or velocity were know, FYI you at least need to know that to even attempt an intercept and we can attain those three pieces of information without needing to rig anything. What many people consider rigging are tests in which a single non-maneuvering warhead with no countermeasures is intercepted. So like I said before if that’s what North Korea launches, and I suspect it will be then we have a good probability of intercept. And ABM systems have had more than limited success.

Keep in mind, though that the previous tests were based upon the target having a pre-determined flight path which was used to calculate the guidance to lead the interceptors to their target. I'm not saying that NORAD couldn't provide such data to the Missile Shield center real-time, but in a real-time target acquisition and tracking scenario, the Missile Shield has to do some "thinking." By having a pre-determined target flightpath programmed into the Missile Shield for testing purposes, you are effectively disabling the "thinking" portion of the system and are simply launching the interceptors. Also, with a pre-determined, static flightplan for the target you have the opportunity to spend months modelling the Missile Shield's reaction to the data based upon a variety of variables until you can find the data set which would result in a kill. With a live-fire scenario, there's no telling whether you have built the Missile Shield's tracking code robustly enough to guarantee a kill based on NORAD's real-time tracking info...you just cross your fingers.

[edit on 20-6-2006 by chaosrain]

[edit on 20-6-2006 by chaosrain]

Between Americans being scared of their own shadow, and being technology freaks, and the military industrial born again complex, the US public is being whipsawed between idiots and imbeciles. I thought we got rid of anti missile missiles with Ronnie Reagan? The war on terror can be ended Jan. 20, 2009, and we can begin to use our brains.

God Was supposed to look after fools drunks and children but apparently God is busy.

Perhaps this missle launch is in fact Kim attempting to test the capabilites of our missle defense? Perhaps we are playing right into his hands? Either way I have full faith we can shoot it down.

I think that this is more about all of the attention being payed to Iran by the global media. That little rooster sucker Kim was getting an inferiority complex and this is his way of saying that he is still here and you had better take him as a threat.