Seems North Korea is taking this round very seriously. A report from "Business Insider" on the launches;
A military officer has anonymously tipped the Yonhap news agency that
North Korea "test fired" two short range missiles into the East Sea
Friday.
"The launch was seen as testing its capability for short-range
missiles. It seemed to be conducted on a military-unit level, not at a
national level," the source told Yonhap.
More At: http://www.businessinsider.com/report-north-korea-fires-off-two-short-range-missiles-into-east-sea-2013-3
Friday, March 15, 2013
Thursday, March 14, 2013
US Missile Defense...What Defense?
Lets get some background here first...
As everyone knows the "Red Scare" and "Nuclear Armageddon" were by far last centuries biggest fears.
Air Defense had been a major weight on the mind of the War Department (not long after changed to the Department of Defense) in 1944 with the development of the German M3-262 Jet Fighter during the Second World War. Gun-based defensive systems could not keep up with the fighters, which flew too high and fast to be intercepted. The War Department put out requests for significant systems based on rocket/missile technology, that could defeat this new threat.
By 1950 General Electric proposed it's "Project Thumper" centered around the "CIM-10 BOMARC Missile", while Bell Laboratories offered "Project Nike" centered around the "NIM-3 Nike Ajax Rocket".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOMARC_missile
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike_%28rocket%29
Eventually in the mid-1950's the US Army took the Nike Missile and the US Air Force took the BOMARC Missile (The BOMARC is the only air defense missile ever fielded by the US Air Force). Hundreds of Nike and BOMARC sites dotted the US, waiting to intercept the scores of Tupolev Tu-95's that soarws across the oceans, primed and ready to drop hundreds of megatons of Soviet nuclear fury on the Continental US.
As ICBM technology flourished, the threat of aircraft delivered nuclear devices took a back seat. In addition to severe budget cuts during the decade, many Nike and Bomarc sites had been decommissioned, with the eventual deployment of ICBM's most Nike and BOMARC sites decommissioned, with a few remaining in the Coastal Air Defense role.
The US Army Missile Defense Agency had kept pace with the development in ICBM's and other threats, developing the Nike Hercules (capable of intercepting jet aircraft and ICBM's with nuclear payload capabilities) and Nike Zeus (aimed specifically at ICBM intercept.)
Nike Zeus was decommissioned in 1963 by the Department of Defense, with cost being the determining factor of it's demise, an estimated $ 15 Billion (remember this number, it's be important later on).
Nike Ajax and Hercules systems were severely diminished with further budget cuts, eventually all decommissioned in 1972. The US Army had continued on with another Project called "Project Nike-X" which was based on much of the Mike Zeus technological advancements and systems, this culminated in the development of the LIM-49 Spartan. Project Nike-X also culminated in the development of the Safeguard ABM program, designed to defend Minuteman Missile Sites through the use of the LIM-49 Spartan, deployed in 1975, however both the LIM-49 and the Safeguard Program were halted a mere three months later.
Until 2012, the US had remained relatively unprotected from aircraft delivered and ICBM delivered nuclear devices, with most of the weight having been shifted to Inceptor Air Wings in the Air Force and Air National Guard. As of 2012 the "Ground-Based Midcourse Defense" (estimated cost of the program is $30 Billion, should have just kept the Nike Program at half the cost, nearly half a century ago) intercept system has been operationally deployed, but with limited capability, primarily around Minuteman Missile silos.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-Based_Midcourse_Defense
According th Fox News, sources within the Pentagon have noted that the Pentagon will be increasing it's operational intercept systems from 30, to 44 in response to North Korea's threats on a Preemptive Nuclear Strike, thus adding an additional 14 systems, which will be deploy around missile silos in California and Alaska.
www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/14/pentagon-to-beef-up-missile-defense-in-response-to-north-korean-threat-sources/
So our missiles will be protected from being destroyed (maybe), so that we are capable of a Retaliatory Strike, but it's abundantly apparent the General Citizenry is left to just be burned, blinded, and die.
Decommissioning the Civil Defense Department was such a great idea....just like diminishing our Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense and reducing our existing nuclear stockpiles was. Now we have to take threats from North Korea serious, rather than laughing it off as some crazy nation like we had in the past...apparently North Korea isn't as impotent and lacking as we had thought in 2009.
Also loving the double-speak by politicians..."We're ready for any threat". Seems like you actions are contradictory to your words.
Additionally interesting to this is the "testing" of JLENS (Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System) around Washington DC. The JLENS is capable of detecting Tactical Ballistic Missile launches and flight up to 360 miles away.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/01/us-usa-blimps-raytheon-idUSBRE91018320130201
http://raytheon.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=2280
As everyone knows the "Red Scare" and "Nuclear Armageddon" were by far last centuries biggest fears.
Air Defense had been a major weight on the mind of the War Department (not long after changed to the Department of Defense) in 1944 with the development of the German M3-262 Jet Fighter during the Second World War. Gun-based defensive systems could not keep up with the fighters, which flew too high and fast to be intercepted. The War Department put out requests for significant systems based on rocket/missile technology, that could defeat this new threat.
By 1950 General Electric proposed it's "Project Thumper" centered around the "CIM-10 BOMARC Missile", while Bell Laboratories offered "Project Nike" centered around the "NIM-3 Nike Ajax Rocket".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOMARC_missile
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike_%28rocket%29
Eventually in the mid-1950's the US Army took the Nike Missile and the US Air Force took the BOMARC Missile (The BOMARC is the only air defense missile ever fielded by the US Air Force). Hundreds of Nike and BOMARC sites dotted the US, waiting to intercept the scores of Tupolev Tu-95's that soarws across the oceans, primed and ready to drop hundreds of megatons of Soviet nuclear fury on the Continental US.
As ICBM technology flourished, the threat of aircraft delivered nuclear devices took a back seat. In addition to severe budget cuts during the decade, many Nike and Bomarc sites had been decommissioned, with the eventual deployment of ICBM's most Nike and BOMARC sites decommissioned, with a few remaining in the Coastal Air Defense role.
The US Army Missile Defense Agency had kept pace with the development in ICBM's and other threats, developing the Nike Hercules (capable of intercepting jet aircraft and ICBM's with nuclear payload capabilities) and Nike Zeus (aimed specifically at ICBM intercept.)
Nike Zeus was decommissioned in 1963 by the Department of Defense, with cost being the determining factor of it's demise, an estimated $ 15 Billion (remember this number, it's be important later on).
Nike Ajax and Hercules systems were severely diminished with further budget cuts, eventually all decommissioned in 1972. The US Army had continued on with another Project called "Project Nike-X" which was based on much of the Mike Zeus technological advancements and systems, this culminated in the development of the LIM-49 Spartan. Project Nike-X also culminated in the development of the Safeguard ABM program, designed to defend Minuteman Missile Sites through the use of the LIM-49 Spartan, deployed in 1975, however both the LIM-49 and the Safeguard Program were halted a mere three months later.
Until 2012, the US had remained relatively unprotected from aircraft delivered and ICBM delivered nuclear devices, with most of the weight having been shifted to Inceptor Air Wings in the Air Force and Air National Guard. As of 2012 the "Ground-Based Midcourse Defense" (estimated cost of the program is $30 Billion, should have just kept the Nike Program at half the cost, nearly half a century ago) intercept system has been operationally deployed, but with limited capability, primarily around Minuteman Missile silos.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-Based_Midcourse_Defense
According th Fox News, sources within the Pentagon have noted that the Pentagon will be increasing it's operational intercept systems from 30, to 44 in response to North Korea's threats on a Preemptive Nuclear Strike, thus adding an additional 14 systems, which will be deploy around missile silos in California and Alaska.
www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/14/pentagon-to-beef-up-missile-defense-in-response-to-north-korean-threat-sources/
So our missiles will be protected from being destroyed (maybe), so that we are capable of a Retaliatory Strike, but it's abundantly apparent the General Citizenry is left to just be burned, blinded, and die.
Decommissioning the Civil Defense Department was such a great idea....just like diminishing our Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense and reducing our existing nuclear stockpiles was. Now we have to take threats from North Korea serious, rather than laughing it off as some crazy nation like we had in the past...apparently North Korea isn't as impotent and lacking as we had thought in 2009.
Also loving the double-speak by politicians..."We're ready for any threat". Seems like you actions are contradictory to your words.
Additionally interesting to this is the "testing" of JLENS (Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System) around Washington DC. The JLENS is capable of detecting Tactical Ballistic Missile launches and flight up to 360 miles away.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/01/us-usa-blimps-raytheon-idUSBRE91018320130201
http://raytheon.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=2280
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