Posted on 11/02/2005 12:32:53 PM PST by RDTF
The unpredictable flight trajectory of the Russian missile makes it immune to destruction
The successful test launch of the Topol-M missile has proved that the up-to-date Russian warhead is capable of subduing the USA's air defense, Russian military specialists say.
Russian strategic troops performed the test launch of the intercontinental ballistic missile RS-12M Topol on November 1. The chairman of the press service of the troops, Colonel Alexander Vovk, stated after the test launch that the missile successfully hit the conditional target on the Balkhash range ground in Kazakhstan.
It is worthy of note that yesterday's launch of the Topol-M missile became the sixth test of the system, which was created to subdue the US air defense. The Russian military command was keeping the entire flight data under control during the launch of the missile. The test showed that the maneuver, as performed by the missile on its flight trajectory, would not let foreign air defense troops intercept and destroy the missile.
According to the information obtained from the open sources, the arsenal of the Russian strategic troops currently has stationary Topol-M missile systems. It is planned to use the systems on both shaft and mobile bases in the future.
First shaft-based missile complexes RS-12M Topol-M (SS-X27 under the NATO classification) were added to the Russian defense arsenal in 1997. There are currently four missile units in the Russian troops working with Topol-M systems. Each of the units has up to ten intercontinental ballistic missiles, official sources say.
Defense, apparently, can almost always be overcome by a good offensive weapon or system.
"unpredictable flight trajectory"
makes it hard to hit a target, too. Well, the intended target.
That said, Russia is not the country we are worried about.
Apparently the Russians want to restart the Cold War.
I believe missle defense is intended to protect us from the nutjobs in the Axis of Evil launching one or two missles, and not from thousands of warheads raining down upon us from Russia.
"That said, Russia is not the country we are worried about." I don't know, they would probably be willing to sell a few to Iran.
Good. We'll bankrupt them again.
The system isn't designed to make us immune, but it is a nice insurance policy if one (or just a few) are popped off accidentally (or purposely).
another article on it:
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/02/10/topol.shtml
Am I correct in imagining some cartoon looking flight path for these missiles?
After the successful Test, the whole team was rewarded by treating them to "real" dinner. They also gained the privelege of having their heating on for at least a month.
A 600KT nuke has a hard time missing....wow, that's a crowd pleaser.
18 ABMs won't stop a broadsides. They might well stop 18 warheads, even maneuverable ones, but that is only a handful of MIRVs.
A slight adjustment of the flight path during mid flight will change the impact point many miles. The reference to conditional target means that the actual target can be selected after launch and after deployment of the warheads.
"The unpredictable flight trajectory of the Russian missile makes it immune to destruction"
Perhaps with our current system, but could a 'brilliant pebbles' type system still destroy it ?
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