Star Wars Now - Missile defense is on its way to becoming a reality.

The Weekly Standard ^ | 05/07/2006 | James Thayer

[kinoxi]

a want a phaser

[dighton]

It’ll never work! It’ll never work! It’ll never work!

(Indescribably cool stuff.)

[Gordongekko909]

Now witness the power of this FULLY ARMED AND OPERATIONAL BATTLE STATION!

[in hoc signo vinces]

Good news!

[Tulsa Ramjet]

wait till the ABL comes online. you'll be droolin' then.

[Commander8]

This is exciting stuff!!!

[RHINO369]

It might never, the physics department at my university (university of illinois at urbana)claimed that in order for this to be effective we'd have to launch the counter missiles within 2 minutes of launch. That means you'd have to give the command of the system to a local officer at the sites.

Not a problem except if some air force officer mistakes a Russian space mission for a ICBM we could get into trouble. Or even worse we could launch when nothing was there, and Russia could interpret the counter missile as a ICBM headed towards them.

[freeangel]

Hehe. This is going to tick off China, N. Korea and Iran.

[BRITinUSA]

Meanwhile, our dear friend Achmed (a flea-bitten, camel-humping, islamofascist) can walk across our southern border with a nuke strapped to his back..

Ah yes, I feel so much safer now we have a missile shield

[Draco]

Ron was right. Again.

[Commander8]

Which is more important, defending a thousands from a terrorist attack, or defending millions from full scale nuclear war?

[uptoolate]

"And the father of missile defense is not being forgotten: last month a new installation at Vandenberg Air Force Base was named The Ronald W. Reagan Missile Defense Site."

The legacy of the greatest President in my time continues. Thank you Mr. President.

[leda]

ping :)

[ClaireSolt]

Let's think of an apt name for that trio. China, N. Korea and Iran. ChinKran

[snowsislander]

Tomorrow it won't be so limited, and our allies know it--they're jumping on board. The most recent test of the system occurred in March, another SM-3 launched from the Lake Erie. This time the SM-3's nosecone was a product of the Japan Defense Agency. A standard SM-3 must maneuver in flight to eject the kill vehicle. The Japanese invented a clamshell nosecone, which opened like a shell to more quickly release the kill vehicle without the SM-3 maneuvering. It was another success, and the target missile was vaporized. Japan contributes $1 billion a year to American missile defense efforts, and is currently installing the Aegis system on four Kongo-class destroyers. The United States and Japan are scheduled to sign an agreement later this month to develop and manufacture an enhanced version of the SM-3 missile.

Actually, I believe this is worded in a slightly misleading manner: the Kongou class destroyers already have Aegis systems.

[bennowens]

This is a direct result of our capabilities in high speed data processing.

[Centurion2000]

the physics department at my university (university of illinois at urbana)claimed that in order for this to be effective we'd have to launch the counter missiles within 2 minutes of launch. That means you'd have to give the command of the system to a local officer at the sites.

An SM-3 can go after a re-entry vehicle.

[Moonman62]

She adds that our allies are ridding themselves of the Cold War notion that vulnerability is stabilizing.

What a stupid idea that was -- probably planted by Soviet agents.

[aculeus]

Really cool.

BTW, isn't interesting how the "everyone hates us" claque always manages to ignore one billion Indians? The USSR had a lock on that country not long ago and our really really dumb President has managed to turn them into a virtual ally.