A Missile Strike Option We Need

The Washington Post ^ | May 22, 2006 | Harold Brown and James Schlesinger

[fso301]

Why not use a lightweight space based kinetic energy weapon? Rather than the larger version needed for use against massively hardened targets, a 250lb tungsten meteor dropped on the spot could solve the problem.

.

[EQAndyBuzz]

"Within the past hour, a terrorist organization, known to have acquired several nuclear weapons, has been observed by a U.S. imaging system loading the weapons onto vehicles and preparing to leave for an unknown destination. A delay of even an hour or two in launching a U.S. strike on that location could mean the group would depart, contact might be lost, and the weapons would be smuggled into the United States or an allied nation and detonated. "

Let's change that a little bit and see how it would play.

Within the past hour, the leader of a terrorist organization, known to have caused several hundred deaths has been observed by a U.S. imaging system. A delay of even an hour or two in launching a U.S. strike on that location could mean the group would depart, contact might be lost, and the leader would be free to plan and execute another strike against the United States or an allied nations.

Now let's go back to the Clinton era and Osama. Clinton had a chance to kill Osama but relied on his attorneys to hold off until Osama left the area then fired missiles. Then he told the Times and Compost that they almost had him.

[Freeport]

No no NO... Lasers are inefficient and useless to hit ground targets from space unless you had a system 10 to 100 times as BIG, way more acurate aiming (Try and hit a softball from 200 - 300 miles going 15,000 - 17,000 MPH.. Just try) as the one currently being install in a Boeing 747 for boost phase intercepts. Show me the delivery system to get the beast into orbit... Sow me the maintenance base in space needed to maintain them... Show me your check book; I'm not paying...

Re-arm some of the Tridents and any LGM-118A [MX] Peacekeepers still around. The Minuteman's aren't accurate enough.

[TomasUSMC]

Say the area we are going to hit is close to the Chinese/Russian border. Neither one of these countries is going to think it is 'ok' for fallout to spread across their lands.

---

Well I worry first and foremost about fallout spreading over the target in the United States..... - than what another country might be going to think.

[neverdem]

Why not use a lightweight space based kinetic energy weapon?

We know that land and sea based ballistic missiles are currently available. Do we have lightweight space based kinetic energy weapons currently available? How's that different from Harold Brown blabbing about stealth technology?

[fso301]

Do we have lightweight space based kinetic energy weapons currently available?

Not that I know of.

How's that different from Harold Brown blabbing about stealth technology?

I don't understand your question.

[neverdem]

I don't understand your question.

Comment# 20: "This from the same Carter hack that revealed the Stealth program."

It's a matter of disclosing the existence of a heretofore unannounced program.

[garbageseeker]

I totally agree with your post. You must remember the US arsenal weapons range from 1 kiloton to 9 megatons(on the old Titan II) One way to contain the fallout is to explode a device a one kiloton device a 90 meters underground. It generates a more intense shock than one airburst of the same yield. Exploding a 10 kiloton explosion at the same depth would increase the yield of a factor of 20. To contain the fallout a 1 kiloton weapon must be detonated at a depth of 90 meters

[TomasUSMC]

To contain the fallout a 1 kiloton weapon must be detonated at a depth of 90 meters

---

That being the case, we need to make a lot of 90 meter holes.

[garbageseeker]

I agree. Unfortunately that is how the math works out.

[neverdem]

Max Boot: Forget Privacy, We Need to Spy More

This is a Saudi textbook. (After the intolerance was removed.)

Foul Law (Senate Immigration Bill) While Mr. O’Sullivan makes some gratuitous, intemperate comments, it's a good summary of the foolery in the Senate.

From time to time, I’ll ping on noteworthy articles about politics, foreign and military affairs. FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.

[TomasUSMC]

You know that the Russians exploded a 50 megaton bomb by airburst. That was 40 years ago, and it took them less than a year to build it. Actually it was a 100 megaton bomb but they dialed down the yield at the last minute.

The question I have is how deep would that one have to be?

Semper Fi

[garbageseeker]

The Tsar Bomba built by Andrei Sakarov and Igor Kurchatov. Actually that it was designed and constructed in less than 14 weeks which started in July,1961. It weighed 27 tons and was 8 meters long.The parachute was made out of nylon. It took so much nylon that it disrupted nylon production for that year in Russia. The weapon was a very "clean' weapon with 90 percent of the energy coming from fusion rather from fission. Fusion weapons produce very little fallout. The testing site was a place called Novaya Zemlya. It was dropped by a a TU-95 "Bear" Bomber at 10,500 ft and was exploded at a height of 4000 over the land by a barometric aid. The fireball touched the ground and the mushroom cloud reached high as 14-16 kilometers and a width of 30-40 kilometers. Light from the detonation was seen over 1000 kilometers away. The test was hot enough to have caused third degree burns up to 100 km away. The explosion produced greater than one percent of the entire out sun which. If exploded on land, the crater would have been half that of Meteor Crater and the fallout would have been massive. I use the Sedan test and Gnome test as model and those craters are deep with low kiloton explosions.The Sedan test produced a 300ft deep crater with a low kiloton weapon. This would rivaled Meteor Crater in Arizona in depth and length but highly radioactive. Many of the craters in the Pacific testing site are still radioactive today

The pilot of the plane was given the "Order of the Soviet union". You can see the test in Atomic Bomb:The Movie.

[garbageseeker]

They are now experimenting with antimatter bombs which will dwarf this. A ton of antimatter will produce an explsoion about 40,000 megatons. This a continent/doomsday device.