Posted on 02/21/2008 5:27:51 AM PST by CarrotAndStick
Watch as General Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (and apparently Jack Bauer's older brother) shows how the Aegis missile launches and successfully destroys the rogue spy satellite.
[Via Gizmodo]
Bump for later!
Closing at 5 Miles per second and they hit the little targeted fuel tank.
A Direct Hit
Does missile defense actually work? An impromptu mission to destroy a potentially hazardous failing satellite has proven that the system in place can make a direct hit on a fast-moving target. The USS Lake Erie scored a direct hit on the targeted small fuel tank on a spy satellite traveling in polar orbit at 17,000 mile per hour, eliminating the fuel tank that had worried the US (via Worldwide Standard):
Over the last twenty years and more, we have heard from a variety of experts explaining how this is impossible. A rocket, they claimed, could not reliably be expected to target another rocket. They derided missile defense systems as “Star Wars” fantasy and demanded that we stop pursuing destabilizing efforts to actually defend ourselves from potential missile attack.
The Patriot missile systems began proving their abilities against Scud attacks in the Gulf War. They didn’t have a perfect record, but they did have an impressive run of mid-air intercepts — so impressive that the Israelis bought Patriot batteries from us. In the last seven years, we have continued to develop these defense systems, after the Clinton administration tried to mothball it.
Now we see that we can precisely target moving objects that aren’t specifically intended as tests. The missile and the satellite had a closing velocity of 22,000 miles per hour, and yet the Navy hit a bullseye on the first try. It sends a message to people like Kim Jong-Il and Ali Khameini that their ballistic missile systems have just been made obsolete. It also sends a message to the defeatists and naysayers from the last quarter-century that, like so many other times, they have been proven wrong in their defeatism.
Eventually, this could end the ballistic missile era. If effective defenses become widely available, there will not be much point in maintaining ballistic missile inventories at all. Ronald Reagan had that very vision when he first proposed SDI and tried to get the Soviets to partner with him on it.
Captains Quarters
Kewl, thanks.
Team America: World Police
Youtube video “America, F* Yeah!”
[graphic language]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWS-FoXbjVI&feature=related
interesting. bet this sends a chill to the Chinese and others who seek to weaponize space.
Bump
Remember when the Democrats said that this would not work, was too expensive, and that it would worsen tensions between the US and Russia? Thank God Reagan had vision.
News flashback 1984
The Case Against Star Wars Weapons (TIME MAGAZINE)
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,954303,00.html
Among the doubters were moderates like John Glenn as well as liberals like Massachusetts Democrat Paul Tsongas.
Lest there be any doubt that the issue will figure in the presidential campaign, Democratic Front Runner Walter Mondale last week denounced the plan as “dangerously destabilizing” and called for a freeze on military uses of space. The Democrats believe that the President’s embrace of antimissile weapons will fan fears that he is a trigger-happy nucl ear cowboy.
I watched it on CNN. It was a thing of beauty. I did note that they didn’t show the whole flight...don’t want the enemy to know just how fast we really are. ;-)
Thank you Ronald Reagan. I actually had the honor to participate in some of his initiatives. He would be rightfully proud to see today’s success. Good job to all who made the mission a success!!!
Absofrickalutely awesome! Thanks!
bttt
It is just too bad that the missile couldn’t have been launched from the carrier Ronald Reagan, just to really rub the libs noses in it.
General Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (and apparently Jack Bauer’s older brother)
LOL!
A big success, but I noticed that they had to delay the launch by a day due to weather. Hopefully, we can persuade the Chinese not to bomb us on rainy day.
That video is awesome. For the first time in my adult life I am proud to be an American.
/sarc
Hopefully we just missed the /sarc tag. There's a big difference in sense-of-urgency between those two events.
We probably had several days in which to intercept this bird, so why not wait for ideal weather conditions?
Big BUMP!
GRRRRREAT! Thanks very much for posting. (Interesting comments at link.)
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