Missile-defense physics may require interceptors to fly into ‘the teeth of the Russian early warning net.’
Posted on 09/30/2017 5:31:21 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
If North Korea Fires an ICBM, the US Might Have to Shoot It Down Over Russia
Missile-defense physics may require interceptors to fly into ‘the teeth of the Russian early warning net.’
If Pyongyang fires a missile at the United States, its most-likely trajectory would take it over the North Pole. A U.S. attempt to shoot down that missile would probably occur within Russian radar space — and possibly over Russia itself. “It’s something we’re aware of,” Gen. Lori Robinson, who leads both U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, said Wednesday. “It’s something we work our way through.”
By year’s end, the U.S. will have deployed 44 ground-based interceptors, or GBIs: 40 at Fort Greeley, Alaska, and four at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. If deterrence fails, those interceptors would be the last line of defense against a North Korean missile. Each incoming ICBM might be met with four or more GBIs.
Last week, Joshua Pollack told an audience at the annual Air Force Association conference in Washington D.C. that the most probable intercept route aims the U.S. GBI “into the teeth of the Russian early warning net.”
The actual route will depend on the incoming missile’s course and speed, and just how quickly the U.S. system can react. Pollack, a researcher at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, elaborated in a subsequent writeup of his presentation. “Defending a West Coast target…means engaging the attacking [reentry vehicle] above the Russian Far East. Yikes.”
(Excerpt) Read more at defenseone.com ...
P!
One would think the Russians would be less than happy with the prospect of North Korea launching nuclear-armed missiles on trajectories that took them over thousands of miles of Russian territory.
With their track record, I wouldn’t want a North Korean nuke flying over my air space. I’d take it out, and keep flying to take out any North Korean nuclear capability.
I really think these missile launches by NK are just to prove they can do it, for potential buyers out there interested in making a clandestine nuke attack against the West.
Trump should let Putin know in no uncertain terms if a Nork missile is on a ballistic track towards North America over the territory of Russia, it will be incumbent upon Russia to shoot it down themselves, lest Trump deem it that Russia is complicit in the attack and thereby suffer the consequences. Shall we all start trading cities à la FailSafe?
“Fail Safe?”
Staring the jackass dull actor that spawned Hanoi Jane.
I always thought the plot was stupid.
Will cell phones screech?
Ahhhh -’Fail Safe’ great movie!!!
Uh...let’s not worry about what Russia claims:
“That suggests that if the U.S. spotted a launch and tried to intercept it, Russia might claim that the U.S. was acting provocatively and not in self-defense. “
Russia isn’t in the business of aiding U.S. AMB design or effectiveness.
Here’s a totally out of the box idea. If/when fat boy launches a missile over Russian air space, Putin shoots it down and returns one back. Two birds, one stone. Putin would get brownie points for saving the US and for eliminating a tubby thug.
“... deployed 44 ground-based interceptors, or GBIs: 40 at Fort Greeley, Alaska, and four at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. If deterrence fails, those interceptors would be the last line of defense against a North Korean missile. Each incoming ICBM might be met with four or more GBIs.”
48/4=12. Book title: “The Thirteenth Missile”.
“If/when fat boy launches a missile over Russian air space, Putin shoots it down and returns one back.”
Russia will not reveal actual military capabilities to save the US. Nor would Putin take out a the cash cow that is NOKO.
No one in the industry believes that Russia nor China has fielded the ability to shoot one down.
They can't on that trajectory. The time over China is negligible. The little box on the graphic is the interception area.
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