Posted on 07/10/2006 9:04:55 PM PDT by sageb1
North Korea Thwarts US Attack
The government of Kim Jong-Il announced that America's attempted July 4 attack on his country was thwarted when "the supreme mental energy of Kim caused all of the American rockets to explode just hundreds of feet in the
air over their launching pads in cities all across the United States."
The statement went on to say that "as a show of mercy, Kim's psychic powers also caused all of the Nodong and Scud missiles in North Korea's planned retaliatory strike to crash harmlessly into the sea, sparing the Americans
from their justly deserved punishment."
The statement concluded that "Kim's power, wisdom and mercy are unbounded, marking him as the progenitor of a new race of superhumans."
read more...
http://www.azconservative.org/Semmens1.htm
Pago Pago isn't in "our general direction", unless we have one of the handful of 'upgraded' Aegis-equipped cruisers patrolling off Pago Pago. Boost phase is supposed to be taken care of by the not yet fully functional Airborne Laser.
So, your point is that we should be willing to lose US territories like American Samoa, Guam, or Saipan? How about Hawaii?, perhaps Seattle?
After all they vote the wrong way?
I would support expanding the number of reentry intercept sites, as well as boost phase sites. I would also support a "preboost intercept". And no, we don't have to give that little nutball a first shot. Give him a good lesson "pour les autres."
Ah, secret payloads, thats the ticket.
I bet the plans for that secret weapon can be found on that hidden U-boat that Bush used to visit Germany during WWII.
We should have that one ready in what, 5 minutes or so? After all, we just got a space shuttle back on line (launch phase, anyways). They got nothing better to do, right?
"WHAT!!!!" you say? Virginia is no more defended than Pago Pago. I find this situation uacceptable, but that's for another day.
I got into this thread by expressing confidence in our BMD systems' ability to function (that is, destroy NK missiles) within the limits of their design.
It hadn't occurred to me that Li'l Kim might target American Samoa, but he's a total madman so I shouldn't discount that possibility.
The more I read your post #24, the less sense it makes.
We have two BMD launch sites, one in Alaska, one in California.
Those two sites have certain size footprint.
0utside that footprint we are still vulnerable, to include Hawaii, Washington, Chicago.
You can use Google earth to find the great circle routes between North Korea and major US population centers. Ballistic missiles travel on great circle routes during unpowered parts of their mission.
Post 25 shows what is meant by pre-boost intercept.
There. simple words, no more than 4 syllables.
Again, I expressed confidence, WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF KIM JONG IL'S RECENT BOUT OF MADNESS, in the capacity of those interceptors to destroy North Korean long range missiles.
That capacity, while good in so far as it goes, is entirely too limited. It should be expanded. How you got the idea that I think it's A-OK for Virginia to be undefended eludes me. Please don't ASSume that I mean anything that I didn't say.
Good points. IMO, we should pull back all US troops from the DMZ. At this point, we tell the ROK that they now have total control of their border with NK. US troops take defensive positions in and around the capitol of the ROK.
Deploy aircraft carriers in the Sea of Japan and the Gulf of Korea. That way, should NK decide to demonstrate with infantry or artillery, the US troops are out of the way, and the tools to slap NK are in place.
This sends a stronger message to the ROK and at the same time keeps them from freaking out regarding total redployment of US troops.
I truly believe if NK wanted to send a couple of hundred thousand troops to the ROK border, there is not much 30,000 US troops plus ROK troops could do except retreat until larger assets were deployed.
Now, having said that, I don't think NK wants a war, I think they want money and I think they think that the ROK has gone soft and that the US forces will pull out.
Your thoughts?
My understanding is they (NK) already have hundreds of thousands of troops on the DMZ. Re-deploying our troops around Seoul will not help that much as the city is within striking distance of NK's big artillary. I have heard estimates of 24 hours before Seoul was destroyed based on the amount of artillary pointed at it. We should just remove our troops completely and let ROK fend for themselves. They have the money, lets see if they have the will.
If we deploy aircraft carriers forward, that makes it easier for the Norks to track and target them. The closer we get, the more weapons they have that can hit our assets.
Certainly China and Russia (and even France) would be pleased to provide imaging to the Norks.
UNLEASH JAPAN!
The UN grew out of our WWII alliance. Where we had to be multilateral, as Germany, the problem festered. Where we could be unilateral (Japan) the problems were resolved very quickly.
An aircraft carrier has many levels of protection. I do not think that NK can sustain, or damage an aircraft carrier to any large extent.
China and Russia have been at providing intel on military movements and placements for a very long time. Nothing new there. An aircraft carrier is very hard to hide these days. Besides the point is for NK to know a carrier is near.
I agree that it would be good to unleash Japan, the problem is that it will take many years for that to happen even if they and we started today.
I don't have any first hand knowledge of a firing strategy, but during the first Gulf War we salvoed two interceptors per incoming Scud. (Admittedly with mixed results.) Little reported was that during Operation Iraqi Freedom, every one of about a dozen Scuds engaged by Patriot batteries was intercepted. Again, I do not know what the firing strategy is/was.
The Scud is a TBM not an ICBM, but it is interesting that we now have about a 100% effective defense aqgainst TBM based on upgrades to an early 1970's vintage missile. The engagement, Korea to lower 48 is not particularly stressing, since the target could be engaged on the way up to Alaska, if we miss fire again from Alaska and hold the two rounds available in California for a last attempt, if necessary.
Japanese Military has very high levels of quality. 1 percent of the Japanese budget is a bunch of money, particularly considering that veteran's pensions and facilities don't count toward that 1 percent cap.
There is a balance between forward deployment for show the flag and effectiveness, and withheld deployment for survivability. I trust our military professionals to make the decisions to strike the right balance. There are a bunch of unclassified old studies by Albert Wohlstetter on that. He found that rear basing was superior in deterrance against a rational actor, and based on that, the B-52 long range bomber was developed. With Kim Jong-Il the assumption of a rational actor may not be valid.
The Saratoga, (our 4th carrier at Midway,) had to be scuttled after the Bikini atoll tests. It was completely impossible to decontaminate it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.