Navy Shoots, Scores
The US Navy scored another direct hit in a missile defense test.
The mock warhead was launched over the Pacific atop a medium range missile and destroyed in a direct hit six minutes later with an SM-3 missile fired by the Aegis cruiser USS Shiloh, the agency said.
"The missile successfully intercepted the target warhead outside the earths atmosphere more than 100 miles above the Pacific Ocean and 250 miles northwest of Kauai," the agency said in a statement.
"We are continuing to see great success with the very challenging technology of hit-to-kill, a technology that is used for all of our missile defense ground- and sea-based interceptor missiles," Lieutenant General Trey Obering, the agency chief, said in the statement.
That was the seventh successful test out of eight. Call me optimistic, but a .875 batting average is pretty damn good. Twice as good as Ted Williams. And that's good. Looks like we have something like an operational missile defense system. 'Cause remember, we don't have to launch just one.
Also of note, for the first time, allied military forces participated in the test. The Imperial Japanese Navy sent the Kongo Class Aegis Destroyer Kirishima to help with tracking and stuff. Japan is noticeably spooked by the most recent wackiness of the North Koreans, and has signed on for a bigger role in the larger US missile defense effort. There has been some talk about us shooting down, or at least trying to shoot down, the planned NK launch of a long range missile. The new missile, the Taepodong-2, has a suspected range of 9300 miles, which puts a goodly chunk of the United States in range. I'm of mixed mind about the idea.
If it worked, and we shot down their test, we'd have the warm happy feeling you get after administering an effective bitchslap. On the other hand, it would increase, rather than decrease tensions. On the gripping hand, that might be a good thing because the North Koreans seem to respond well to force, and not so much to the smooth insinuations of qualified diplomats. So, that's a wash, maybe, but leaning toward good. The downside of course is that if we miss, we look like jackasses. Pathetic, incompetant jackasses. "Hey look at all the technology and money spent, and they can't even hit one missile fired by perpetual loser North Korea." And that's the last thing we need. Still, if we have a 99% chance of hitting the damn thing, on balance I say go for it.
[wik] I wonder what the Brangelina thinks of a naval vessel sharing their spawn's name. But hey, its disarmament, one missile at a time.
[alsø wik] Here's a nifty page with tons of info on the North Korean launch site, and other goodies.
[alsø alsø wik] Looking at the map, it seems that with another 1000 miles or so on the range, they'd be able to hit just about anywhere in the world except for South America. All the important places, anyway.
[wi nøt trei a høliday in Sweden this yër?] While looking at some stuff for this post, I ran across this wikipedia article about Batting Averages. Interesting.
[see the løveli lakes...] Geeklethal point out in the comments that I was not entirely clear about which naval vessel Brangelina's offspring was named for. The child is named Shiloh, after the USN ship that fired the missile that hit the other missile, and after the bloodiest battle in the Civil War. A rather decisive battle, as it led indirectly both to the Union successes in the Western theater, and to Sherman and Grant achieving high command in the Union Army.
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