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Interceptor Missile Fails Test Launch
jangobongo writes "The US missile defense system suffered a serious setback today, just 2 weeks before it was scheduled to be activated. A target ICBM was launched from Alaska, but crashed harmlessly into the ocean as the interceptor missile based on an atoll in the Pacific Ocean shut itself down due to an unknown "anomaly". The cause of the failure could have been anything from a software glitch to a major hardware malfunction."
I read this article, and all I can think is, "Gosh, that target ICBM must be expensive."
Bliss is having no idea how much my federal government spent on the rest of the program leading up to this test. Just let me worry about this ICBM lying on the bottom of the ocean.
Trying to use sarcasm in text-based forums does not work.
And the United States wonders why we're [Canada] reluctant to join the missile defence programme...
It doesn't work, that is why.
The cause of the failure could have been anything from a software glitch to a major hardware malfunction."
And let's all speculate aimlessly until we know which.
---- El diablo esta en mis pantalones! Mire, mire!
Stupid rackafratchin' metric conversions ;)
Honey, I shrunk the Cygwin
The talking head who said "unknown anomaly" probably talked to the engineers first. They probably said something like:
To which he says, "I'll just tell 'em we don't know what happened yet"
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
And how the next threat is likely to be immune to missile interceptors
Just like there is no alquaeda in Iraq, there will be no falling ICBM.
It will come through the ports on a container ship that isn't inspected and detonate somwhere down the road.
So you're right, it will be immune to missile interception.
Meanwhile countless americans don't have healthcare.
This is "morals and values" for you folks.
Well, this has been the US's wet dream for a long time. If we're able to shoot down other people's nukes we get to own the world and all that. Also, this isn't nearly the first time we've failed miserably at it.
We're shouldn't be talking about how much money has been poured into this thing this year, we should be talking about how much has been poured into it since at least the 80s, and probably before that.
On an aside, here at MIT a Professor Postol gave a very convincing lecture a year or two ago on the fraud surrounding the first National Missile Defence test, and the subsequent cover-up of the allegations by MIT's Lincoln Labs and others. Needless to say, he's received a lot of "pressure" from all over the place. More info here.
This used to happen to me all the time.
That little sticker that holds the igniter up in the engine probably came loose. Either that, or the alligator clip came off the igniter.
Estes is usually good to deal with, just call their 800 number and they'll send a new pack of igniters.
There is a helpful guide here.
Despite what all the official propoganda says, this system is primarily an offensive weapon.
As others have pointed out - no two-bit dictator with a nuke is going to launch it at the US (or any of our allies that might be geographically closer) because they know it is a sure ticket to "liberation."
But, what the US military, and anyone who bothers to think about it for 30 seconds, does know is that if the US premptively liberates a country from its two-bit dictator, then any nuke that guy has at his disposal will be launched just as soon as he can hit that red button.
Ballistic missile defense is designed to neutralize that retaliatory threat and thus make it "safe" for the US to liberate a country like Iran or North Korea. That's the reason all the talk about how "it will never work" because of decoys and whatnot doesn't make an impact on development - they don't (plan to) need to deal with a well-funded and well-planned attack, only the last-minute, "if I'm going down, I'm going to take as many of them with me" kind of attack.
Speaking as a US citizen and a WORLD citizen, I tend to think that the less free the US feels to throw its weight around, the better off the planet is in the long run.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
You're right. Unlike a credit card, the government can just print its way out of any economic dilemma. It's a great strategy, and I'm glad we're finally using it. Just look at the what the Weimar Republic was able to achieve!