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Missile Defense

Technology has always found its greatest consumer in a nation's war and defense efforts. Since the last attempts at a "Star Wars" defense system, has technology changed considerably enough to make the latest Missile Defense initiatives more successful? Can such an application of science be successful? Is a militarized space inevitable, necessary or impossible?

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cantabb - 10:59pm Sep 23, 2003 EST (# 13896 of 13901)

mazza9 - 10:41pm Sep 23, 2003 EST (# 13895 of 13895)

cantabb: Go easy on the Robert.

I have been.

It's sad that Robert is allowed this forum to pursue a similar task and surely the stars will be extinguished before Robert is extinguished.

Some of the "regulars" might disagree with you, as they did with me.

Shows that one can use NYT as a personal weblog, website, and diary -- all rolled into one. With support from some "regulars."

Since NYT seems not interested in seeing how well its space is being used (other than occasional deletion of spams), this has been going on almost by default !

bluestar23 - 12:56am Sep 24, 2003 EST (# 13897 of 13901)

"Since NYT seems not interested in seeing how well its space is being used"

Maybe the Mods. should take a look at this thread.....it's pretty appalling....worse than just a personality disorder...its too bad because MD is interesting.

Latest is, the Israelis are not too impressed with the Iranian roll-out of six Shehab-3's at once. Their experts appear to believe this rocket needs two more years of development and is inaccurate. It cannot even be now fitted with an unconventional warhead. By the time it becomes a threat, the Israelis will have placed much hope in Arrow II and newer ABM variants... the Arrow II must have passed some significant tests. It may be that other countries such as Japan will continue to develop their own ABM technology to complement that of the USA....

gisterme - 02:48am Sep 24, 2003 EST (# 13898 of 13901)

bluestar -

"...It may be that other countries such as Japan will continue to develop their own ABM technology to complement that of the USA..."

That couldn't hurt. I think that those are all pretty much theater defense systems though. Still Japan would be a near-ideal place from which to intecept ballistic missiles headed for the US from NK. They could be knocked down during the boost phase.

It's encouraging to hear that the Iranian Shehab-3s can only be fitted with conventional warheads. Let's hope the Iranians intend to do no more. Iran has no need for nuclear weapons. With Baathist Iraq gone, who's a serious threat to them in the region?

rshow55 - 05:53am Sep 24, 2003 EST (# 13899 of 13901)
Can we do a better job of finding truth? YES. Click "rshow55" for some things Lchic and I have done and worked for on this thread.

http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.rcShbbu8Ii4.1452715@.f28e622/15601 - - gisterme - those are sensible comments.

Your question

With Baathist Iraq gone, who's a serious threat to them in the region?

might be explored more with the Iranians. What do they think about that - and what do they feel about that - are both good questions. I hope they are being explored in ways that are useful. I sometimes worry that the Bush administration sets up situations that cut off communication. I know others disagree - but I think that's usually a bad thing.

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New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense