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Missile Defense

Russian military leaders have expressed concern about US plans for a national missile defense system. Will defense technology be limited by possibilities for a strategic imbalance? Is this just SDI all over again?

lunarchick - 11:01am Jul 17, 2001 EST (#7133 of 7137)
lunarchick@www.com

EU AID FOR YUGOSLAVIA:
The European Union has approved a $A591 million aid package to Yugoslavia. German foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, told a regular meeting of his EU counterparts that they had to do everything in their power to foster democracy in Belgrade. The package, mainly comprising of loans, falls short of the sum originally recommended by the EU commission. Ministers also drew up plans for travel restrictions on ethnic Albanian rebels fighting the Macedonian government. They agreed on a list of 38 rebel commanders and coordinators who would be barred entry into the EU, if ongoing talks between Macedonian leaders and the rebels break down

DAS JOURNAL - DW, Berlin: July 17, 2001 www.dwelle.de/today/nreng.htm

broadcast in German Mon to Sat 7.30-8.00 am

lunarchick - 11:02am Jul 17, 2001 EST (#7134 of 7137)
lunarchick@www.com

EU AID FOR YUGOSLAVIA:
The European Union has approved a $A591 million aid package to Yugoslavia. German foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, told a regular meeting of his EU counterparts that they had to do everything in their power to foster democracy in Belgrade. The package, mainly comprising of loans, falls short of the sum originally recommended by the EU commission. Ministers also drew up plans for travel restrictions on ethnic Albanian rebels fighting the Macedonian government. They agreed on a list of 38 rebel commanders and coordinators who would be barred entry into the EU, if ongoing talks between Macedonian leaders and the rebels break down

DAS JOURNAL - DW, Berlin: July 17, 2001
~ www.dwelle.de/today/nreng.htm

lunarchick - 11:07am Jul 17, 2001 EST (#7135 of 7137)
lunarchick@www.com

NiteDragon Puppet.

rshowalter - 12:05pm Jul 17, 2001 EST (#7136 of 7137)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

In MD7107 gisterme 7/16/01 9:24pm .. gisterme cites a number of references to dispute a statement of mine -- which was that the lasar programs, as weapons systems, don't work at all.

They are lasars. They are technically impressive in some ways. But they are not effective as weapons.

They are ineffective because of inescapably inadequate resolution in the radar and light optics systems taken as a whole.

They are ineffective because of inescapably inadequate adequate controls, for the system as a whole.

And, in addition, and most decisively, they are ineffective because it is easy to immunize missiles and reintry vehicles with optical coatings with reflectivity greater (and much greater) than 99% at the wavelength of the lasar. http://www.phy.davidson.edu/jimn/Java/Coatings.htm

I don't see how anyone who knows how reflective coatings work, and how easy they are to make, can continue to want to support lasars as serious weapons.

Gisterme cited a number of interesting references, that showed that the lasar program had achieved some technically difficult, and technically impressive results, and could be combined with other technology that was also impressive.

That doesn't make the progam any good at all as a weapons program.

MD6407 gisterme 7/2/01 3:25pm . . . MD6149 gisterme 6/27/01 3:06pm
MD6424 gisterme 7/2/01 6:03pm . . . MD6519 gisterme 7/3/01 7:24pm

MD6648-52 gisterme 7/5/01 6:33pm

MD6722 gisterme 7/6/01 8:13pm

MD6812 gisterme 7/9/01 7:56pm

MD6827 rshowalter 7/10/01 8:58am ... reads in part

" It is technically easy to make missiles and warheads immune to lasar weapons -- even if the lasar weapons did achieve a chain of miracles related to optical resolution and control. See: Reflective Coatings http://www.phy.davidson.edu/jimn/Java/Coatings.htm "

"The engineers asking for money for the program, and promising to make a contribution to US defense have to know this.

"I'm at a loss, myself, to understand how this cannot be treason.

You don't have to trust what I say -- look for yourself . http://www.phy.davidson.edu/jimn/Java/Coatings.htm

rshowalter - 12:08pm Jul 17, 2001 EST (#7137 of 7137)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Sometimes, when "dead horses" are expensive enough -- perhaps they have to be checked a while, to see that they are really, truly dead. In that spirit, I'll go through gisterme's references cited above.

A search for "lasar" on this thread gets seven search pages.

After all, one might ask -- "Can lasar weapons be effective against uncoated objects in space?"

For a lot of reasons, when you check magnitudes, the answer is "NO."

The lasar systems are mistakes -- they have no chance of success in a weapons role at all, for the destructive task itself, and Rumsfeld's plans for weaponization of space, which are based on lasar weapons, are technically hopeless.

And therefore, Rumsfeld's plans on the subject are ugly and not worth supporting -- however attractive they may have seemed on the basis of incomplete information

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