We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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US Navy ship shoots down ICBM Today’s Ballistic Missile interception test has been successful:
“The target was launched at 2:30 p.m. Hawaiian Standard Time (7:30 p.m. EST). The USS Lake Erie, equipped with Aegis BMD computer programs and equipment, developed a fire control solution without any external sensor inputs. Within two minutes after target launch the Aegis Weapon System fired the SM-3 guided missile. Approximately two minutes later, the missile’s kinetic warhead acquired, tracked and diverted into the target, demonstrating the Aegis BMD system’s capability to engage the ballistic missile target in the ascent phase. This was the third consecutive target intercept.”
I’d say we’re getting close to a North Korea sized ICBM solution.
NOTE: The available information does not specify the missile type intercepted, but I would guess it is more an IRBM than an ICBM in this test. I know very little about the Kaui Launch site so I can’t comment on what sort of pads/launchers they have. I’ll add more information when I receive it.
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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Pardon me whilst I cringe at the mention of the Lake Erie. The ship that managed to fire its phalanx gun in port -twice…
Ohhh… I’ll bet the environmentalists had puppies! (dep U ammo)
I’ll bet it made mincement of the incoming seagull….
You cann’t find the it-won’t-work types with a flashlight. And since knocking the things out of the sky on their way up is the cheapest and fastest solution against enemies like Iraq and North Korea, nowhere can you find the it’s-too-expensive guys either. Good for America and good for our REAL allies.
Val
I was “fortunate” enough to witness the event, as I was standing atop the deck of the submarine USS Kamehameha at the time, both ships moored in Pearl Harbor. I heard what sounded like a big plywood plank being dropped – it was very loud – and everyone around the pier at the sub base started looking around to see what had happened. Then it happened again, and this time we realized that it was coming from the Lake Erie moored a little ways across from us.
I’m told that the GMs were doing maintenance on the phalanx guns, rotating one barrel at a time and going through the firing sequence. They had unloaded the weapon’s magazine, but apparently there is a ‘reserve’ of fifteen or so rounds of ammo within the gun’s feed mechanism that was missed. They fired a shell, wondered if they did what they thought they just did, then fired again just to check. I’m told the shells streaked across Pearl Harbor and up into the overlooking Aiea hills, where they destroyed an old lady’s tin shed.
Needless to say, the GMs doing the worked went to Mast, and the WEPS was sacked.
Why can’t the private sector provide this? Surely it is in the interest of large companies, e.g. chemical companies or perhaps power generating ones, to protect themselves against nuclear attack?
Why should it be funded by the legal theft of our money?
Dale:
Aries is a modified Minuteman II second stage. It has a range of about 300 miles; not what I’d consider an IRBM. The relative velocity at impact was about 4km/s, which is a decent test setup. SM-3 (the missile tested here) is not intended to protect against ICBMs, as far as I know. To do that, you have to design for maximum closing velocity and the minimum target signature. Just to frame it a little better, the Aries is about a hundred times the area and much hotter than an ICBM RV. So you’re talking probably at least three orders of magnitude in sensitivity, and a smaller pixel size to account for the more precise HTK requirement for a nuclear RV. And probably a higher frame rate. That’s all I’m going to say about that.
Simon:
What “our money” are you talking about? Your email address implies you live in the U.K. Last time I looked, the U.K. isn’t a source of tax revenues for the U.S. So, unless you have a mouse in your pocket who happens to pay U.S. income tax…
Mr. Wilde:
I’d be surprised if a single 15mm round could destroy a shack, unless it were extremely rickety. That aside, the WEPS had it coming. There’s no excuse for carelessness with weapon systems.