As regards 9, shooting down a satellite is pretty fucking easy. It's path doesn't change and it keeps doing the same thing over and over. A missile doesn't.
A Ballistic missile warhead does not necessarily maneuver so it's not quite as difficult or easy as you portray both. Further, the interception was a hit to kill, not a proximity warhead function (closing speeds make reliable fuze function difficult). The hit required less than a meter's precision at over 17,000 miles per hour of the target and a closing speed of 24,000 mph.
Moreover, SM3 is an expansion of a proven system, Standard Missile which has had decades of development, testing and operational use. That program is a further growth of an even older set of systems which were also largely successful. SM-3 has had 12 operational tests and 11 successful intercepts in those test. We now have a 12th' successful intercept of an unusual target which it was not designed to hit and which involved modification of three production missiles/warhead combinations to adjust for the target parameters (hit the fuel tank and not the 'warhead').
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momijizukamori
no subject
Date: 2008-02-28 10:37 pm (UTC)As regards 9, shooting down a satellite is pretty fucking easy. It's path doesn't change and it keeps doing the same thing over and over. A missile doesn't.
A Ballistic missile warhead does not necessarily maneuver so it's not quite as difficult or easy as you portray both. Further, the interception was a hit to kill, not a proximity warhead function (closing speeds make reliable fuze function difficult). The hit required less than a meter's precision at over 17,000 miles per hour of the target and a closing speed of 24,000 mph.
Moreover, SM3 is an expansion of a proven system, Standard Missile which has had decades of development, testing and operational use. That program is a further growth of an even older set of systems which were also largely successful. SM-3 has had 12 operational tests and 11 successful intercepts in those test. We now have a 12th' successful intercept of an unusual target which it was not designed to hit and which involved modification of three production missiles/warhead combinations to adjust for the target parameters (hit the fuel tank and not the 'warhead').