North Korea condemns U.S. missile test

[Rob Lister]

PYONGYANG, North Korea, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- North Korea Saturday called a U.S. missile defense test a threat and vowed to strengthen its defense measures in response.

North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland released a statement saying the U.S. test, which was conducted Friday over the Pacific Ocean, "was aimed at attacking us and intercepting our missiles," the BBC reported Saturday.

The committee also called the United States the "the main culprit" in the threat of war on the Korean peninsula.

"It is a folly that the United States wields the truncheons of power in order to scare someone into submission ... This only leads the army and the people to firm up their determination to build up our self-defensive military deterrence," the statement said.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency earlier announced an interceptor had successfully halted a target fired from Alaska.

"What we did today is a huge step in terms of our systematic approach to continuing to field, continuing to deploy and continuing to develop a missile defence system for the US, for our allies, our friends, our deployed forces around the world," said Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, director of the MDA.

http://upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060902-082144-1563r


I have no idea why little Kim has his little-girl panties in a bunch. It's not like it's a reliable system yet. Heck, it's even an impossible system, if you believe the critics.

We just got lucky with one hit, and that was probably just fixed to make it look like we were progressing.

Only a fool would believe that in 5...maybe 6 years this system will be nationwide reality.

Of course, we'll stop hearing about it well before then...because it doesn't work...It can't.

 

[Kopji]

Ah, who says North Koreans don't have a sense of humor? They would crack me up more if they were not so insanely dangerous.

I am a critic of such anti missile systems. We need to start balancing 'security' and cost, and this is a good place to begin. The risk of foreign missiles dropping on our heads seems rather remote compared to other risks.

We are not really testing the system as it will need to operate in an actual battle theater. This raises some questions about its current military vs political value. Sure, Americans feel safer if we think we are protected from incoming missiles, but that is a political value.

After the first incoming missile is destroyed, the atmosphere is now a target rich debris cloud. What is the system's capability of destroying multiple incoming warheads descending through debris of previous missile hits? Probably much less optimistic.

So to me anyway, the system seems like one of those phased programs where we work on the easy part first, and then ask for funding when we have already sunk a lot of money into something and it still does not work.

I just think our money could be better spent, and on things of real military value rather than things that only offer political cover.

 

[Rob Lister]

Ah, who says North Koreans don't have a sense of humor? They would crack me up more if they were not so insanely dangerous.

I agree.

I am a critic of such anti missile systems. We need to start balancing 'security' and cost, and this is a good place to begin. The risk of foreign missiles dropping on our heads seems rather remote compared to other risks.

I hope you're not too stanch a critic. The cost/benefit ratio is a difficult thing to fathom...and lots of high-level folk keep track of it. I think it is a close call but worth it. But I'm not 'in the know'. I give the government the benefit of the doubt, hard as that is to do. Still, I know those that do that sort of thing (for the military) and I find them incredible honest and trustworthy for the most part. Dishonesty is the exception not the rule...yet the exception is all that is ever reported.

We are not really testing the system as it will need to operate in an actual battle theater. This raises some questions about its current military vs political value. Sure, Americans feel safer if we think we are protected from incoming missiles, but that is a political value.

This is just a test. It's hundreds of systems coming together to do a specific job. It has to mature but, this test proves that it is at least coming into its own.

After the first incoming missile is destroyed, the atmosphere is now a target rich debris cloud. What is the system's capability of destroying multiple incoming warheads descending through debris of previous missile hits? Probably much less optimistic.

I don't think the debris cloud will be much of an issue. I have a high degree of confidence that the analyziang software in use is able to distingish between debris and missiles. I certainly can't prove that however.

So to me anyway, the system seems like one of those phased programs where we work on the easy part first, and then ask for funding when we have already sunk a lot of money into something and it still does not work.

It really is one of those but, I think, we are near the end of the cycle, not near the start. The easy and hard work have been done. Technology has 'caught up' to the goal. It's doable now and we can prove it (at least once under controlled circumstances).

I just think our money could be better spent, and on things of real military value rather than things that only offer political cover.

Maybe. But I like this. I think it is worthwhile and useful. I don't think it is perfect, but in/when the real missiles start falling, several million will be happy it's in place.

 

[Azure]

I find that military technology IS something to trust. Its the politicians that implement the technology who aren't to be trusted.

 

[nightwind]

Korea

This is just a mind game going on. The U.S whines every time Korea does some kind of missle test.

So they were just giving it back.

 

[Just thinking]

... So they were just giving it back.

Oh ... I think they were quite pi**ed. It's not just a missile test (which didn't go so well for N. Korea if you recall), but a missile defense test. The only reason K.J. Mentally Ill would get all huffy is because it neuters their system -- think about it.

 

[Kopji]

I agree.

...I hope you're not too stanch a critic.

Eh, actually no. Most things in moderation. The military does not care what I think and rightly so.

One of the greatest threats facing the world today is the increasing proliferation of ballistic missiles. As more countries develop sophisticated missile designs, the number of missiles capable of reaching the United States increases as well.
http://www.mda.mil/mdalink/pdf/bmds.pdf

Yeah sure, all true. China, Russia...

A war with China would pretty much wreck both of our economies. Where would we buy our computers from? And Russia. How sad to go through decades of misrable Cold War only to throw their hands up in frustration and commit national suicide by launching a ballistic strike against the US.

Ok, maybe a terrorist group getting their hands on missiles to send against us. That seems more like a failure of on the ground intelligence though. Reacting to terrorist ICBM's in the air would be a failure of not focusing on more important threats.

Hezbollah damaged Israel's economy in northern Israel with pretty primitive stuff. Not fancy, just lots of it. The US is not immune from similar attacks, and the political impact on our government might be similar to Israel's.

An unstable or suddenly anti US government in Mexico seems like a more ominious threat than North Korea, and we seem downright uninterested. My basic criticism could probably be characterized as a frustration that we are easily satisfied by looking the other way when things get tough. And as long as we look cool.

I did find something interesting while wandering around on this subject. Kind of a historic thing and very off topic, sorry. Too good to not mention though.

The day we attacked Mexico

On July 11, 1970, Athena missile number 122 was launched from Green River, Utah, in the middle of the night. Like the previous firings, which the Air Force began in 1964, this Athena was programmed to impact on White Sands Missile Range. Instead project and range personnel watched helplessly as it rocketed south heading deep into Mexico...

...An urban myth has developed around this incident. Basically, it says there is an area in Mexico called the “Zone of Silence” that is like the Bermuda Triangle. The implication is that some physical anomaly in Mexico caused the Athena to head toward it and that the recovery team was actually a group of NASA scientists investigating the place.

Athena flights resumed on Jan. 9, 1971. The program ended in the summer of 1973.

http://www.wsmr.army.mil/pao/FactSheets/AthenatoMexico.htm