Solid state laser weapon in testing....

[RedRed]

How many of those have Sea Based (IE SUBS) and therefore practically undetectable launch platforms..... - your bird needs to be in the air - and not that far from the action.....

Umm, almost zero. Even twenty years ago we could hear the Soviets turn the ignition over on a sub in their own harbors. Putting a sub underwater just makes the detection methods different. Acoustics and satellites do wonders.

Exactly my point!

no country is going to be in a poistion to attack the US WITH anything. If they DO develop something - lets say within the next 20 years- dont you think that the rest of the world - US included - would notice?

when you have such an advantage you have no real need to further extend it.....

Dr M:

Also: ABL isn't necessarily for ICBM. It's for IRBM and theater missiles, and a lot of nations have those, including North Korea and a few other nasties.

its only any good in a theatre when you have total air supremacy.... you cant fly a 747 or whatever it is on constant watch WHITOUT IT.... you cant really hide a theatre based missile now adays - the SS20's and Sadamms scuds proved that.... its still an irrelivance in that form of warfare.

GT98

Well the problem is back between the 1st and 2nd World War the US Army was cut to the bone and it nearly bit us in the ass, before we pulled our collective heads out of our ass.

we arent talking about the size of the army (still one of the largest per-capita in the world). During WW1 there was no real technology gap - everyone sent their young to the meatgrinder of the front. They were armed the same. What was different was that the germans developed new THEORY, not new tech.
RedRed

[Marshmallowman]

You are looking for the wrong weapons The US has to worry about chemical/viral agents and suitcase bombs...lasers are effective during a convential war but that is not what the real threat is.

[Dr Mordrid]

Chem/bio and suitcase bombs are only one aspect of defense in these days of terrorism. Theater weaponry, and the defenses against same, are quite another since state sponsored terrorism is no longer a theory....it's reality and has been for over 20 years. The problem is most governments turned a blind eye to this fact as long as it didn't affect them. Some still do

Setting up a cohesive stragegy defending against numerous types of threats from innumerable sources requires something for as many scenarios as possible, not just the select few that are politically correct in some circles. Doing less is betraying your nations citizenry since defending them from outside danger is a governments primary job.

The ABL specifically made to defend a limited space, a "combat theater", which it should do quite nicely. If this area needs expansion then another ABL would be flown in an overlapping pattern. This kind of thing is the job of a tactical, not a strateigic, weapon.

Yes, it would have AWAC's and fighters all around it, but the last Gulf War proved one thing: we couldn't find the Scuds on the ground!! Precisely ZERO of them were destroyed in western Iraq before they were launched!!

More modern mobile missles, which likely would made of composite materials and use solid fuel, would therefore even tougher to detect with look-down radar and present a distinct danger.

Attacking these missiles in the boost phase is esential. Enter: the ABL. If the ABL misses one then getting it becomes the job of MTHEL, the Arrow interceptor and their sucessors. It's called "layered defense"

Dr. Mordrid

[Paddy]

nah, we don't need cow launchers... we need sharks with solid state lasers attached to their frickin' foreheads.

mwahahahaha (inserts little finger into corner of mouth)

[Dr Mordrid]

Unless your a major power your sub can be detected submerged several ways;

1. a surface bulge of the ocean over the sub, even when submerged. Measured from space with lasers.

2. the network of hydrophones that surround the north american continental shelf.

3. a similar network of magnetometers.

4. detection by our own submarines, which can hear and attack others at very long distances.

Dr. Mordrid

[GT98]

Originally posted by Dr Mordrid

Yes, it would have AWAC's and fighters all around it, but the last Gulf War proved one thing: we couldn't find the Scuds on the ground!! Precisely ZERO of them were destroyed in western Iraq before they were launched!!

Sound like a perfect job for the Preditor or Dark Star UAVs

[Dr Mordrid]

You would think so, but as noted they are not perfect either, especially if their missiles are solid fueled and made of composites. Easy to do these days.

News items today indicate that Iraq has retrofitted their SAM's with booster rockets to extend their range, presumably to shoot down coalition aircraft and Predators. Is this cooperation with inspections?

Also: an emergency notice from the FBI and European security agencies are indicating an immenent, and massive, series of Al Qaeda attack sometime in the near future.

Wonderful...

Dr. Mordrid

[Wombat]

Also: an emergency notice from the FBI and European security agencies are indicating an immenent, and massive, series of Al Qaeda attack sometime in the near future.

Of course they are. It's hard to get people to keep giving up their rights unless you keep them in fear.

[GT98]

Originally posted by Wombat
Of course they are. It's hard to get people to keep giving up their rights unless you keep them in fear.

I don't get this....theres people out there that are pariond about losing their rights and the goverment, but at the same time we have threat out there thats going to use the same system against us. I just wonder how/why people think this way. I'm conserned about what Al-Queda might do since I only live like 50 miles from NYC, but at the same time I have no fear (so far) of what the Goverment might want to do since I have nothing to hide. Just that I find the whole situation a little crazy and people are being so parnoid at the same time.

[Wombat]

If you have nothing to hide, do you have blinds or curtains in your apartment? A firewall? Everybody wants privacy sometimes, whether it's on the phone, in the bedroom, or anywhere else. That's why we have the concept of warrants, which by the way, the government keeps "not needing" more and more these days. It's not just the "nothing to hide" bit either. It's about being able to speak freely without being arrested, or to have the government censor whatever it feels like (PATRIOT Act, anyone?).

Of course, it appears that none of these new powers the government takes for itself would have helped prevent 9/11. Those guys lived low-profile lives in the US, with paperwork reasonably in order, and their travel and communications don't hint at very much, even under scrutiny. So why is it that their actions justify allowing the government to censor whatever they want, and penalize people with federal jail time for even reporting this censorship.

It's just a power grab, using recent events as an excuse.

[RedRed]

Well said the Mr Wombat.

RedRed

[Joel]

Well I can tell you right now Wombat that the ACLU and groups like them are not much better. They are willing to try and do everything they can to shut me up if I say something that might be offense to some minority person or group. Of course they mainly do that by attacking my character and accusing me of being something that I am not thus provoking an emotional response from others toward me and anything that I might say.

Joel

[Wombat]

That's bull. The ACLU supports you speaking your mind, whatever your mind may be. If that weren't true, how would you explain things like Skokie, Illinois v. ACLU? Yes, that's right, the ACLU defended the Nazis' right to speak their mind in public.

From seeing many of your posts around here Joel, I'd say that if you feel attacked not so much because of your biases, but because you're unable to let go of falsehoods that support your biases, and accept the truth when it is presented to you with supporting evidence.

[Joel]

From seeing many of your posts around here Joel, I'd say that if you feel attacked not so much because of your biases, but because you're unable to let go of falsehoods that support your biases, and accept the truth when it is presented to you with supporting evidence.

Thanks for proving my point.

Joel

[Wombat]

Originally posted by Joel


Thanks for proving my point.

Joel

It's a fair trade. You go about proving mine all the time. Poor guy.