anti-missile
Latest
US successfully shoots down a (simulated) ICBM
American missile defense systems haven't always worked out according to plan, but it's chalking up a major success right now. The Department of Defense reports that the Ground-based Midcourse Defense portion of its anti-ballistic missile system has managed to shoot down an "ICBM-class" target during a test. The dry run saw a ground-based interceptor rocket (above) launch from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base and use an exo-atmospheric kill vehicle (a 5-foot machine deployed from the tip of the rocket) to take down the simulated weapon while it's in space. This is the first live-fire test of GMD, the Defense Department says, and it shows that the US has a "capable, credible" deterrent against intercontinental missiles.
Russia hopes to block cruise missile attacks with cell towers
While the United States may have put its blimp-based missile defense system on hold, Russia is taking a more civilian approach to jamming cruise missiles. As Motherboard reports today, the Russian military is planning to mount anti-missile jamming devices called Pole–21s on civilian cellular network towers, giving the Kremlin a wide coverage area in the case of a US missile attack.
Passenger planes at JFK to be outfitted with anti-missile systems
Hey, we try our best to be as paranoid as the next guy, but we confess we were caught a little off guard by this one. US Department of Homeland Security folks announced yesterday that three American Airline passenger planes that frequent JFK airport are going to be set up with anti-missile systems in a test run to see if they'd be effective in helping to prevent a terrorist shooting down a jet with a shoulder-fired missile. It's step three in a government-mandated program to determine the suitability of such systems, which involve radar jammers to throw ground-fired missiles off course. The tests are to determine if the jamming system works in real-time conditions, and what sort of sustained costs of maintenance will be required, but all actual tests of the technology have already been performed on non-passenger jets, so it appears no actual missile-firing will be required. Oh come on, you know you were thinking it.[Thanks, Brett]
MD-10 departs LAX with Northrop Grumman's Guardian anti-missile system
Considering all these homemade sentries we're teaching mischievous folks how to build, and all the zany ideas popping into folks' brains after catching the Jack Bauer power hours, it's no surprise that our Department of Homeland Security is equipping as many aircrafts as it can with anti-missile systems. While we'd heard that Boeing's laser-equipped 747-400F was ready for takeoff, and that these aircraft-mounted weapon detection systems weren't too far off, it looks like the DHS has completed the first step in rolling the technology out. An MD-10 cargo plane took to the friendly skies from LAX airport today as the "operational testing and evaluation of the laser system designed to defend against shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles" began, and while its doubtful that we'll be seeing the very pricey Guardian system on typical passengers flights anytime soon, equipping the Civil Reserve Air Fleet is potentially one of the uppermost priorities. And for those paranoid folks who can't wait to get this on their next Southwest friendly fare flight, you should probably consider how much coin you'd have to lay down to help compensate for the $1 million installation cost (per plane), not to mention the $365 airlines would be forced to cough up each flight for "operational and maintenance costs" -- yeah, we'll hold off for awhile.
