Flutterby™! : Anti-missile test rigged

Next unread comment / Catchup all unread comments User Account Info | Logout | XML/Pilot/etc versions | Long version (with comments) | Weblog archives | Site Map | | Browse Topics

Anti-missile test rigged

2001-07-31 21:01:28+00 by Dan Lyke 3 comments

So the real news isn't that half of the anti-missile defense system tests have succeeded, it's that half of them have failed despite anti-missile system test targets having embedded homing beacons. So all that talk about "decoys" was apparently just so much hoohey. If I had a vendor that was faking results, lying to me, and mis-estimating my requirements, I'd drop 'em. Why don't we fire the Pentagon and hire the North Korean military instead? it'd be cheaper, and we'd probably get more apropriate solutions.

[ related topics: Politics Current Events ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment made: 2002-02-21 05:32:24+00 by: TheSHAD0W

Yhe targets did have embedded beacons. This is because we do not have a high-resolution radar infrastructure that'd be necessary to deploy such a system. The beacons were required so the kill vehicle could get within range of the test missile, in order to test the final phase of targeting.

Now, if the kill vehicles were equipped to follow the beacon all the way in, that WOULD be a serious fraud. But I suspect the people at the Pentagon aren't all THAT stupid, and check to keep that from happening. At least, I hope so.

#Comment made: 2002-02-21 05:32:25+00 by: Dan Lyke

Salon follow-up here.

#Comment made: 2002-02-21 05:32:25+00 by: TheSHAD0W

Heh. It's thoroughly Slashdotted. Do you have it in your cache?