Re: Off topic: National Missile Defense System


Message posted by Chuck Clark on February 11, 2003 at 9:46:28 PST:

Intercepts would ideally take place above the atmosphere around the area of the incoming missile's apogee. The Air Force presently uses an L-1011 to launch the Pegasus rocket that puts small payloads into orbit, so it should be technically possible to use an aircraft with a missile designed to destroy an incoming warhead. That is if the whole concept of "shooting a bullet with another bullet" can be made to work with a extremely high degree of reliability. Altitude would be a major factor if an incoming warhead that is armed were to detonate in the atmosphere. Most nukes are programmed to detonate some distance above their targets anyway to achieve maximum destruction.


In Reply to: Off topic: National Missile Defense System posted by Jorit on February 11, 2003 at 8:50:23 PST:

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