US successfully tests missile interception in Hawaii

[DonViejo]

Source: The Hill




BY MAX GREENWOOD - 08/30/17 09:36 AM EDT

A U.S. warship successfully shot down a medium-range ballistic missile in a test off the coast of Hawaii Wednesday, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said.

The USS John Paul Jones detected and tracked the missile, which had been launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, before firing SM-6 guided missiles to intercept it, the agency said.

The test came two days after North Korea fired a intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan, further escalating tensions between Washington and Pyongyang. The test near Hawaii marked the second time that an SM-6 missile intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile, according to the MDA.

MDA Director Lt. Gen. Sam Greaves said in a statement that the missile defense test was a "key milestone" for the military's Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, because it gives the naval component of the system an enhanced ability to intercept missiles in their terminal phase.

Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/defense/348518-us-successfully-tests-missile-interception-in-hawaii

[trusty elf]

1. What happens to the nuclear material in a warhead

if the missile is intercepted on re-entry into the atmosphere? Whatever the impact on the environment, that outcome has to be preferable to the missile hitting its target.

[Igel]

2. Depends on how the missile's hit.

If the guidance system is the only thing affected, it flies. Most directions are "down". But that's sort of a tricky thing to hit all by itself.

If the propulsion system is affected, then it flies or falls, but mostly down.

The warhead itself is sensitive. But big hammer is very unlikely to make it go boom since all the bits of U or Pu need to fit together to produce uncontrolled fission. A big hammer would be much more likely to make the warhead either not function or to reduce the blast (or possibly, just possibly, spread it out a bit, which would reduce peak radiation levels and the blast radius).

Most likely the fissionable material would fall to the ground, and almost certainly in largish chunks or still in the warhead casing. Now, having a half-mile square or larger area contaminated by Pu or U would be a bad thing, but it's hard to find a circumstance, even if it fell in the middle of a major city, where it would be worse than having the bomb detonate over a major city. And the contamination is likely to be in larger pieces, making decontamination and clean-up in the event of a struck missile easier.

Of course, it might just fall into the ocean since most of the Earth's surface is ocean. We like to think of the oceans as teeming with life, and they are--but most of it is confined to continental shelves (and even then mostly near the coasts where waters are more often more nutrient-rich) or the top layers of water where photosynthesis is possible. In deeper water benthic zones don't have much life except around thermal vents.

[trusty elf]

3. Thank you for your response.

[FairWinds]

4. Anti-missile systems are easy to . .

defeat . . see Ted Postol and . .
http://www.businessinsider.com/north-korean-nukes-can-beat-the-us-missile-defense-system-2017-4

And like the military industrial complex in general, missile defense is rife with fraud and fakery.

Veterans For Peace

[mahina]

5. No mention of this on the news, in the paper,

Or via coconut wireless.

[FairWinds]

6. And it is noteworthy that the Hyperpower (that's US) . .

regularly fires missiles over and at the Republic of the Marshall Islands, but is
just horrified when NKorea does it to Japan.

But hey, at least we no longer actually explode nukes in the Marshalls.

Look up Atomic Veterans, and the radio-logical exposure of the Marshallese.

[tammywammy]

7. The Marshall Islands have the Compact of Free Association with the US.

The US & Marshall Islands aren't in a hostile relationship like Japan & North Korea. The situations aren't comparable.

[FairWinds]

8. Yeah, that reminds me a lot of the . .

Last edited Thu Aug 31, 2017, 01:54 PM - Edit history (1)

Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere

It's all about bribes and coercion - rather like the US bases
complex on Okinawa. And then there is Jeju Island

In all cases the locals hate the deals.

Go see "Nuclear Savage" showing that the US used
Marshall Islanders as experimental subjects (w/o consent)
during the nuke tests.

Veterans For Peace