star war fantasy drill

by reader ilsm

A lot of debate going on about the 2010 defense budget in general and the national missile defense programs in specific. The administration is cutting the star war fantasy drill by $1.6B from what some think was needed.

I found a quote Center for Defense information from a Lt Gen Campbell:

“On having 30 GMD interceptors fielded in California and Alaska vs. the planned 44, Lt. Gen. Campbell stated: “That number makes sense to us as we look at the threat and where the threat is going and how quickly we think the threat can get there.” He said the 30 interceptors was “capable of doing what we need it to do against the threat we designed it against; that threat, of course, was North Korea.”[12]

Threat indeed. North Korea poses mainly aggressive pronouncements and has yet to demonstrate a successful launch of a multi stage missile. They have no ICBM’s and the 30 interceptors have not shown any better success than the North Korean missiles.
The US could have whittled beaks and been as capable of doing what is needed against the threat.

Update: Blogrunner includes quite a list of arguing blog sites, often without explanation of the hardware, the risk factors, and efficacy factors. Most rely on political factors. Palin refuses some money (stimulus) but advocates for other like star wars.