New U.S missle can reach anyhwhere in under an hour.
129 replies, posted
[QUOTE] WASHINGTON — In coming years, [URL="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per"]President Obama[/URL] will decide whether to deploy a new class of weapons capable of reaching any corner of the earth from the United States in under an hour and with such accuracy and force that they would greatly diminish America’s reliance on its nuclear arsenal.
Yet even now, concerns about the technology are so strong that the Obama administration has acceded to a demand by [URL="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/russiaandtheformersovietunion/index.html?inline=nyt-geo"]Russia[/URL] that the United States decommission one nuclear missile for every one of these conventional weapons fielded by the Pentagon. That provision, the White House said, is buried deep inside the New Start treaty that Mr. Obama and President [URL="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/dmitri_a_medvedev/index.html?inline=nyt-per"]Dmitri A. Medvedev[/URL] [URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/09/world/europe/09prexy.html"]signed in Prague[/URL] two weeks ago.
Called [URL="http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/4203874"]Prompt Global Strike[/URL], the new weapon is designed to carry out tasks like picking off [URL="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/osama_bin_laden/index.html?inline=nyt-per"]Osama bin Laden[/URL] in a cave, if the right one could be found; taking out a North Korean missile while it is being rolled to the launch pad; or destroying an Iranian nuclear site — all without crossing the nuclear threshold. In theory, the weapon will hurl a conventional warhead of enormous weight at high speed and with pinpoint accuracy, generating the localized destructive power of a nuclear warhead.
The idea is not new: President [URL="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/george_w_bush/index.html?inline=nyt-per"]George W. Bush[/URL] and his staff promoted the technology, imagining that this new generation of conventional weapons would replace nuclear warheads on submarines.
In face-to-face meetings with President Bush, Russian leaders complained that the technology could increase the risk of a nuclear war, because Russia would not know if the missiles carried nuclear warheads or conventional ones. Mr. Bush and his aides concluded that the Russians were right.
Partly as a result, the idea “really hadn’t gone anywhere in the Bush administration,” Defense Secretary [URL="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/robert_m_gates/index.html?inline=nyt-per"]Robert M. Gates[/URL], who has served both presidents, said recently on ABC’s “This Week.” But he added that it was “embraced by the new administration.”
Mr. Obama himself alluded to the concept in a recent interview with The New York Times, saying it was part of an effort “to move towards less emphasis on [URL="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/atomic_weapons/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier"]nuclear weapons[/URL]” while insuring “that our conventional weapons capability is an effective deterrent in all but the most extreme circumstances.”
The Obama national security team scrapped the idea of putting the new conventional weapon on submarines. Instead, the White House has asked Congress for about $250 million next year to explore a new alternative, one that uses some of the most advanced technology in the military today as well as some not yet even invented.
The final price of the system remains unknown. Senator [URL="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/john_mccain/index.html?inline=nyt-per"]John McCain[/URL] of Arizona, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said at a hearing on Thursday that Prompt Global Strike would be “essential and critical, but also costly.”
It would be based, at least initially, on the West Coast, probably at [URL="http://www.vandenberg.af.mil/"]Vandenberg Air Force Base[/URL].
Under the Obama plan, the Prompt Global Strike warhead would be mounted on a long-range missile to start its journey toward a target. It would travel through the atmosphere at several times the speed of sound, generating so much heat that it would have to be shielded with special materials to avoid melting. (In that regard, it is akin to the problem that confronted designers of the [URL="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/space_shuttle/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier"]space shuttle[/URL] decades ago.)
But since the vehicle would remain within the atmosphere rather than going into space, it would be far more maneuverable than a ballistic missile, capable of avoiding the airspace of neutral countries, for example, or steering clear of hostile territory. Its designers note that it could fly straight up the middle of the Persian Gulf before making a sharp turn toward a target.
The Pentagon hopes to deploy an early version of the system by 2014 or 2015. But even under optimistic timetables, a complete array of missiles, warheads, sensors and control systems is not expected to enter the arsenal until 2017 to 2020, long after Mr. Obama will have left office, even if he is elected to a second term.
The planning for Prompt Global Strike is being headed by Gen. Kevin P. Chilton of the Air Force, the top officer of the military’s [URL="http://www.stratcom.mil/"]Strategic Command[/URL] and the man in charge of America’s nuclear arsenal. In the Obama era — where every administration discussion of nuclear weapons takes note of Mr. Obama’s commitment to moving toward “Global Zero,” the elimination of the nuclear arsenal — the new part of General Chilton’s job is to talk about conventional alternatives.
In an interview at his headquarters at [URL="http://www.offutt.af.mil/"]Offutt Air Force Base[/URL], General Chilton described how the conventional capability offered by the proposed system would give the president more choices.
“Today, we can present some conventional options to the president to strike a target anywhere on the globe that range from 96 hours, to several hours maybe, 4, 5, 6 hours,” General Chilton said.
That would simply not be fast enough, he noted, if intelligence arrived about a movement by [URL="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/al_qaeda/index.html?inline=nyt-org"]Al Qaeda[/URL] terrorists or the imminent launching of a missile. “If the president wants to act on a particular target faster than that, the only thing we have that goes faster is a nuclear response,” he said.
But the key to filling that gap is to make sure that Russia and China, among other nuclear powers, understand that the missile launching they see on their radar screens does not signal the start of a nuclear attack, officials said.
Under the administration’s new concept, Russia or other nations would regularly inspect the Prompt Global Strike silos to assure themselves that the weapons were nonnuclear. And they would be placed in locations far from the strategic nuclear force.
“Who knows if we would ever deploy it?” Gary Samore, Mr. Obama’s top adviser on unconventional weapons, said at a conference in Washington on Wednesday. But he noted that Russia was already so focused on the possibility that it insisted that any conventional weapon mounted on a missile that could reach it counted against the new limit on the American arsenal in the treaty.
In a follow-on treaty, he said, the Russians would certainly want to negotiate on Prompt Global Strike and ballistic missile defenses.
If Mr. Obama does decide to deploy the system, Mr. Samore said, the number of weapons would be small enough that Russia and China would not fear that they could take out their nuclear arsenals.
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Edit: Fucking typo in the title. My bad, I'm tired.
Hmmm, sounds pretty fast, under an hour.
perfect for iran
Military technology is fucking awesome! I hope Obama deploys the system.
i wish my nation would stop spending billions on war technology they're never going to use
yeah, sure, we have the arguably biggest military cock but that money could be better put into science
Fuck a nuke, stuff a MOAB on one of these and watch the fireworks.
[QUOTE=Arachnidus;21531768]Fuck a nuke, stuff a MOAB on one of these and watch the fireworks.[/QUOTE]
you're dumb, something like this can't support an older design's warhead
[QUOTE=Cogniscente;21531767]i wish my nation would stop spending billions on war technology they're never going to use
yeah, sure, we have the arguably biggest military cock but that money could be better put into science[/QUOTE]
you live in North Korea?
[QUOTE=Cogniscente;21531767]i wish my nation would stop spending billions on war technology they're never going to use
yeah, sure, we have the arguably biggest military cock but that money could be better put into science[/QUOTE]
person who doesn't know that many of the scientific discoveries of the cold war were for military usage at first, you're so funny
[QUOTE=Cogniscente;21531786]you're dumb, something like this can't support an older design's warhead[/QUOTE]
The technology exists to, you know, engineer a new warhead.
[QUOTE=whatnow V2;21531788]you live in North Korea?[/QUOTE]
north korea has a very small military cock
It's one step closer to a relativistic kinetic kill weapon.
Not a good thing btw
nobel peace prize winner
[QUOTE=NoDachi;21531798]It's one step closer to a relativistic kinetic kill weapon.
Not a good thing btw[/QUOTE]
Meaning that a military could immediately strike anywhere they wanted to, correct?
Yeah, shit would suck.
[QUOTE=Arachnidus;21531792]person who doesn't know that many of the scientific discoveries of the cold war were for military usage at first, you're so funny[/QUOTE]
what does this have to do with the US's bloated military budget being capable of being better invested in science
you realize that war equipment came from science, right
[editline]11:49PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Ryder1337;21531842]Meaning that a military could immediately strike anywhere they wanted to, correct?
Yeah, shit would suck.[/QUOTE]
no, he means it's one step closer to close-to-lightspeed weapons, which would work by approaching near lightspeed and striking an area with tremendous force
he's wrong
[QUOTE=Cogniscente;21531855]what does this have to do with the US's bloated military budget being capable of being better invested in science
you realize that war equipment came from science, right
[/QUOTE]
and that war equipment was eventually engineered for civilian usage
[QUOTE=whatnow V2;21531742]perfect for iran[/QUOTE]
There are citizens in iran that arent doing anything but living there. the whole US can get sued from killing harmless citizens.
[QUOTE=Pvt. Ryan;21531820]nobel peace prize winner[/QUOTE]
hate to contradict my own argument but most of our war equipment is designed to keep peace
ie don't fuck with us and this shit won't be in your grille etc
a noose lingers over the world, and the hangman is america
:911:
Fuck yeah.
[QUOTE=Cogniscente;21531894]hate to contradict my own argument but most of our war equipment is designed to keep peace
ie don't fuck with us and this shit won't be in your grille etc[/QUOTE]
ah yes the old peace through strength argument
do what we want or we send a tomahawk to kill your family
[QUOTE=Arachnidus;21531884]and that war equipment was eventually engineered for civilian usage[/QUOTE]
yeah i see civilians piloting their suborbital satellites all the time
[editline]11:51PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Pvt. Ryan;21531900]a noose lingers over the world, and the hangman is america[/QUOTE]
seems a bit of an extreme statement considering america is a continent
modern warfare creeps me out
[QUOTE=Cogniscente;21531894]hate to contradict my own argument but most of our war equipment is designed to keep peace
ie don't fuck with us and this shit won't be in your grille etc[/QUOTE] Thats what happened in WWII. The US did not want to be apart of the war. the fucking japaneese (no offence) bombed us. boom entered war helped the Allied win the war. DO NOT fuck with the USA.
[QUOTE=Cogniscente;21531917]yeah i see civilians piloting their suborbital satellites all the time
[editline]11:51PM[/editline]
seems a bit of an extreme statement considering america is a continent[/QUOTE]
there's plenty of civilian telecomm satellites
no shit america is a continent smartass
[QUOTE=Pvt. Ryan;21531911]ah yes the old peace through strength argument
do what we want or we send a tomahawk to kill your family[/QUOTE]
It depends on the strength of the weapon.
I can argue nuclear weapons were, and still are, the best war deterrents we have against industrialized nations.
Why must we have this?
[QUOTE=Pvt. Ryan;21531939]there's plenty of civilian telecomm satellites[/QUOTE]
commercial, sure, but not civilian
[QUOTE=Cogniscente;21531944]commercial, sure, but not civilian[/QUOTE]
Commercial is civilian.
[QUOTE=Cogniscente;21531767]i wish my nation would stop spending billions on war technology they're never going to use
yeah, sure, we have the arguably biggest military cock but that money could be better put into science[/QUOTE]
What do you think that is? It is science, just not for the idea or goal you like. Sure it is military, but someone somewhere is saying "Well if it works for this, we could do this and make it work for this.." Sometimes the coolest shit was military funded and had attack/defense purposes.
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