Shooting Down Missile Defense. Even the Pentagon Admits it won't work

[northzax]

From Slate: http://slate.msn.com/id/2086724/



war stories Military analysis.


Shooting Down Missile Defense
Even the Pentagon admits the program is in trouble.
By Fred Kaplan
Posted Thursday, August 7, 2003, at 12:53 PM PT


If the generals in charge of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency followed the wispiest trail of logic, they would have slashed the program and moved on to more promising pursuits long ago. This month brings yet another bit of news (for earlier bits, click here and here) indicating not only that the program has scant chance of producing a workable missile-defense system, but that its managers know of its dim prospects.

The latest flash, from the Aug. 1 edition of the trade journal Defense News, is that the agency has suspended one of the program's most crucial components on the grounds that the technology it involves is "not mature enough" to fund.

NORTHZAX: ok, so let me get this straight. The People who run the SDI system admit that it ain't gonna happen in the next decade. (for those of you not willing to click through, this is the 'boost-phase' leg of the stool) And the lasers are defunct. And space based part is defunct. Which leaves us with ten missiles in Alaska that have never actually hit anything. For this we're spending 9 billion dollars a year and backed out the ABM treaty? Can anyone seriously, honestly tell me why we are doing this? Does anyone here believe SDI will work? DU science geeks?

[LynneSin]

1. Oh it'll work

It'll help give billions of dollars to the defense contractors that helped select Bush as pResident. Seriously, was their any other reason why we need this expensive white elephant that will not stop terrorism especially when it could be crossing our borders, sailing into our ports or walking into our airplanes?

[RobertSeattle]

2. What we REALLY Need...

Is a simple, cost-effective way to knock down ROCKET PROPELLED GRENADES (rpg's).

But saving soldier's lives isn't glamourous like all that Star Wars bullcrap.

[Karenina]

3. It's making some already RICH folks richer.

It costs a lot and doesn't work. Yeah, THAT'S the ticket.