Strategic Missile Defense

How's it going. I am about to get my Master's degree, and I want to work in the department of defense. One field that I find really interesting, and also extremely important is missile defense. Here is my rant:

Missile defense needs to be a higher priority of people. Look at this way, nuclear technology is over fifty years old. It really doesn't seem feasible that we can stop the rest of the world from acquiring a fifty year old technology. Also, the cat is already out of the bag - North Korea, Pakistan, soon maybe Iran? I really don't think we will be able to stop nuclear proliferation. It will become reality that other rogue nations will have nukes. In twenty years, there may be nuclear weapons that pretty much any rogue nation that can buy one. There is pretty much agreement that proliferation will happen, the question is how quickly.

I think the American people are desensitized to the threat of nukes. We have lived so long with the MAS mindset (mutual assured destruction) that we don't see that the times have changed. The way I see it, missile defense will soon be the only thing stopping a nuke. I think that when nuclear proliferation becomes more common, people will secure the borders very quickly. That is something that if made a priority, could be done in one year or even a few months. Missile defense however is very dependent on technology, and can't be thrown up overnight.

North Korea has shown us we can't rely on our old mindset. Missile defense funding should increase and be more of a priority than technology to fight terrorists in the middle-east. Our biggest defense priority should be stopping our own nation's vulnerabilities first. We also need to defend against a e-bomb attack. A nuclear bomb detonated several hundred miles above the US could wipe out all electronics in the entire continental United States.


Okay, end of rant. Sorry to sound so alarmist, but I think people really need to wake up to the changing times. The war against terrorism isn't a tenth as scary to me as nuclear proliferation. A terrorist attack would not send us into anarchy or the stone age. Now I would like to talk about the cool defenses we already have.

"We have gotten way beyond being able to hit a bullet with a bullet. We can now hit a spot on a bullet with a bullet."
- Lt General Henry Olbering III
[Retired] Director, Missile Defense Agency

There are three phases to shooting down a missile:



Boost phase (3-5 minutes) - the missile is launched and accelerates until reaching space

Airborne laser - basically an large aircraft shoots down a missile with a huge laser. Able to hit a spot to the nearest few feet. Relies heavily on intelligence or advanced warning allowing us to send aircraft in area of launch.

Kinetic energy interceptor - planned, however canceled due to budget changes. Basically like the THADD, but designed to catch up with a rocket instead of intercept.

Midcourse phase (about 30 minutes) - missile travels in space until re-entry

Ground based missiles - Land missile that intercepts while in space. We currently have about 26-30

Aegis cruiser - Cruiser that is strategically placed that can launch missiles that reach space and intercept. We have 16 destroyers and 4 Cruisers planned for 2009.

Terminal Phase (1/2 to 1 minute)
Patriot missile - Very short range hence so many. We have 600 - 700.

THAAD - pretty much fast missile designed for speed. Just knocks the missile out of the sky by collision. Intermediate range. Can defend a state the size of Vermont. WE have about 6 mobile launchers, and 8 land based interceptors.

As you can see, there is no way we could survive a barrage by a country such as China or Russia with hundreds of missiles with very sophisticated countermeasures. We should at least try to be able to stop a rogue nations shots at us though.

So far, since 2001, 37 of 46 US missile defense tests have been successfully shot down. That is pretty good considering how many different layers of defense overlap, except there is one big problem. Why missile defense really needs funding is that pretty much simple countermeasures on a missile can defeat efforts during the midcourse phase. Also, the terminal phase is very risky. A missile that doesn't follow a known straight trajectory is still hard to shoot at terminal phase. Just releasing decoys in space generally fools our current technology. Much of it is classified, but there is substantial evidence that we are not there yet when you factor in evasive action during terminal phase, and countermeasures during midcourse phase. So even North Korea could put simple countermeasures and pose a threat.