Russian warhead alters course midflight in test

[Freedom_from_Chains]

In other words they have just rendered our west coast missle defense system useless.

Russia recently conducted a flight test of a new warhead that can change course in midflight, which U.S. and Russian officials are calling part of Moscow's efforts to defeat U.S. missile defenses.
The warhead was tested Nov. 1 and tracked by U.S. intelligence technical monitors, including satellites, the officials said.
An analysis of the flight test by U.S. intelligence agencies revealed that it was a further test of a maneuverable warhead that Moscow has been developing for several years in response to U.S. missile defenses.
The warhead was flight tested on a Russian Topol-M missile, designated by the Pentagon the SS-27, that flew from the Kapustin Yar launch complex in southern Russia near Volgograd.
The missile booster fired for a shorter-than-usual duration in placing the dummy warhead and re-entry vehicle into space. The warhead then dropped down to a lower trajectory and was able to maneuver.
Kremlin officials were quoted in Russian press reports as saying the new warhead was designed to thwart the new U.S. missile-defense system of interceptors deployed in Alaska and California

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20051120-115514-2217r.htm

[enigma000]

1. Why are the Russians wasting money on this?

Rick Lehner, a spokesman for the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency (MDA), declined to comment on U.S. intelligence assessments of the latest Russian warhead test because data is classified.

But Mr. Lehner would say that U.S. missile defenses aim to counter a limited number of warheads from a small nuclear power such as North Korea, not a major strike from a nation with hundreds of missiles, such as Russia.

I mean, they have enough ICBMs to overwhelm any anti-missile network. Is it for show? Maybe they intend to sell them to Iran and North Korea.

[Fovea]

4. The advantages

1. Russia can build down its arsenal, saving a lot of money in terms of
shelf life and stock reconditioning.
2. Fewer nukes, less problematic security.
3. Renders about 25 years and billions of bucks in American SDI research completely useless.

Win-win-win... If you are Russian, that is.

[endarkenment]

7. And it restores the MAD balance that has kept us out

of a nuclear war for 50 years. The insanity of destabilizing anti-missle systems was recognized back in the 60's and resulted in the historic ban on the deployment of such systems. The Bush administration, in one of its first acts of official lunacy, unilaterally withdrew from that treaty.

But the Russians will gladly spend $1 to our $500 to do to us what we did to them.

[Psephos]

8. Seems to me that rogues are who worry *, not Russia

Remember, he saw Putin's soul.

Peace.

[enigma000]

9. I think Russia is countering a system that

was never intended to stop Russian missiles (at least this version)

The American-British and American-French relationships do not rely on MAD, why should the relationship with Russia?

[endarkenment]

11. News flash:

despite the official end of the Cold War, the US and Russia continue to have something like 2000 weapons or so each targeted at each other and ready to launch on rather short notice.

The neocon world view demands total military dominance of the planet, including neutralization of the historic Russian threat and elimination of any potential emerging threat (i.e. China.)

If they thought that England or France were players in the oil war endgame they would not hesitate to put them in the same category.

[endarkenment]

10. Not sure what you meant there.

yes officially the new star wars is supposed to protect against North Korea. However any missle defense system is destabilizing - and threatens the MAD balance of power. Doesn't matter what that fucking moron bush thinks - it matters what the effect of their idiotic actions are, and in this case they are destabilizing.

However while officially the position is that the new star wars is only aimed at rogue states, in reality they are trying to develop a new generation of space and land based weapons that will effectively outflank any weapons deployed by either of the two lesser great powers - Russia and China. This will take time (lots of time) and money (lots of money) and they have to put pieces of it out in the open for testing purposes, so they have to have an official cover story - thus the bullshit that it is only to protect against Kims Gone Wild.

[enigma000]

13. MAD has a certain elegance to it

The pure essence of it - attack and die - kept the world at peace (more or less) for 50 years. Still, I would say the situation we face is more like SAD: Selective Assured Destruction. Rogue nations can't possibly destroy the US much less the Western World. So any use of nuclear weapons by these states would lead only to their total destruction.

Unfortunately, the powerless citizens of these nations would pay the price.

[endarkenment]

15. Well it is more complicated than that.

The unbalanced SAD equation has the other side to it: nations, such as Iraq, that fall out of our favor and do not have any nuclear capability survive at our mercy. Iran and North Korea would be foolish to give up their nuclear capabilities. Our actions since The Cabal took over have made the world a far more dangerous place on many levels.

[samsingh]

17. shrub is a rogue

[K-W]

14. Posturing/preparing for the future.

It is a response to the threat of a feasible US defence shield, not an actual feasible shield.
Imagine if the Russians waited until the US figured it out to start working on how to counter it.

While a shield does look like a pipe dream now, alot of technology starts as a pipe dream.

[endarkenment]

16. Exactly.

And that is why our unilateral actions - withdawing from the anti-missile treaty, starting up the new star wars boondoggle, and bragging about (although it is unclear if we are actually implementing) development of a new generation of offensive tactical nukes - is so dangerous and foolhardy.

[bowens43]

2. Thank bush for restarting the arms race......

[tridim]

3. Star Wars isn't meant to work, it's meant to make defense contractors rich

And by that metric it's a complete success.

[Freedom_from_Chains]

5. Yes in that regard it is another major victory for BushCo. n/t

[htuttle]

6. Russian Warhead Pulls Crazy Ivan

[sui generis]

12. just remember a flight plath calc must take fuel reserves into account

this doesn't change much of anything:

1. we still can't reliably hit a bullet with a bullet, and never could to begin with.
2. even if we could, we're just as likely to hit dummy bullets as real bullets
3. if somebody does throw a football, we're mostly all gonna die or wish we had. But so are they.

It's not missile accuracy we care about in a nuclear war, it's missile frequency.