dalem

Not quite "shields up!" yet, but getting closer.

Not too shabby.

-dale

Bluesman

We are so...dam'...COOL!

NOW who's gonna buy a No-Dong missile from the NoKos, when everybody knows we can swat it away like a gnat? Might as well spend the money on ploughshares and pruning hooks.

__________________
"The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it, and if one finds the prospect of a long war intolerable, it is natural to disbelieve in the possibility of victory."
- George Orwell

gamercube

What's so great about this? China did this more than 6 months ago.

__________________
Hasta la Victoria siempre!

Bella

I agree, but China has been trying to do it for awhile. China, also has done it with a land based launching pad....
Lets see China do it as fast as possible from a rolling sea on a ship! The U.S. did it from a land base launcher awhile ago!
Please!!

gamercube

Doesn't really matter all that much. If the launch sites are deep inside China, it's going to be pretty hard to hit them.

lwarmonger

Since when has hitting China been an issue?

Gun Grape

From a stationary site. On the 4th attempt after they had maneuvered the satellite orbit to give them the "Best chance" shot.

Remember this the 3d time the US has demonstrated its ASat capabilities.

First with a successful kill in May of 1963 by an Army modified Nike Herk missile under project MudFlap. Then by a USAF F-15 launched ASM-135 back in the 80s and now from a USN ship launched modified SM-3.

So the Chinese are where we were about 45 years ago.

gamercube

Since they acquired the capability to strike your cities with nukes.

gamercube

Not quite. I don't think ASAT capabilities are really as important as are nukes or ICBMs for example. That's why the US took 45 years to develop a triad of ASAT platforms. China may not necessarily take that long. They might not even develop a triad. All depends on threat perception in the near future.

lwarmonger

I wasn't talking about reasons... I meant when has our ability to strike China's nuclear deterrent been an issue? They don't, and never have had, second strike capability.

gamercube

I think it's one thing to discuss this as a theoritical question, but in a realistic scenario, I can't think of the US launching a first strike against Chinese nuclear installations. Because out of their arsenal of about 400 nukes, even if you miss 10, they could land on major US cities.

The US can't even bring itself to strike North Korea's or Pakistan's nuclear installations. I can't imagine you trying anything like that against China.

lwarmonger

I don't see nuclear war between the US and China as likely but you were talking about hitting Chinese launch sites... which we can do.

However most of China's deterrent is not capable of reaching us. All we absolutely have to take out are the ICBM's (we'd also want to sink the SSBN... however I don't think that has the range to hit the United States from the Chinese coastline).

HKDan

Political will vs. military ability. The US absolutely has the capability of conducting a first strike against China. Your estimate of 400 Chinese nukes doesn't take into account how those nukes are deployed in actuality. The current Chinese capability to strike against the continental US is mostly concentrated in 20 odd DF-5 ICBMs. The vulnerability of those DF-5s to being shot down by US missile defense is something that the Chinese are probably very concerned about.

Gun Grape

The US took 45 years to go from Nike/herc system to the SM-3 (not a real ASAT weapon) because of test ban treaties, Not because its unimportant.

I would think that ASAT systems would be MORE important if your country had a limited ICBM capability.

If your enemy has no eyes in the sky how does he target things in your country for those nukes?

If you degrade his Nav (GPS) sats he can no longer use precision munitions that rely on that system.

Only a few examples but the list goes on.

The chinese don't have 400 missiles that can reach the US. And the missiles for their SSBN were a failure. They have, as HKDan mentioned a limited number and those could only reach the west coast.

I don't think too many people would morn the loss of the "Left Coast"

Exarecr

Every time I hear about China and some missile being tested ,Invariably the vision of those old black and white news clips from the 1930,s of rockets being fired and then plummetting to earth 20 feet from the launch site comes to mind. In other words.......3210 PPPHHHHTTTTTT....zip,nodda,nothing. Quality control really sucks.