From: Spike Jones (spike66@ibm.net)
Date: Thu Oct 14 1999 - 23:09:07 MDT
O'Regan, Emlyn wrote:
> Wouldn't it be a lot cheaper to just assemble massive arsenals of bombs
> which are exploded in-situ?
Edward Teller proposed just such a system. Nicknamed it the backyard
weapon: if you get enough fusionable material to explode, you will nuke
the whole world, so why bother hauling it elsewhere? Set it up in your
own back yard.
> How about this: What happens if your nuclear-armed ICBMs are designed to
> blow up if they are about to be hit by a THAAD? So, even if your 5000 THAADs
> do effectively take out 1000 nuclear missiles, the lot of them explode in
> the atmosphere. That can't be good.
Ja, but as it turns out, it is not easy to ignite a nuke. If there is much
damage
done to the reentry vehicle, the warhead will most likely be destroyed without
detonating. I dont see how a missile could be set up to see a THAAD
coming in, or at least not very feasibly. Too fast. And, the THAAD takes
out its quarry way up there, above most of the atmosphere. spike
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