"Ten seconds to India!"
The United States' ballistic missile defense capabilities were significantly augmented on Friday by the success of the flight test mission FTM-15, in which a US Navy SM-3 missile interceptor launched from the destroyer USS O'Kane, using remote targeting data from a mobile AN/TPY-2 radar stationed on Wake Island, knocked an Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) out of the sky near Hawai'i. The Raytheon SM-2/SM-3 and the shipboard Lockheed Martin AN/SPY-1 radar constitute the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system.
The missile defense blog Closing Velocity has a dramatic and technically fascinating writeup on the test, which the Pentagon called its "most challenging" test to date. It is also the longest range intercept by an SM-3.
P.S. Bonus points to the first person who figures out the meaning of the title of this post.
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Comments :
Jul '10
Re: "Ten seconds to India!"
Cool video.
Sep '10
Re: "Ten seconds to India!"
Impressive, I am somewhere between the folks who believe this stuff will never work in the real world and your video. I don't know why but I don't trust the defense department to make the tests realistic. I think they have too much invested in this to allow for failures.
Anyway this is great technology if it works, and I am at least somewhat hopeful.
Aug '10
Re: "Ten seconds to India!"
We'd best not let the Obama Administration catch word of this.
Mar '11
Re: "Ten seconds to India!"
The title refers to a military proword denoting missile intercept.
May '10
Re: "Ten seconds to India!"
Correct! As a Navy officer, of course you would know it.
May '10
Re: "Ten seconds to India!"
Mark Wilson
Correct! As a Navy officer, of course you would know it. · Apr 18 at 9:18pm
I had to look up "proword" to learn that in means "procedure word." I still can't figure out how it relates to a missile intercept, but no matter.
Thank goodness we are still working toward our national defense. I guess even Obama can't wreck the country as fast as he would like to.
May '10
Re: "Ten seconds to India!"
Kervinlee
Mark Wilson
Correct! As a Navy officer, of course you would know it. · Apr 18 at 9:18pm
I had to look up "proword" to learn that in means "procedure word." I still can't figure out how it relates to a missile intercept, but no matter.
Thank goodness we are still working toward our national defense. I guess even Obama can't wreck the country as fast as he would like to. · Apr 18 at 9:29pm
India is the phonetic alphabet letter I, which stands for Intercept.
Jun '10
Re: "Ten seconds to India!"
This is truly exciting. If this technology had been funded better in the past this milestone would have been met two decades ago. But, better late than never. I worked on preliminary design for SDI for Boeing on the kinetic energy weapons in the middle 1980s. We had big hopes then but they were dashed by the slow progress. God Bless Ronald Reagan and Edward Teller!
This lack of trust of yours? Does it extend to other government agencies? Of all the corruption there is in Big Government, you pick on the one that has been the most successful.
May '10
Re: "Ten seconds to India!"
Mark Wilson
Kervinlee
Mark Wilson
Correct! As a Navy officer, of course you would know it. · Apr 18 at 9:18pm
I had to look up "proword" to learn that in means "procedure word." I still can't figure out how it relates to a missile intercept, but no matter.
Thank goodness we are still working toward our national defense. I guess even Obama can't wreck the country as fast as he would like to. · Apr 18 at 9:29pm
India is the phonetic alphabet letter I, which stands for Intercept. · Apr 18 at 9:43pm
Thanks. That test is beautiful to behold.
Jun '10
Re: "Ten seconds to India!"
It's too bad you answered correctly so soon. We missed all the answers like, "almost tea time" or "around the corner from where the teenagers buy beer". How about "forty five minutes after Indian is when the real fun starts"?
May '10
Re: "Ten seconds to India!"
Given a world with Islamism, nuclear weapons, and ballistic missiles, only someone with years and years of study at elite Ivy League humanities depts. could possibly regard being a tightwad with missile defense as a good idea.
Any technologies that show reasonable promise should be funded with blank checks. Git 'er done.
Jun '10
Re: "Ten seconds to India!"
Wow!!
But how do we know this is real? Any country that can convince you, through fake moon flights, shuttle flights, airplane flights, that the earth is round will fake evidence that missile defense works.
Sincerely, TR, President, Flat Earth Society (Fake Title)
Edited on Apr 19, 2011 at 11:38amOct '10
Re: "Ten seconds to India!"
Between the above news, this and that, I wish there was a way that I could direct most if not all my federal tax dollars to the DOD and military research...
Edited on Apr 19, 2011 at 1:03pmMay '10
Re: "Ten seconds to India!"
Casey Way: Between the above news, this and that, I wish there was a way that I could direct most if not all my federal tax dollars to the DOD and military research... · Apr 19 at 1:02pm
Edited on Apr 19 at 01:03 pm
Thanks, Casey. Railguns. Cool.
May '10
Re: "Ten seconds to India!"
I have friends whose job is to study intelligence reports and formulate realistic test requirements. The technical term is "threat-representative".
Edited on May 17, 2011 at 8:02amMay '10
Re: "Ten seconds to India!"
I ran across a much more detailed video describing the sequence of events and military operations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7cbZAUvXmQ
Nov '10
Re: "Ten seconds to India!"
Mark Wilson
I have friends whose job is to study intelligence reports and formulate realistic test requirements. The technical term is "threat-representative". · Apr 19 at 7:07pm
Edited on May 17 at 08:02 am
"Threat-representative" sounds like what, in another context, would be called the "Devil's Advocate".