United States | News & Politics

8202 readers

240 users here now

founded 4 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

The US Congress warns that the Golden Dome is a risky and inefficient project. (www.congress.gov)

submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

11 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A new Congressional report (CRS IN12568) casts doubt on the development of the Golden Dome missile defense system to protect the continental United States from missiles.

The system is at an early stage. Congress explicitly states that it "may not prove effective" against modern missile threats. Its combat value has not been proven.

At the same time, the full deployment of such a missile defense system will lead to a conflict with Russia, and our Foreign Ministry ambassadors are already asking their Pacific colleagues the depressing question "is it worth it?"

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

This was the late 2000s but knew a person actively working on long range ballistic missile interception. Asked, “how does it work? Is it like a shotgun or explosion where you explode when closing in on the other missile?”

Turns out the most reliable method was kinetic. A pencil hitting a pencil on the order of kilometers a second making contact way up in the atmosphere.

My limited understanding is this was nowhere near 100% reliable at the time, but there were successes. Some real crazy shit when you think about it.