| Submit your comments on this article |
| Science & Technology |
| Star wars armed and accurate |
| 2005-10-09 |
| The US missile defence program, initially written off by sceptics as a waste of money and effort, can already intercept and destroy a North Korean ballistic missile aimed at the US mainland. On a brief visit to Australia, US Missile Defence Agency director Henry Obering said the program already had nine missile interceptors between California and Alaska. The system is mainly being configured to cope with missiles launched from North Korea or the Middle East, but it will ultimately have the ability to cope with missiles from anywhere. Australia is deeply involved in the program as one of just four nations with full missile defence co-operation agreements with the US. The others are Britain, Japan and Italy. Australia's primary involvement is in research and development, with further co-operation through the Pine Gap satellite communications facility in central Australia. However, the Howard Government has announced plans to buy three air warfare capable destroyers with the Aegis missile defence system. This will provide defence against missiles aimed at deployed Australian forces, naval or army, and could also provide some limited defence to points on the Australian mainland. And Australia could in the future buy a more comprehensive missile defence. Lieutenant-General Obering said Australian industry could make a real contribution to missile defence. "There are some very significant capabilities in Australian industry that could be jointly pursued. We don't have all the answers in the US. Many of our threat nations around the world are collaborating against us." Lieutenant-General Obering, with a budget this year of $US6.4 billion ($8.45 billion) for development and $US1.4 billion to operate the existing system, said more countries were moving towards missile defence, with the US in the process of negotiating agreements with a number of other friendly nations and allies. "Increasing numbers of nations are realising that other means of defence are not sufficient," he told The Australian. "Many actors are just not deterrable. We're beginning to understand fully what it's like to be in the post-Cold War world." |
| Posted by:Captain America |
| #12 I worked on one SDIO project too--not so happily. How do you distinguish the real warheads from the fakes? (No, detecting the gammas {in liquid argon} from neutron-irradiated fissionables is NOT the answer, and we had quite a job explaining that to our boss.) But if you've only got a dozen missiles lobbed at you, you've probably got enough excess capacity that you can just shoot at them all. |
| Posted by: James 2005-10-09 21:48 |
| #11 WM, according to the client’s attending engineers (company name rhymes with Huge Aircrash), the 1,000mm dia. x 75mm thick blanks were lathed out of 1,500mm (18") diameter CZ (Czokralski) ingots from a specially built crystal puller. The outer three inches were turned off the slugs to reach the most defect-free heart zone of the ingot. After I coated the blanks, they were returned to the client facility. Then the front-side diffraction grating was patterned on a massive (20’–40’) multi-ton optical bench that was reputed to be good down to 5% of a wavelength in the ultraviolet region. One of my prize high-tech specimens is a small 50mm pilot production sample wafer, given to me by the engineers, that carries the same grating pattern as the final optics. Needless to say (then why say it?), the blaze is spectacular. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2005-10-09 21:25 |
| #10 300mm is current stae of the art for production silicon. 400mm and 500mm silicon wafers have been made in small quantities. 1,000mm had to have been quite an accomplishment, even more so given the elapsed time. But I know the program was successful, ultimately. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2005-10-09 20:11 |
| #9 jolly roger, Details, Please. The vorpal rabbit? The holy hand granade? The peanut manuever .. WHAT? |
| Posted by: Mizzou Mafia 2005-10-09 19:57 |
| #8 JR - particularly since the donks planned to minimize the Star Wars investment under a Kerry administration and grossly underfunded under Clinton. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-10-09 17:43 |
| #7 I worked on the anti-missile system during the Carter administration. Yes, the left would be horrified to know what their sainted ex-Prez was secretly funding. |
| Posted by: jolly roger 2005-10-09 17:37 |
| #6 DMFD -- the goal remains unmet, but one has to admit the progress made thus far is a very significant milepost. Let's not diminish the magnificant work done to date to prevent rogues from lobbing a nuke on innocent peoples. And, let's continue to invest in the technology improves that ultimately realize President Reagan's ambitious goal. The spin-off byproducts amply pays down the investment. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-10-09 16:21 |
| #5 I'm happy to report that I was working on Star Wars back in the mid-1980's I supported several of the SDIO programs ... directed energy weapons, kinetic energy weapons, and several others. Yes - some good work was done and the spinoff potential is/was very high. For instance, the mobile high energy tactical lasers .... |
| Posted by: lotp 2005-10-09 15:48 |
| #4 ...initially written off by sceptics as a waste of money and effort... The initial goal of defending against massive attack from the Soviet Union was totally unfeasible. Many American engineers and scientists said so. They were correct. Fortunately, the Soviets leadership didn't beleive them or their own scientists, and spent themselves into oblivion trying to counter it. The more modest goal of defending against a single missile, or a handful of missiles is a very different problem and requires exponentially less computer processing power. It's still expensive, but no so when compared to the devastation of a Nork nuclear attack or the even the threat of Nork nuclear blackmail. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2005-10-09 15:44 |
| #3 I'm happy to report that I was working on Star Wars back in the mid-1980's. The project involved coating the main-optics of a multi-megawatt FEL (Free Electron Laser) with a first-surface layer of silicon dioxide on a 1,000mm diameter x 75mm thick mono-crystalline silicon relector that would enable us to engage enemy satellites from ground-based installations. This was a full decade or more before 1,000mm silicon wafers would make their debut in solid state device fabrication. I have always supported this program due to the immense promise of spin-off technologies alone. Its deterrent value against the Soviet Union was immeasurable, as well. With communist China constantly increasing its threat level, the revival of this program continues to make sense. I can only hope that America is also delegating equal resources towards intercepting a nuclear attack by its more likely route, a transoceanic shipping container. This is why I so wholeheartedly support killing all of the people who want to load that container in the first place. If there is one nation on earth that can do |
| Posted by: Zenster 2005-10-09 15:43 |
| #2 Phoo-heee...LUke...I am your anti-ballistic-missile-system-mounted-on-an-Aegis-class-cruiser...Phoo-heee... "Okay, Dark Wader." |
| Posted by: OnlySaneAnonymouseLeft 2005-10-09 15:38 |
| #1 ...initially written off by sceptics as a waste of money and effort... I find your lack of faith, disturbing. |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-10-09 15:22 |