Article

2008-06-05 Science & Technology

First Battery Of THAAD Weapon System Activated at Fort Bliss

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by 3dc 2008-06-05 02:47|| || Front Page|| [11130 views ] Top

#1 "... and now, watch the power of this Fully Operational battle station. (evil cackle)"

Oh, did I mention the improved stealth aircraft, and precision munitions that can sneak in and puree you in your own bed. Or we can hand you over to your former subjects for trial and execution. Sweet dreams, tyrants.

Somewhere, the ghost of Ronald Reagan is smiling. We may see ICBM's and IRBM's go the way of the all big gun battleship.

Posted by N guard 2008-06-05 03:39|| 2008-06-05 03:39|| Front Page Top

#2 We may see ICBM's and IRBM's go the way of the all big gun battleship.

I hope so. That is one group of weapon systems I wouldn't mind seeing become completely obsolete.

Now we just need to perfect the anti-matter bomb. >:)

Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader 2008-06-05 07:16|| 2008-06-05 07:16|| Front Page Top

#3 We may see ICBM's and IRBM's go the way of the all big gun battleship.

Nah, dictators and tyrants would want them for the same reason they keep buying the cheap junk from the Russian-Chinese consortium. It's good enough to keep the locals in line. Who said anything about firing some of those puppies off against foreign interests? Getting one of those on a large protest crowd, and the urban blocks around them, in a distant city would remove a lot of Hugo paranoia for at least a couple weeks.

Posted by Procopius2k 2008-06-05 07:58|| 2008-06-05 07:58|| Front Page Top

#4 Speaking as a child of the cold war and growing up under the red menace and the potential for nuclear annihilation back in the mid 50's AND the Cuban Missile crisis...I am just overjoyed for once to see a really nifty neat and thoroughly effective deterent to ICBM's and their ilk.
Dang this is the coolest capricious waste of tax payers money I have ever seen. Sure beats Medicare Supp B and Food Stamps.

Posted by James Carville 2008-06-05 10:31|| 2008-06-05 10:31|| Front Page Top

#5 They look mobile and unimpressive. Why don't we put a few on a C5 and set them up in Eastern Europe like we wanted to. The Ruskies would never know they were there.

Posted by Thererong Wittlesbach1256 2008-06-05 10:55|| 2008-06-05 10:55|| Front Page Top

#6 I'm not sure this is the kind of risk we need to deal with on the Mexican border. Perhaps a fence will work well enough there and we could sent THAAD to Iraq. Or has Oogo been on a Moscow buying binge again?

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2008-06-05 11:19|| 2008-06-05 11:19|| Front Page Top

#7 They look mobile and unimpressive. Why don't we put a few on a C5 and set them up in Eastern Europe like we wanted to. The Ruskies would never know they were there..

Interesting that you raise that point. I'm sure we can get them even smaller to blend in with other unobtrusive vehicles making them even harder to discern. We'll have them out by the thousands before 'they' know its deployed.

Posted by Halliburton Mobile Transport Division 2008-06-05 12:04|| 2008-06-05 12:04|| Front Page Top

#8 The Ruskies would never know they were there.

Yes, they would. The NYT would publish the deployment stats on Page 1 before they arrived.

Posted by mrp 2008-06-05 13:46|| 2008-06-05 13:46|| Front Page Top

#9 actually, looks like they'd fit in a couple or 3 conex. Lash those to the deck of a small cargo ship, and put some plating down for a launch area, and we could put them damned near anywhere.

Posted by OldSpook 2008-06-05 13:49|| 2008-06-05 13:49|| Front Page Top

#10 Old Spook,
My reptilian cognative powers tell me that the intent of this design is to make it as unobtrusive and as mobile/flexible in deployment as possible. I kinda like the idea that you could strap this little suckers to the deck of some rust bucket and sail them right up some hostile foreign ICBM tooting regime's butt.

Posted by James Carville 2008-06-05 15:30|| 2008-06-05 15:30|| Front Page Top

#11 Kimmie would shit his pants if one of his missile tests got shot down by a THAAD from inside his own territorial waters.

Posted by bigjim-ky 2008-06-05 19:23|| 2008-06-05 19:23|| Front Page Top

#12 I'll bring the popcorn, you bring the rusty scow and the THAAD.

Posted by James Carville 2008-06-05 21:19|| 2008-06-05 21:19|| Front Page Top

#13 NS - They are at Ft BLiss near the Mex border because Ft Bliss is the home of Army Air Defense (and close enought to White Sands one direction and Ft Hood the other).

Posted by OldSpook 2008-06-05 21:51|| 2008-06-05 21:51|| Front Page Top

#14 The services sometimes uses Fort Wingate in NW New Mexico to launch target missiles for interceptor tests out of White Sands/Fort Bliss in the south. When you got a whole lot of nothing in between, the locals don't get as frisky about NIMBY. Lot cheaper than hauling the lot to Eniwetok for a shot off the west coast for the smaller stuff.

Posted by Procopius2k 2008-06-05 23:02|| 2008-06-05 23:02|| Front Page Top

23:22 Pappy
23:07 gorb
23:02 Procopius2k
22:51 Procopius2k
22:30 Alaska Paul
22:26 lotp
22:21 Besoeker
22:19 Pappy
22:19 Besoeker
22:17 Spike Uniter
22:16 Besoeker
22:15 Spike Uniter
22:03 Besoeker
22:02 OldSpook
22:01 scpatriot
22:00 OldSpook
21:57 OldSpook
21:53 Besoeker
21:51 OldSpook
21:41 lotp
21:40 lotp
21:38 Besoeker
21:37 M. Murcek
21:32 g(r)omgoru