Red not Dead said:
So you go for a 50 bio expense in order to counter 25 year old IRBM that aren't fully fonctionnal yet? Who are you trying to fool? Come on...Do you actually see what kind of expenses are needed in order to justify such an defence system...The richest state in the axis of evil (Iran) can barely afford it's current conventionnal programmes...:nono: .
I am not trying to fool anyone here. Look at ballistic missle development in either NK or Iran--is it going backwards?--No, they are continuously developing longer range missles. Currently, NK is developing the Taepodong-2 missle with and estimated range of 4000-5000 km, enough to reach parts of Alaska. The trend is easy to see: more countries are developing longer range, more reliable ballistic missles. Do you disagree with that?
Nowhere did I say the cost of the US NMD is worth the uncertain return, in fact I said it is most likely a losing proposition. But, if the proposed NMD system has a chance of anything, then it has a chance of stopping just a very few, relatively unsophisticated ballistic missles--exactly the tpye and numbers that so-called 'rogue nations' are projected to have in the next couple of decades. Even the people in charge of the program admit that as of today, the few ABM missles have next to 0 chance of intercepting a real BM. It will probably take about a decade before the system has decent reliablity and mission effective rates, and in about a decade, if the current trend continues, a few countries that the current and past US administrations don't like will very possibly have a BM capable of reaching mainland US, and these same countries could have by then fitted such missles with a nuclear war head. Do you agree up to this point?
Well, anyway, I still don't see how such a limited system as it is now envisioned could counter either the Russian or Chinese ballistic missle forces, and i do not believe that was its intent. Of course, I understand completely that both of those nations will react accordingly to counter the US system by deploying either more missles or missles with countermeasures or both. They should do this so they have the peace of mind that mutually assured destruction still applies for them.
