[lit-ideas] Re: Worst Case Scenarios
- From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 10:16:19 +0900
Ah, yes. The fantasy of military hardware, especially the missle
defense which has yet to be successfully tested, even once, against
targets that were not pre-programmed to be hit. Ah, yes. The writing
off of whole nations, populations as big as France, thousands of years
of history, as Mad Mullahracies. How charming. How 19th century. How
got to go kick some rag head butt...Did anyone notice the charming
news, came out yesterday, I believe, that thanks to our marvelous war
on terror, the annual number of terrorist incidents has quadrupled
since 2001?
Sad to say, but the maniacs have taken over Lit-Ideas in the way that
they did Phil-Lit. Speak to the choir fellows. This member of the
congregation is looking for another church.
John
On 4/23/06, Eric Yost <eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Teemu: I could go on and on why Iran and nukes is
> completely unacceptable risk. Unacceptable as in
> you have no sense of proportion if you think risks
> of terrorist strikes at UK or anger at the streets
> of Tehran somehow out weight it.
>
> Bravo! Well said.
>
> In addition to the arguments you mentioned is the
> outright stupidity of having nukes in the first
> place. They are unavoidably contaminating to
> build, very expensive to maintain, and commit the
> nuclear country to maintaining safeguards and
> storage for thousands of years.
>
> US and the other nuclear powers are trapped in
> this mess, but encouraging every tinpot
> dictatorship and Madman Mullahocracy to nuke up
> just makes the problem almost unresolvable. Plus
> our new laser weapons go online in a couple years
> tops. That means we can destroy Iranian missiles
> as they clear their silos, which further reduces
> the strategic significance of having nukes in the
> first place.
>
>
>
>
> See http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/program/abl.htm
>
> See also http://www.spacedaily.com/news/laser-02e.html
> US Begins Testing Airborne Laser To Shoot Down
> Missiles
> Washington (AFP) Jul 19, 2002 [note the date]
> A jumbo jet retrofitted to carry a laser gun
> capable of shooting down enemy missiles has been
> flight-tested for the first time as part of US
> efforts to build a controversial missile defense
> system, according to defense and industry officials.
>
> See also:
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/26/airborne_laser_weapon/
>
> DARPA explains:
>
> The Air Laser program will investigate the
> potential for a high energy laser (HEL) concept
> based on direct diode pumping of liquid oxygen. If
> successful, the Air Laser could provide a safe,
> efficient kilowatt-class HEL which combines the
> advantages of chemical and solid state lasers and
> minimizes the disadvantages: it operates in the
> eye-safe wavelength regime; it uses liquid air as
> the gain medium and as the diode array coolant,
> resulting in the reduction or elimination of a
> separate thermal control system; the use of
> efficient, high energy density diode pump sources,
> results in a compact device much smaller than
> either chemical or solid state lasers; and its
> pulse length is variable from continuous to
> sub-picosecond, allowing flexibility in weapons
> effects.
>
> And if you like the sound of the HEL weapon, try
> DARPA's MAgneto Hydrodynamic Explosive Munition,
> or as the highly inventive DARPA acronyms
> department has it, MAHEM. Boom boom!:
>
> The MAgnetoHydrodynamic Explosive Munition
> (MAHEM) program will demonstrate compressed
> magnetic flux generator (CMFG)-driven
> magnetohydrodynamically formed metal jets and self
> forging penetrators with significantly improved
> performance over explosively formed jets and
> fragments. Explosively formed jets (EFJ) and self
> forging penetrators (SFP) are used for precision
> strike against targets such as armored vehicles
> and reinforced structures. Current technology uses
> chemical explosive energy to form the jets and
> fragments.
>
> Nice one. We look forward to seeing both HEL and
> MAHEM let loose in Iraq in the near future.
>
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--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd.
55-13-202 Miyagaya, Nishi-ku
Yokohama 220-0006, JAPAN
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