Hit a bullet 19 out of 23 times
July 31, 2009 – 8:46 PM | by Michael P. Johnson
USS Hopper (DDG 70) scored a hit in the latest Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) at-sea firing event on July 30. This makes it 19 out of 23 attempts for the Navy.
I’ve always followed military technology developments and enjoy military history. Why I never served in the armed forces is a mystery to many people, including myself. Anyway, I remember a debate I had with a friends in high school about the future of warfare. A lot of wild claims were made in that argument by me and my friend. I’ll save all those recollections for another time. But on the subject of Star Wars Missile Defense and Brilliant Pebbles my friend had claimed, “you can’t hit a bullet with a bullet.”
Well, Brilliant Pebbles never fully developed into a deployed defensive weapon but apparently you can hit a missile with a very special missile and radar. Of course, now 20 plus years since I had that debate on the future of warfare, it’s probably time to have another. Any advancement in defensive capability requires a new advancement in offensive capability. The next advancement is logistics. Can an enemy produce more offensive missiles than we can deploy defensive missiles? Can we neutralize the launch source before launch?
Ahh, the never ending saga of warfare! It’s fun to be an amateur on the subject and off on the sidelines. But I am happy and proud to know the professionals in our defense industry and our armed forces are getting this one right.
- http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=47327
- http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=74601
- http://www.hopper.navy.mil/default.aspx
