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FirmhandKY -> RE: Failure of the world-wide capitalist system ... kinda. (12/29/2006 2:49:21 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Sinergy
Due to the SALT treaties which Carter initiated, neither side could develop any sort of missile defense system. Within reason, of course.
SALT I:
Anti-ballistic missile defenses (ABM) system were "banned" under SALT I which was started by Richard Nixon in 1969, and was signed in 1971. Part of the treaty was to limit ABM systems to one per nation. The USSR had one (that didn't work very well) covering Moscow. The US proposed one to cover some of it's silos, but I don't think it was ever built.
quote:
ORIGINAL: Sinergy
Our missile warning system deals with ballistic missiles, which is a missile which takes off from the surface of the planet, gets semi-orbital, and then drops out like a bomb from outer space. The only really effective way to even track a ballistic missile is to figure out what type of ballistic missile it is during it's launch phase, and then figure out where it is capable of landing.
These type of missiles are generally referred to as intercontinental ballistic missiles.
quote:
ORIGINAL: Sinergy
SCUDs are not a ballistic missile. Our entire missile defense system was useless during the gulf war.
SCUD ballistic missiles.
SCUDS, on the other hand, are simply ballistic missiles. Sometimes they are referred to as tactical or theatre ballistic missiles, because of their limited range.
Ballistic missiles:
Ballistic missile: A missile that travels to its target unpowered and unguided after being launched and at a velocity such that it will follow a flight trajectory to a desired point. Part of the flight of longer-range ballistic missiles may occur outside the atmosphere and involve the "reentry" of the missile.
Here is a world wide listing of ballistic missiles, including the SCUD in all it's variations:
Worldwide Ballistic Missile Inventories
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As for you comment "Our entire missile defense system was useless during the gulf war", I'm not sure what, exactly, you are basing this conclusion on, so it's hard to objectively answer it.
I also looked for something more definitive about your "WHOPR" system.
You said:
quote:
ORIGINAL: Sinergy
3 years into the contract, the Soviet Union went toes up and we no longer had a threat of a mass raid of atomic weapons being fired at us.
The contract bigwigs did not even pause in their determination to build the thing to think "gee, maybe another 4 years and 4 billion dollars is a waste of money now that we no longer have an enemy with thousands of nuclear missiles they are planning on firing at us."
Since the USSR went "toes up" all through-out 1991, and officially disbanded in December of that year, this would put your computer project at approximately 1988 to 1995.
Now, see, this is where I have a problem.
Up until well after 1988, the SDI program was simply in the exploration and technical feasibility study stage. In fact, in 1988, Congress slashed what little funding that was going to the program to almost next to nothing.
No systems were in place. I don't remember any major SDI related upgrades to the NORAD base being discussed, or funded. Perhaps it was a "black account" in the budget?
But, as a matter of fact, because of the Gulf War, Congress passed the 1991 Missile Defense Act, requiring the deployment of a missile shield, and a total of 4.3 billion dollars was requested for the 1993 - and this was a substantial increase over the axed feasibility studies.
And, since there were no systems in place (until recently, as a matter of fact - 2004). And the focus has changed since the demise of the USSR, away from a "national" shield, to what's generally called "theater threats" (this distinction is kinda nebulous, and isn't officially used anymore, either).
As a matter of fact, the total budget for a national missile defense was to only be $3 billion over a five year period.
But ... this is why I asked you about the name of the program. It's possible that you are talking about upgrades to the computer system for the Boost Surveillance and Tracking System (BSTS)?
hmmm, no, probably not, because in 1990 and 1991, the SDIO restructured the ballistic missile defense architecture and initiated the Brilliant Pebbles and Brilliant Eyes programs and terminated the BSTS program.
Or is the time frame perhaps incorrect?
Now, the Cheyenne Mountain Upgrade (CMU) program was started in 1989, and they had several problems with it, but it wasn't a "Star Wars" system at all, although it did include tracking possible missile launches ... but it had nothing really to do with shooting them down.
According to the Federation of American Scientist (FAS):
CMU was placed on the DOT&E oversight list in 1990. In 1991 a test concept centered around end-to-end tests was approved for each of the three missions: air defense, space control, and missile warning. Several subsystems were tested between 1991 and 1993 with mixed results. Subsequently, three IOT&Es scheduled for 1993 had to be delayed or suspended because of software problems. Two IOT&Es conducted in 1994 identified serious performance and integration problems; and CMU breached its Acquisition Program Baseline. DOT&E assessed the CMU program in 1994 as neither operationally effective nor suitable.
According to FAS, the system was re-evaluated, and they spent another $48 million, but the results were pretty good. Total cost about $2 billion from 1989 to 1996, even with the problems early in the program.
Again, this didn't really have much to do with "Star Wars". Just the normal "watching everything in the sky" that has always been NORAD's mission.
quote:
ORIGINAL: Sinergy
quote:
ORIGINAL: FirmhandKY
Also, do you have an official name to the project? The closest I could find to "WHOPR" was the fictional WOPR (War Operation Plan Response) computer system in the movie WarGames.
FirmKY
I used to have a computer user account on a computer named "WHOPER" in Cheyenne Mountain, the home of NORAD.
But apparently you are more in tune with our missile defense system than I am.
Go you.
If you say so.
Yeah. I guess I am.
Go you, too.
FirmKY
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