Quote:
Originally Posted by flacaltenn
The ground-based system concept for BMD was much better in handling the threat of "multiple warhead" vehicles and decoys. The Navy Aegis stuff is good in tactical theatre against simple single warheads on Intermed. and Short Range missiles. That's where it's been really tested. Any real shield for ICBMs needs multiple radars and a lot more resources than those cruisers probably have.
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And therein lies the problem. Star Wars has had very limited success in testing against known, predictable launches of single dummy warheads. It has no demonstrated capacity against MIRV's. It has alway been (and will remain) easier to trick or overwhelm Star Wars than it will be to develop and field a fool-proof system.
As for the Aegis, while it is indeed designed to defend against short and intermediate range missiles, it has been (relatively) successful by virtue of honing in on said missiles in the launch phase, not while they're in space traveling at several thousand MPH.
Hitting an ICBM in space has been likened to hitting a bullet with a bullet. Perhaps possible, on occasion if you're talking about hitting one incoming bullet with many bullets heading the other direction. It's pretty much impossible to hit every bullet spewed out from a machine gun (i.e., multiple MIRV's).
Keep in mind, this thread applies to Venezuela's potential missile threat. The article says that these are short/intermediate range missiles in a country with a coastline on the Carribean. It seems to me to be
exactly what Aegis is designed to counter.