Politics

Red Leg said:

This capability has quietly matured a lot over the last twenty years and long before space force. Though not a classified budget item, the work has not gained a lot of public attention. Also, the various programs have been managed by DOD through the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), not the air force. There is no indication that MDA's responsibilities will change as a result of the creation of space force. It, like the other three services will manage programs specific to their role under MDA. I would anticipate the air force would eventually transfer mid course intercept and sensor programs to space force.

MDA has awarded $7-11 billion a year since 2002 for a total of approximately $200 billion through 2004. Patriot modernization and THAAD are managed by the Army. (though Patriot has too short a range to be effective against nuclear weapons.) The Navy manages AEGIS related programs.

As you suggest, space is where the interception battle will be fought and that has been the centerpiece of MDA's efforts. The primary corporate players over the last twenty years have been Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon. That initial space-based intercept capability could be in place fairly quickly. The technology is is mature, but there has not been a will to deploy it - which, of course, will be quite expensive.

ICBMs do not go into orbit. They, like intercontinental hypersonics, do go into space for the mid-course of their trajectory.

The biggest challenge over the last 15 years or so has been decoy technology. A Russian ICBM payload, depending on the missile, would contain five to ten independently targeted munitions along with at least an equal number of decoys. This obviously complicates the intercept challenge.

The second challenge is the emerging hypersonic technology. A traditional ICBM follows a fairly predictable ballistic trajectory. A true hypersonic, unlike anything Russia has yet fielded, will have the ability to maneuver somewhat during its mid-course glide phase. It flies a lower trajectory than an ICBM providing less time for mid-course intercept and introduces the maneuverability problem.

The backbone of both Russia's and China's arsenals will remain standard ICBMs and SLBMs for decades to come.

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375 Ruger Fan said:

Correct. Your OP had 40%, which is the error I was pointing out.

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spike.t said:

Hitting some of the YouTube sites already....Cyril must be squirming ever so slightly in his seat...

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Wheels said:

Ramaphosa brings in Ernie Ells and Retief Goosen as examples of Whites who have done well in South Africa and Goosen proceeds to talk about the family farm and the problems they face of farms being burned and a white farming neighbor being killed. Pretty hilarious if it wasn’t so sad.

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mdwest said:

Whats particularly funny is.. Ells spends most of his year living OUTSIDE of South Africa.. he has an estate in the UK that is his primary residence, and house in Florida that spends a lot of time (good weather year round for practicing)..

He does still maintain a house in South Africa and my understanding is that he still frequents it..

But he's hardly "doing well" in South Africa.. he is rather a South African that as soon as he was doing well and able to get out, did so, and relocated to the UK and the US..

Not exactly the example I'd want to put on stage of what white South Africans should aspire to do as soon as they have enough money and/or prominence to do so..

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Wheels said:

Agree.

South African leaders aren’t used to getting pushback from the UK, EU or America. Ells and Goosen were supposed to be window dressing. Watching The facial expressions and body language of Ramaphosa’s support staff during the video of Julius Malema leading chants of kill the Boer were pretty funny.

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mdwest said:

I knew about Ells, but just did some googling on Goosen...

Hes really the same story..

He is still an RSA Citizen and maintains a home in South Africa..

But his primary residence is in the UK, and he also has a residence in Orlando, Florida...

Ramaphosa is actually making Trumps case for him..

South Africans that are willing to work hard, achieve something, etc are welcome to relocate to the US.. and apparently many of the most successful South Africans are doing exactly that..

Elon Musk resides in the US..
Charlize Theron resides in the US..
etc.. etc..

So Ramaphosa just brings more South Africans that are now living the American Dream to demonstrate to Trump how great it is to be a white South African?

I would have thought he and his staff would be a little smarter than that..

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WAB said:

Ramaphosa and his staff may be a lot of things, smart is not on the list.

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WAB said:

Ramaphosa and his staff may be a lot of things, smart is not on the list.

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Red Leg said:

They are normally treated with kid gloves because - well, let's leave it that they are normally treated with kid gloves.

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VertigoBE said:

I find that very strange as a reaction of the Canadian people... What can a US citizen really do about what happens on the political side, on the highest echelon's, between two countries? That's as if I would treat a random Russian I meet in the street, any different than before.

Sounds like something short-sighted people would do. Substituting the individual for the group.

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Altitude sickness said:

Log in your pet stock or speculation purchase this afternoon before the Tax deal is announced. The market will be on rocket fuel afterwards.

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mdwest said:

So your presumption is that all Americans wear MAGA hats?

Should we all presume you are personally a shit bird because Trudeau led your country for 9 years?

Or do you think you get a pass while you at the same time get to indiscriminately judge everyone else?

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mdwest said:

I have a very hard time believing that a real separatist movement will get enough traction in Alberta to be meaningful beyond simply moving provincial politics further right.. most Canadians I know are proud to be Canadians and wouldn’t have any interest in actually switching teams.. (although most I know have as much contempt for Quebec as many Americans have for California)..

Texas has had a separatist movement forever as well… but it’s never happening…

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