North Korea fires intercontinental ballistic missile which ‘could hit entire US mainland’
The contiguous U.S. occupies an area of 3,119,884.69 square miles
North Korea fires intercontinental ballistic missile which ‘could hit entire US mainland’
The contiguous U.S. occupies an area of 3,119,884.69 square miles
I always thought Obama was right to agree to missile defences to deal with precisely this problem.
Admittedly it’s more expensive to protect a city than to nuke it. But when dealing with a weak economy like North Korea it still makes sense to just defend against the rabble.
I’m not sure that 9-significant-figure level of accuracy is warranted. Erosion, delta formation and even land reclamation will alter the size by more than 0.01 sq mi in a very short space of time, and let’s not mention tides and the definition of mean high/low water.
Er…slight pendentry. Change hit to target & the meaning’s obvious. But one can’t expect accurate choices of words of journalists with English degrees, can one?
@BiS one can’t expect accurate choices of words of journalists with English degrees
It reminds me of a time back during the cold war when the journos were reporting “a Soviet submarine circling Sweden”, which would have been an impressive trick.
Arthur
It was hiding in the fjords !
There are plenty of targets in the USA big enough to hit with the dumbest of rockets.
Question is, does KJun have a folder titled Top Targets in Megadeaths ?
“Admittedly it’s more expensive to protect a city than to nuke it.”
This is true but irrelevant in terms of the outcomes you might be able to influence: It’s more expensive to let a city be nuked than to protect it.
For sure, we can argue about whether the benefit/cost ratio of letting certain cities get nuked would be positive.
@BiS Apparently basic math is also a no-go for Journalists…
It was either near-exactly 1 kilometer up ( now that’d be a sight.. Until it hits some Geography..), or so far up into space that we can soon expect claims of the first North-Korean astronaut..
Are there any “missile defences” that can cope with an intercontinental missile bringing multiple warheads?
Did SDI/ Star Wars actually happen ?
. . . or so far up into space that we can soon expect claims of the first North-Korean astronaut..
1000km / 620 miles is on the low side for the mid flight phase of an ICBM.
@Dearieme Yes? Sort of. ymmv as to how effective they are v/s Official Claims. And how much of a mess they make v/s letting the warhead go off. And…
I’m a big fan of Not Finding Out.
PJF is right. It’s flying a partial elliptical orbit with most of the orbit below the earth’s surface (why it’s partial). The deltaV for a complete orbit would be far higher.
with most of the orbit below the earth’s surface
That’s clever, a tunneling ballistic missile.
One would imagine that for places like Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore, etc. the effect of a nuclear “Clean sweep” would be positive, get rid of all of those pesky liabilities.
Don’t have to pay pensions to corrupt police chiefs and ex-politicians cum race baiters if they’re a pile of ashes.
Beats the expense of bulldozing the place.