No, We Cannot Shoot Down North Korea’s Missiles

[HAPPY2BME]

 It's time national leaders speak realistically about missile defense.

The number one reason we don’t shoot down North Korea’s missiles is that we cannot.

But could we intercept before the missile climbed that high? There is almost no chance of hitting a North Korean missile on its way up unless an Aegis ship was deployed very close to the launch point, perhaps in North Korean waters. Even then, it would have to chase the missile, a race it is unlikely to win. In the only one or two minutes of warning time any system would have, the probability of a successful engagement drops close to zero.

“When over Japan, they are too high to reach,” tweeted astronomer Jonathan McDowell, in between tracking the end of the Cassini mission. “You’d have to put the Aegis right off NK coast to have a chance.”

What about our long-range defenses, the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense, or GMD, interceptors based in Alaska and California?

There the test record is even worse. Even under ideal conditions, where the defenders knew the time, direction and trajectory of the test target and all the details of its shape, temperature, etc., this system has only hit its target half of the time.

http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2017/09/no-we-cannot-shoot-down-north-koreas-missiles/141070/

[HAPPY2BME]

China, Russia Helped North Korea’s Missile Program

North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-un benefited from the importation of a very rare rocket fuel from Russia and/or China while developing his nation's ballistic missile arsenal. A new report suggests there's growing concern the Hermit Kingdom can now make the fuel on its own.

U.S. officials are certain the rocket fuel used by North Korea in its Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missiles came from China and Russia, and now it may be too late to stop Kim Jong-un’s advances.

This fuel, unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine, or UDMH, is extremely expensive to manufacture but is appealing for use in military rockets because it can be kept loaded in fuel systems for long periods. It is used primarily in missiles deployed by Russia, China, and India, particularly in the Russian Proton and Kosmos-3M and the Chinese Long March-2 space launch rockets.

http://www.trunews.com/article/china-russia-helped-north-koreas-missile-program