The Obama Administration has replaced the ground-based missile defense architecture in Europe with a series of theater missile defenses centered on the Aegis system. I think this makes a lot of sense, as regular readers know, on both technical and political grounds. SECDEF Bob Gates and General Cartwright, Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, gave a …
Pief Panofsky on Missile Defense
by | 2009-09-16 | 11 Comments
For reasons not worth going into, lately I’ve been reading an awful lot about ballistic missile warfare. Today’s cutting-edge theater missile made in Russia, China, or the United States is a precision battlefield weapon, suitable for attacking military bases or formations. Or crushing the occasional civilian vehicle, but hey, stuff happens. (See: SS-21 Debris In …
B61 Replacement and Vacuum Tubes
by | 2009-09-15 | 24 Comments
You may recall the little spring dust-up that Kingston Reif and I had with STRATCOM Commander General Kevin P. Chilton over whether he should be running around with a vacuum tube in his pocket to make the case for warhead replacement. We pointed out in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists that vacuum tubes are used …
Secret Iranian Missile Memos
by | 2009-09-14 | 59 Comments
I have been given access to a series of what appeared to be internal secret Iranian documents by sources I trust. If authentic, and I believe they are, they provide important insights into Iran’s missile development program and have important implications for North Korea’s as well. Unfortunately, to protect my sources and the Iranians who …
