[Newsbot]

Title: Pentagon Plans Next Major Missile Intercept Test for Late May
Category: Military
Posted By: N_Fiddledog
Date: 2017-04-06 09:54:44

[N_Fiddledog]

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/arti ... r-late-may

"The Pentagon has tentatively scheduled for late May the next intercept test of its $36 billion ground-based missile defense system -- the first in nearly three years, according to a spokesman.

With North Korea ramping up its ballistic missile development and President Donald Trump vowing to rein in Kim Jong-un's regime, the success of missile defense efforts has taken on heightened importance in Washington.

"North Korea's weapons program is expected to be a major subject of talks between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida starting Thursday. The U.S. president has said Beijing can do more to rein in North Korea. Beijing, in turn, has protested an Obama administration decision to deploy an Army missile system called Thaad in South Korea designed to intercept short and medium-range systems..."

[N_Fiddledog]

Also:

Experts are suggesting the in-flight failure and crash of the missile launched by North Korea on Wednesday could have been the result of a "left-of-launch" attack by the United States.

$1:

"Left-of-launch" strategies involve electromagnetic propagation or cyber attacks against missiles immediately after launch, including through infected electronics aboard the weapon that confuse its command and control or targeting systems.

North Korea relies on sophisticated electronics for the internal controls of its weapons - all of which have to be imported, in violation of international sanctions.

Part of the beauty of a "left-of-launch" attack, said Lance Gatling, a defence analyst and president of Tokyo-based Nexial Research Inc, is that the North Koreans cannot be sure that any imported electronics have not been deliberately permitted to evade sanctions because they are infected with malware. Similarly, when a launch fails they are also unable to determine what brought the missile down.

"There are many things that can go wrong with a missile launch, but it would be impossible to tell from outside if something had affected the internal guidance or control systems", Mr Gatling told The Telegraph.

Mr Gatling referred to reports in the press of "left-of-launch" attacks targeting the North: "It has been openly mentioned that there is a possibility that the North's supply chain for components has been deliberately infected, and they might never know."

"It is quite possible that parts that they are importing are intentionally faulty because, through history, there have been similar attempts to sabotage an enemy's capabilities," he said, citing Allied efforts during the Second World War to infiltrate agents into Nazi Germany's programme to develop V2 rockets.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04 ... -missiles/

[raydan]

The only thing that missile should be intercepting is Trump.




OK, OK... I'll go now.

[xerxes]

And how much will it cost to miss by a mile this time?

I doubt the US had to do much to end NK's missle off course given their piss poor track record to date.

[N_Fiddledog]

$1:

The next U.S. intercept attempt will be the first since a successful test in June 2014. Before that, two tests that failed in 2010 prompted an extensive effort to fix flaws with the interceptor’s warhead. The missile defense agency says those have now been fixed.

North Korea this week fired a projectile which flew about 60 kilometers (37 miles) into the East Sea, South Korea’s military leadership said. It follows ballistic missile tests in February and March, as the isolated country defies United Nations sanctions and works on a missile that could deliver a miniaturized nuclear weapon to the continental U.S.