11–20 of 20 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Whose satellites are they using?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GLONASS ? It wouldn't be much of cold war if both sides didn't have missile navigation systems. Also China seems to be building their own: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compass_navigation_system
Ok, can we please start talking seriously about real container inspection programs at our shipping ports now?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GLONASS ? It wouldn't be much of cold war if both sides didn't have missile navigation systems. Also China seems to be building their own: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compass_navigation_system
As a matter of curiosity, for what definition of "rogue state" are Russia and China rogue states? I figured the poster was thinking more about, e.g. North Korea.
Ok, can we please start talking seriously about real container inspection programs at our shipping ports now?
Containers get inspected at the ports, missiles are likely being launched before containers reach the port. Unless you are imagining a sinister plot to sneak a cruise missile inland I don't see how this would help.
So the only way you let your expensive $Bn carrier fleet near a tiny little 3rd world enemy is once you have comprehensively bombed the *&%$ out of their defenses.
With this you could have finished bombing all their airfields, sunk their fleet and blown up all their tanks - then just as the USS Obama arrives off shore a 40' container in a parking lot opens it's doors and sinks it.
Unless you are going to destroy every container, and every building that could hold a container in a country before approaching it you have a problem.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Containers get inspected at the ports, missiles are likely being launched before containers reach the port. Unless you are imagining a sinister plot to sneak a cruise missile inland I don't see how this would help.
Big ships are vunerable, the Brits proved that to the Italians at Toranto, then the Japanese copied them at Pearl Harbor. So the only way you let your expensive $Bn carrier fleet near a tiny little 3rd world enemy is once you have comprehensively bombed the *&%$ out of their defenses. With this you could have finished bombing all their airfields, sunk their fleet and blown up all their tanks - then just as the USS Ob…
If I have my facts correct, the Japanese also reminded the Limeys of it when the sunk the Prince of Wales and the Repulse after Sir Tom Phillips overruled suggestions that the fleet not move out of Singapore without air cover.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_Prince_of_Wales_and_...
(While Wikipedia says nothing other than reporting that he was killed, I read elsewhere that Sir Phillips declined to join the sailors abandoning ship.)
I am confused why people are taking this seriously. This is just an idea that happens to have a nice CGI movie behind it. I could think of lots of hypothetical weapons systems too if I didn't have to actually build them, nor was I constrained by any practical limitations.
It doesn't really matter if cruise missile is in container or not. If it's for sale, bad or good guys would be happy to buy it without container and use it anyway.
As you can see from this very video, these missiles require satellite guidance system. Surely small counties don't have access to those and large countries have capabilities to suppress them as needed.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Whose satellites are they using?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GLONASS ? It wouldn't be much of cold war if both sides didn't have missile navigation systems. Also China seems to be building their own: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compass_navigation_system
If someone wants to hit a ship with a cruise missile then they need precise real-time targeting data. A box of missiles on a cargo ship doesn't do any good if you don't know where to point it. Reconnaissance satellites are one possible way to get that data, and only a few rich countries have enough good satellites to be useful.
Some people think that guided missiles are magic: just point them in the general direction of a target and the missile will do the rest. In reality they have limited range, limited fuel, and short-range sensors. To have any chance of hitting a ship you have to tell the missile at launch time where the target should be when it finally arrives.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Containers get inspected at the ports, missiles are likely being launched before containers reach the port. Unless you are imagining a sinister plot to sneak a cruise missile inland I don't see how this would help.
Big ships are vunerable, the Brits proved that to the Italians at Toranto, then the Japanese copied them at Pearl Harbor. So the only way you let your expensive $Bn carrier fleet near a tiny little 3rd world enemy is once you have comprehensively bombed the *&%$ out of their defenses. With this you could have finished bombing all their airfields, sunk their fleet and blown up all their tanks - then just as the USS Ob…
Perhaps a swarm attack from several or dozens of such launchers would overwhelm defenses, but suddenly the last-ditch defense isn't looking cheap anymore. If you're that country, you'd better hope the invaders aren't ready to send a second carrier group, or that a neighboring country isn't going to go, "Nice job on that carrier group - now we're rolling tanks and troops over your border, so get cracking on that welcoming ceremony in your capital," now that your defenses are toast.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Containers get inspected at the ports, missiles are likely being launched before containers reach the port. Unless you are imagining a sinister plot to sneak a cruise missile inland I don't see how this would help.
Big ships are vunerable, the Brits proved that to the Italians at Toranto, then the Japanese copied them at Pearl Harbor. So the only way you let your expensive $Bn carrier fleet near a tiny little 3rd world enemy is once you have comprehensively bombed the *&%$ out of their defenses. With this you could have finished bombing all their airfields, sunk their fleet and blown up all their tanks - then just as the USS Ob…