They're mad I tell you MAD!

posted by The Vidiot @ 6:02 PM Permalink

From the desk of Col. Jack D. Ripper:

US activates missile defense amid N. Korea concern

The United States has activated its ground-based interceptor missile-defense system amid concerns over an expected North Korean missile launch, a U.S. defense official said on Tuesday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed a Washington Times report that the Pentagon has switched the multibillion-dollar system from test mode to operational, after being in the developmental stage for years.

"It's good to be ready," the official said.

'Operational!?' 'Ready!?' WTF have they been smoking!? Let's take a brief look at the history of the SDI project, AKA Star Wars, the Debacle:
Jan. 26, 1989

In confirmation hearings, President George H.W. Bush's nominee for secretary of defense, John Tower, says, "I don't believe that we can devise a [ballistic missile defense] umbrella that can protect the entire American population from nuclear incineration. I think that's unrealistic."

Feb. 27, 1998

An independent panel chaired by retired Gen. Larry Welch issues its report on the Pentagon's missile defense testing programs. The panel says that the ambitious programs amount to a "rush to failure." The report's authors, which include several defense experts, urge a longer development period for missile defense weapons.

September 1999

In a rare move, the intelligence community revises its 1995 National Intelligence Estimate and finally gives Congress the worst-case scenario some lawmakers have been seeking. It adopts the Rumsfeld commission's standard for measuring the threat: instead of what was likely to happen, it considered what could happen.

March 7, 2000

The New York Times reports that "a former senior engineer at TRW, a top military contractor, has charged the company with faking tests and evaluations of a key component for the proposed $27 billion anti-missile system."

July 8, 2000

The third intercept test fails when the kill vehicle doesn't separate from its booster.

Aug. 10, 2000

Following the failed July test, Philip Coyle, director of the Pentagon's Office of Test and Evaluation, issues a devastating 67-page critique of the proposed national missile defense system (download in PDF). It details how the tests had been simplified to ensure the perception of success. The report is delivered privately to the president, but the Pentagon refuses for eight months to release Coyle's report to the public.

July 14, 2001

The fourth NMD hit-to-kill test successfully demonstrates the system's interceptor capabilities. But during the final stages of the test, a software problem prevents the ground-based radar system from assessing the kill vehicle and whether or not it had hit the mock warhead.

May 15, 2002

Defense Daily reports that the MDA "has decided to classify details of the targets and countermeasures that will be used in all future [GMD] flight tests." Critics contend that the Pentagon is being unnecessarily secretive: "The devil is in the details," complains one congressman, "and the details are now classified."

June 12, 2002

The Washington Post reports that "in recent months, defense officials have exempted missile defense projects from the planning and reporting requirements normally applied to major acquisition programs. They have stopped providing Congress with detailed cost estimates and timetables for anti-missile systems."

So they don't tell anybody yet somehow the SDI is 'operational'!? Sheesh, we couldn't even hit SCUD missiles with Patriot missiles, and those were slow flying regional missiles that we knew when they were launched.