Reports Question U.S. Shield Of Europe

The Missile Defense Agency tested an interceptor system on Dec. 5 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. U.S. Air Force via AP

From USA Today:

WASHINGTON — After 24 years and more than $100 billion spent to develop a U.S. missile defense, an American-operated system proposed for Europe would cost billions more to deploy and still may fail, a series of independent reports concludes.

President Obama recently suggested he would consider scrapping the Europe system in exchange for Russia's help in thwarting Iran's nuclear ambitions. During last year's campaign, Obama said he would support missile defense if it proved workable.

The type of ground-based interceptors that would be deployed in Europe failed to hit targets in five of 13 tests, according to the Pentagon. They have not demonstrated an ability to detect decoys, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says.

The Europe system has not been tested.

Read more ....

My Comment: The Anti-Missile Defense program has made great strides since the 1980s. But after spending over $100 billion dollars, the program still fails in reaching many of its initial proposed benchmarks.

Can the program be successful .... I do not know the answer. I personally feel that it will probably overcome many obstacles if the resources are committed. But is it worth spending tens of billions of dollars when the basic needs of the existing military are being overlooked.

I would have to say no.

Sigh .... I should let you readers know that I have always been a supporter of the U.S. "Star Wars" program. When I was studying physics at McGill University, I had the good fortune of meeting Dr. Teller (Father of the H-Bomb) a few months after he had convinced President Reagan to pursue this program. I know Dr. Tellar was good because he successfully convinced many of us who did not share his "hawkish" views that this program should be pursued. The science was and is convincing.

If it was not for my family back home (my Uncle is/was a General in the Soviet Army, and my other uncle was a Director in their satellite program) .... cough cough .... these were not good references during the height of the Cold war. .... I would have signed up to work in this field. As it turned out ... I went into computer science and specialized in constructing computer networks.

20 years later, we are now back to where we started. I have changed a lot since then .... and maybe .... and I am saying maybe .... this may be one program that has (and is) still ahead of its time.