Helluava shot Navy....

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IllHunter

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I am stunned to find no post extoling the fine rocketteers of U.S.S. Lake Erie for scoring on that 133 mile smackdown of a crossing bogy doing just over 17k mph. Now I have to find a sporting clays course with a little more room.
BZ to all hands and kudos to the geeks who wired up the shot.:cool:

Think about it for a minute: Where are those missiles aimed right now? Russia? China? Pyongyang? Resetting the coordinates has got to be extremely complicated, involving a great many people in different locations. But short-circuiting the firing controls so that fuel flows to the rocket engines won't be that hard. When that rocket starts its trajectory over the Pole, do you think President Whatsisname is going to convince the Chinese President-for-life that the warhead isn't live?
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Now we can start fantasizing about a Steven Sagall type takeover of any SM-3 armed cruiser or Destroyer that might intercept the above referenced missles.
 
But short-circuiting the firing controls so that fuel flows to the rocket engines won't be that hard.
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I do believe it is referred to as "Rocket SCIENCE", not "Rocket So-Easy-Even-A-Caveman-Can-Do-It". Otherwise, I'm pretty sure my neighbors kids would be taking a Minuteman for a joyride even as we speak.
 
Well, we didn't start any threads afterwards because they definitively answered the age-old question:

What caliber for Sputnik?

:neener:
 
Of course they hit it. They're the U.S. Navy!

You'd be surprised at what they can do... or maybe not.


I was an Airedale, but saw the other toys, too. Neat stuff, and I imagine it's a lot better now, especially with the better GPS sats.

(U.S.N.- '78-'82, AQ Aviation Fire Control Tech)
 
It was great to see that they were able to put ordinance on target as effctively as they did.

I am also betting that some of the other "superpowers" (ie Russia, China) were also very interested in their shooting....in an "oh ****" kinda way.....

Job well done gents !!!!
 
I am also betting that some of the other "superpowers" (ie Russia, China) were also very interested in their shooting
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Some of us might go so far as to say that this presented an exceptional opportunity to display our capabilities...and a learning opportunity for those interested parties. :)
 
Well I don't know about off topic...General gun discussions...Navy Gunners Mates operate and maintain the MK 41 VLS system that fired the missle...Notice the GUN in Gunners Mate...That makes it gun related.

Still active: GMCS(SW)
 
We've had this capability for a very, very, very long time now. What makes this interesting is that it was shot down with a relaitively common missile (SM3) from a common platfrom (CG). Essentially they threw up a wall and let the Sat. hit it. STILL not an easy feat, but not crazy hard.
I would have liked them to use one of the many lasers we have around, but that's another treaty/story.
Anyways good luck
-bix
 
Definitely impressive! Not your average ghost ring, lead the target a little type of shot :)
I can't help but wonder if this wasn't more of a "check out what we can do sucker" type of demo for nations that are stroking their ICBMs, than a serious risk of fuel touching down.

Soo...what caliber for satellites? :p
 
I thought I read that the missile relied on a kinetic energy guided "kill" vehicle rather than a fragmentation blast. Essentially, they shot a VERY fast bus with a VERY smart bullet.

That's just cool.
 
Only the USA can make a shot like that. I hope China and Russia choked watching it!!

The best thing is that the Navy did like it was just another exercise. Sure, we'll have one of our ships in the area lob up a single missile to take that puppy out. No problem. Next mission.

China or Russia might have scrambled their entire Navy (ha ha ha) and lobbed a few salvos of missiles just case.

GO NAVY!
 
Only the USA can make a shot like that. I hope China and Russia choked watching it!!
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Beggin' your pardon, but didn't the Chinese do this with one of their satellites a year or so ago?

I kinda thought this was in response to their shot.

ETA: Gingerbreadman and I posted at almost the same time, and I didn't see his post.
 
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Gingerbreadman said:
Didn't China try this a while back?
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Indeed, and apparently we protested it.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/01/18/china.missile/index.html
U.S. official: Chinese test missile obliterates satellite
POSTED: 1:47 p.m. EST, January 19, 2007

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- China last week successfully used a missile to destroy an orbiting satellite, U.S. government officials told CNN on Thursday, in a test that could undermine relations with the West and pose a threat to satellites important to the U.S. military.

According to a spokesman for the National Security Council, the ground-based, medium-range ballistic missile knocked an old Chinese weather satellite from its orbit about 537 miles above Earth. The missile carried a "kill vehicle" and destroyed the satellite by ramming it...
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Beggin' your pardon, but didn't the Chinese do this with one of their satellites a year or so ago?
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I've heard speculation that because the Chinese satellite was in a much higher and stable orbit, it was an easier shot. I don't know if its true or not. I can think of several things that could both verify and discount this theory, so I dunno.

Both Russia and China have shot down satellites before, and we did it once before in 1985 as well.
 
Yep, China did this a year ago, not that the Navy's shot wasn't real nice too.

However,:uhoh: the satellite China shot down was quite a bit further out (~ 400 miles further) then the one shot down by the Navy this week.

What makes it all really funny is that China got mad at us for shooting down our satellite even though they did the exact same thing to one that WAS NOT a threat to earth. :rolleyes:
 
REgolith, we've also shot down satellites with lasers before and have also done hunter-killer satellites. Its just another tool in the box for us.
-bix
 
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