Re: Star Wars is so ridiculous that...


"William Longyard" <longyard@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:74zrf.5957$mj1.4805@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> "Preacher Of The Church Of Gumbo"
>> Not only that but he didn't distinguish between range of potential
>> missile targets. Trying to detect and destroy a Russian missile heading
>> to Las Vegas is much different than a Korean missile heading to Japan.
>> Some of the short range technology items are similar to the missiles
>> given to the Israelis (were they called Patriots or something?) during
>> the first Persian Gulf War (none of which actually hit a target) and
>> these are much different than lang range devices.
>
>> JH
>
> Except you forgot to mention that the Patriot system has been developed
> and the Israelis continue to believe in its ability to defend them. They
> must be right-wing repuglicrat Rush clones.
>
> Bill Longyard
It certainly must save time to live in a dialectical world, William.
You don't have to read the fine print. There isn't any.
___________________________________
"The results of these studies are disturbing. They suggest that the
Patriot's intercept rate during the Gulf War was very low. The evidence from
these preliminary studies indicates that Patriot's intercept rate could be
much lower than ten percent, possibly even zero." (Statement of Theodore A.
Postol before the U.S. House Of Representatives Committee on Government
Operations, April 7, 1992)

Peter D. Zimmerman of The Center For Strategic and International Studies
also testified that day. Zimmerman testified that:

"initial reports such as the one which appeared to claim 41 o out of 42
Scuds had been intercepted were not credible. No Missile system is that
good, even after long combat experience, and certainly not the first time
out." (Testimony of Peter D. Zimmerman before the House Government
Operations Committee April 7, 1992)
Zimmerman also held the view the Scuds were generally not successful. He
compared the Patriot performances in Israel and Saudi Arabia and found each
of them to be limited.

"Consider the situation in Israel. On average four Patriots were launched
at each incoming Scud which was engaged. This expenditure of interceptors
was due to the standard firing doctrine and the fact that, early in the war,
some interceptors were fired against debris and false targets. According to
Israel Defense Forces reports, somewhat fewer than one half of all attempted
intercepts met with success-the origin of the U.S. Army's figure of almost
50% success. Certainly no more than one Patriot from the quartet launched
for each engaged Scud will intercept successfully (if the first hits, the
Scuds trajectory is likely to be so perturbed that the second Patriot will
not fuze close to the target etc.).
And so for every eight Patriots launched, there will be only one success.
>From a box of random unlabeled videotapes of intercepts over Israel, seven
out of every eight will show misses, demonstrating that it is a lot easier
to find video of misses than of hits. There are reasonable estimates which
suggest that about 80% of the intercepts were successful.

In Saudi Arabia an average of three interceptors was launched at each Scud
which was engaged, so one random film clip in three would show a hit if 100%
of all engaged Scuds had been destroyed. That was not the case, so the
fraction of videotapes showing successes would actually be less than one out
of three or 27%. The correct result for Saudi events is that only about 27%
of all random news videotapes would show successes but 73% would show
misses. The Saudis situation is not significantly different from the Israeli
case, and in neither instance would one find very many successes."
(Testimony of Peter D. Zimmerman before the House Government Operations
Committee, April 7, 1992)

__________________________________________

There were other witnesses, but those without political agenda generally
agreed that Patriots were a failure. They do not defend, and they do not
deter, in the context of Israeli deployment. They do, however, cost a
tremendous amount of money, and divert their owners from other means of
avoiding death and destruction to their cities and populations.

I imagine that the French politicians of the day waved off any diplomatic
compromises, any initiatives to avoid war, relying upon the illusion that
the Maginot Line would protect them.








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