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- Path: sparky!uunet!dtix!mimsy!mojo.eng.umd.edu!cadlab.eng.umd.edu!SYSMGR
- From: sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu (Doug Mohney)
- Newsgroups: sci.space
- Subject: Re: Who can launch antisats? (was Re: DoD launcher use)
- Message-ID: <1993Jan05.172440.14403@eng.umd.edu>
- Date: 5 Jan 93 17:24:40 GMT
- References: <1992Dec14.144135.14439@ke4zv.uucp> <1992Dec14.221347.3359@iti.org> <1992Dec16.092029.27518@ke4zv.uucp> <1992Dec16.202219.2063@eng.umd.edu> <1992Dec17.110426.8596@ke4zv.uucp> <1992Dec17.1 <1992Dec21.164114.1@fnala.fnal.gov> <1992Dec24.022440.27944@ke4zv.u
- Reply-To: sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu
- Organization: Computer Aided Design Lab, U. of Maryland College Park
- Lines: 47
-
- In article <ewright.726191472@convex.convex.com>, ewright@convex.com (Edward V. Wright) writes:
- >In <1993Jan04.205508.23361@eng.umd.edu> sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu (Doug Mohney) writes:
- >
- >>Not to mention the EMP problems you'd cause for commercial sats and (possibly)
- >>electronics on the ground.... It would be bad.
-
- >Not necessarily. At least, not if you plan for it.
- >
- >Consider this scenario.
-
- [Cold War scenario of two fleets closing together to do battle on the high seas]
-
- >Shortly before the satellite gets within detection range of
- >your fleet, you launch an SLBM, taking out your enemy's nice,
- >new, expensive satellite.
-
- > Both fleets get hit by EMP, but you
- >are prepared because you know it's coming. Your enemy isn't
- >expecting it. Worse, he has all his planes sitting out, exposed,
- >on the flight deck, waiting to launch when the satellite gives
- >him targeting information. If you're lucky, you've taken out
- >all his AEW. This puts you in a very good position....
-
- While it's nice to think of nuclear weapons as just a bigger bomb, it ain't so.
-
- Launch of a SLBM would automatically cause panic buttons to be hit all over the
- place and would result in a MUCH higher alert status of strategic nuclear
- forces. Which thereby puts the Other Side into a higher alert status and
- pretty soon everyone is sweating more profusely than either first imagined...
-
- Secondly, U.S. forces are EMP hardened, so all you've done is:
-
- A) Raised the level of tension
- B) Invited attack on any space assets you've got
- C) Tossed public opinion and the world community off your side;
- NOT a good thing.
-
- Tomorrow's battlegrounds are as much as hearts and minds as they are of men and
- machines.
-
- Thirdly, you don't need a nuke for EMP kills; there are various dark projects
- which perform tricks with conventional explosives and electronics which will
- fit inside of a Tomahawk or their Russian counterpart.
-
-
- I have talked to Ehud, and lived.
- -- > SYSMGR@CADLAB.ENG.UMD.EDU < --
-