Archived material Access restricted Article
Rantburg

Today's Front Page   View All of Thu 07/15/2004 View Wed 07/14/2004 View Tue 07/13/2004 View Mon 07/12/2004 View Sun 07/11/2004 View Sat 07/10/2004 View Fri 07/09/2004
1
2004-07-15 China-Japan-Koreas
Defense News, "U.S. Develops Missile Targeting N.K.’s Nuclear Facilities
Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.
Posted by Mark Espinola 2004-07-15 12:44:42 AM|| || Front Page|| [11128 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 Don't forget to target various Iranian nuke sites.
Posted by Capt America  2004-07-15 12:58:54 AM|| [http://captamerica.blogspot.com/]  2004-07-15 12:58:54 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 Already locked and loaded.
Posted by Mark Espinola 2004-07-15 1:00:06 AM||   2004-07-15 1:00:06 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 No they havn't, nope, move along. Nk safe, soups on.
Posted by Lucky 2004-07-15 1:17:15 AM||   2004-07-15 1:17:15 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 What Lucky said. Oh, and Kimmie? Feel free to use that nice new sat phone we sent over.
Posted by Seafarious  2004-07-15 1:26:22 AM||   2004-07-15 1:26:22 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 Is that the American-style sat phone (that tells us where he is so that the Predator can nail him) or the Israeli-style sat phone (3 ounces of C4 inside the earpiece)?
Posted by Steve White  2004-07-15 1:39:41 AM||   2004-07-15 1:39:41 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 Wonder how many of these a B-52 can carry? 12 on the wings and 16 in the belly? Thirty or so BUFFs flying out of Andersen could do some serious renovation of the NORK infrastructure.
Posted by RWV 2004-07-15 1:40:44 AM||   2004-07-15 1:40:44 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 Something smells about this.The US Army does not develope weapons for the USAF.Further missiles have motors,while bombs don't.(A missile you can fire from a distance,a bomb you kinda have to be overhead to drop.)This sounds like garbled account of weapon USAF huurriedly developed for Gulf War of '91.The US filled the barrel of US Army 8" artillery cannon w/high-explosives and a delayed fuse,making a 4,000lb.bomb.Possib a new version w/guidance package added has been introduced,and some were sent to Korea as PR to show Koreans we have "wonder weapons" to make up for withdrawing troops.If I remember correctly could only be dropped by F-111's(now retired) and F-15Es.The really large air-to-ground missile the USAF has are 2,000lb.cruise missiles that are used by bombers,and I find it hard to believe any USAF General would be stupid enough to base scarce bomber resources in Korea.Aside from anti-sabotage concerns,any NK agent w/binocs and cell phone could warn North bombers were launching from South.
Posted by Stephen 2004-07-15 1:44:16 AM||   2004-07-15 1:44:16 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 Steve, let's give Dear Leader a call and find out.
Posted by Seafarious  2004-07-15 1:44:31 AM||   2004-07-15 1:44:31 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 Ask and ye shall receive... literally...
Posted by .com 2004-07-15 1:45:06 AM||   2004-07-15 1:45:06 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 What a bird! Another "your welcome" from our cold warrior generation!
Posted by Lucky 2004-07-15 1:52:47 AM||   2004-07-15 1:52:47 AM|| Front Page Top

#11 This also smells:

When discharged from an aircraft, the missile is apparently capable of penetrating hundreds of meters below ground in a second ....

We're good but we're not that good. To get anything like that sort of penetration the thing would have to come in at something like orbital velocity.
Posted by AzCat 2004-07-15 4:17:28 AM||   2004-07-15 4:17:28 AM|| Front Page Top

#12 The NKs have the upper hand because they know that there's a possibility Kerry will be elected.
Posted by virginian 2004-07-15 7:39:04 AM||   2004-07-15 7:39:04 AM|| Front Page Top

#13 We've had these for a while. It's called the B-61.
Posted by CRS  2004-07-15 10:35:35 AM||   2004-07-15 10:35:35 AM|| Front Page Top

#14 Steven-
Actually, the comment about the Army indicated to me that there really might be something here. What this sounds like to me is a project I had heard about some time before I retired that would put the GBU-28 BunkerBuster onto a booster assembly that would give it a standoff capability or enable it to be fired from a ground based launcher.
Yes, it would be a USAF weapon - but the US Army is responsible for the adminstrative procurement and manufacture of bombs, like the GBU-28.
And I agree with AzCat - hundreds of meters ain't gonna happen unless you drop it from orbit, but a high altitude boosted drop might get you a hundred meters of penetration. Also, the basing info makes no sense at all - but hey, if it drives Kimmie another few inches up the wall, I say tell 'em we're gonna base 'em in Itawewon..*S*

Mike

Mike
Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2004-07-15 11:37:25 AM||   2004-07-15 11:37:25 AM|| Front Page Top

#15 CRS knows the score!
Posted by Shipman 2004-07-15 11:39:04 AM||   2004-07-15 11:39:04 AM|| Front Page Top

#16 Yup. And read the last paragraph, which is where the meat is:

In 2001 Sandia completed work to qualify the B61-11 earth-penetrating bomb as meeting all requirements, resulting in its acceptance as a standard stockpile item. We made alterations to enhance the safety and security of all B61 bombs at field locations. In recognizing the efforts of the B61-11 certification team, the Commander-in-Chief of Strategic Command cited the weapon’s many advantages over the retired B53-1 bomb.

DOD synthetic environments are virtual representations of the physical and behavioral phenomena of complex military systems achieved through mathematical modeling, simulation, and simulators. This is the environment within which DOD’s goal of "virtual prototyping" and "exploration of future warfighting concepts" will be accomplished. More importantly, this environment will be used in analysis and decision support for combat development, material acquisition, test and evaluation, and training processes. For the past several years, LANL has contributed MSA efforts to help develop DOD synthetic environments. USSTRATCOM has requested that LANL develop and provide them with a B61-11 engagement planning tool for use in end-to-end weapon/target engagement analysis.

when those tools are in place, as they would by by now based on the timing given in the article, it means the munition is really available for operational use.
Posted by rkb 2004-07-15 12:20:39 PM||   2004-07-15 12:20:39 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 Can't wait for the KCNA spittle-filled diatribe / response about our 'running-dog naked aggression' and all that fun stuff.
Posted by Raj  2004-07-15 1:07:33 PM||   2004-07-15 1:07:33 PM|| Front Page Top

#18 #11,
To get anything like that sort of penetration the thing would have to come in at something like orbital velocity.

*cough*
Please cooperate with the men in the suits. They are going to escort you to a holding facility shortly.
Posted by Anonymous4021 2004-07-15 1:07:51 PM||   2004-07-15 1:07:51 PM|| Front Page Top

#19  Mike K,after reading article again,you are most likely right.The article is describing a ground-based missile system of a weapon that is also air-launchable.I still think this is just PR to reassure SK's as it describes a weapon undergoing testing,and eventually several will go to Korea.The hundreds of meters penetration could be mistranslation back and forth of hundreds of feet penetration.(Unlikely,but NASA lost a Mars probe over similar kind of mistake.)
Posted by Stephen 2004-07-15 2:05:30 PM||   2004-07-15 2:05:30 PM|| Front Page Top

#20 I don't see where getting something pretty far underground is such a problem when the missile is traveling somewhere between Mach 6 and 15. At several thousand MPH, a well constructed penetrator should be able to do some deep digging. Hundreds of feet? Yes, easily. Hundreds of meters? Definitely maybe.

The X-43's evolutionary designs sound promising. Some of the illustrations at the link look like hot candidates for deep burrowing projectiles.

"... the X-43A is powered by an uncooled hydrogen-fueled scramjet engine, the X-43D would use a cooled, liquid-hydrogen-fueled scramjet. The upgraded engine would provide 10 seconds of power and be capable of accelerating to Mach 15."

I would like to see a nice hybrid package that delivered both trans-sonic cruise flight and Mach 15 termination velocity. The asset could be launched from a stand-off posture, then loiter over an enemy's conventional nuclear missile farm and selectively miscarry any ground based lift-offs. This sort of intercept-at-launch would be an ultimate defensive weapon.
Posted by Zenster 2004-07-16 4:10:19 AM||   2004-07-16 4:10:19 AM|| Front Page Top

09:31 Antiwar
15:54 betamaxguillotine
04:10 Zenster
00:49 FlameBait93268
00:18 Phil Fraering
00:10 tu3031
00:01 tu3031
23:57 Taaaaraysa Kerry
23:53 FlameBait93268
23:44 Fred
23:43 Barbara Skolaut
23:42 Zenster
23:41 AzCat
23:38 Barbara Skolaut
23:36 tu3031
23:36 Barbara Skolaut
23:29 AzCat
23:29 tu3031
23:24 tu3031
23:22 tu3031
23:21 Barbara Skolaut
23:20 AzCat
23:20 Barbara Skolaut
23:19 Verlaine









Paypal:
Google
Search WWW Search rantburg.com