wolit@rabbit.UUCP (07/25/83)
(This discussion probably more properly belongs in fa.arms-d, but we haven't seen much of that group lately -- maybe ARPA didn't like funding the opposition -- so I might as well continue it here.) I just read on the news wire that the Air Force's NKC-135 airborne laser weapons lab successfully "defeated" five AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles fired from an A-7 attack aircraft in a test over the Navy's China Lake test center. This is apparently the test that failed last year. The press, clearly with an eye toward Reagan's "Star Wars" speech, made several comparisons between the Sidewinder and ICBMs that will do much to confuse the subject in the minds of the general public. Does anyone know whether the test was actually supposed to destroy the missiles (which would require an impressively powerful laser) or simply to "blind" them (the AIM-9 is an infrared homer)? My guess is the latter, which is still a good trick, though other, less sophisticated measures, like dropping flares, can also perform a similar task. Jan Wolitzky, BTL Murray Hill (PS: Although the article didn't say so, I assume the Sidewinders were unarmed. Else this interservice rivalry is getting hotter than I thought!)
rwhw@5941ux.UUCP (07/26/83)
Is the comment made by Reagan still humorous? Remember R. Fulton was also laughed at.
@S1-A.ARPA,@MIT-MC:ckaun@aids-unix (04/28/85)
From: ckaun@aids-unix (Carl Kaun) There are areas of valid controversy concerning SDI, where only opinion and estimation serves to guide decision. These I think are best discussed in another newsgroup, but I am enough struck by a failure to use facts when they are readily available (e.g. in a dictionary or almanac) in John Mill's recent posting to this newsgroup, that I am compelled to respond. > ... I would say it is a fair quess that more than half of the U.S. > population lives in and around these seven. Boston, New York, D.C., > Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle. In fact, together these cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas contain about 34.4 million people, comprising somewhat less than 15% of the total U.S. population of 232.6 million people. Mr. Mills could have gotten the total to 17+% if he had mentioned Dallas/Fort Worth, Philadelphia, and Detroit instead of Boston, D.C., and Seattle. In fact, one must combine the metropolitan areas of the 71 largest such areas in the country to total half of the U.S. population. Nor can one infer that seven warheads would kill this many people, since a metropolitan area is quite extensive, and since there is no predicting which few of the warheads, many targeted on military and other non-civilian targets, might elude a 99.9% effective system. (Of course, it may also be currently argued that a 99.9% effective system is unrealistic.) My point is not to argue the merits of SDI. It is to argue for the use of realistic facts where possible, so that we do not lead ourselves or others astray in carelessness. And I do find I am more interested in discussions about space colonization, or even commercialization, on this newsgroup. Carl Kaun (ckaun@aids-unix)
@S1-A.ARPA,@MIT-MC:CARTER@RU-BLUE.ARPA (04/29/85)
From: _Bob <Carter@RUTGERS.ARPA>
From: ckaun at aids-unix (Carl Kaun)
There are areas of valid controversy concerning SDI, where only
opinion and estimation serves to guide decision. These I think
are best discussed in another newsgroup,
I emphatically agree. There is (and has for some time been) a
discussion of this topic on ARMS-D, and I think msgs on this topic
should be directed to that list.
Judging as a follower of that discussion, this is a topic about which
their is dispute about not only the political ideas, but pretty much
every level of the technical apparatus too. And to some extent the
people attracted to this topic (on both sides) tend to be true
believers.
So, this subject sort of tends to monopolize the digest where it
appears, with lots of long msgs from a relatively few readers. This
excludes other topics pretty effectively.
So, without being for censorship, I urge the moderator to urge SDI
correspondents to submit to ARMS-D, not SPACE.
_B