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by Someone 2583 days ago
You can’t hit an ICBM early in its flight because you won’t have seen it yet/haven’t figured out yet whether it is heading for you. You don’t want to hit it late in its flight because it will be above your territory, and you don’t want to run the risk of dropping radioactive waste there.

In-between, it is over 100km high up (ICBMs reach heights of >1000km. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercontinental_ballistic_mis...)
1 comments
gridlockd 2583 days ago
What? If somebody launches a nuclear ICBM, I don't care where it's heading, I want it downed ASAP, preferably right next to where it launched.

An ICBM also likely isn't going to be above my territory when the propellant drops. After that the tiny missile heads are going to be very hard to hit. That's why you need these laser systems in space (the "Star Wars" program) so you can hit them right after launch.

Lastly, the risk of "dropping radioactive waste" is far lower than the risk of having a nuclear warhead detonate at its target destination.

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Someone 2582 days ago
”If somebody launches a nuclear ICBM, I don't care where it's heading, I want it downed ASAP”

Countries do missile tests. Some of them do not announce them because they want to avoid embarrassment when it doesn’t launch or goes boom.

If you attack any launch that looks like an ICBM, you will attack those, too, certainly if you want to down it “right next to where it launched”, as that gives you a very short time to decide whether the missile is armed with nuclear explosives.

I think that what you say comes down to that you’re willing to risk war to deny countries of doing any ICBM missile test.

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gridlockd 2581 days ago
Nobody so far has tested an actual nuclear-armed ICBM. Sure, maybe North Korea is testing ICBMs unannounced, and it's a big problem, but we "know" they aren't nuclear-armed. If the technology existed, these should be shot down, no matter the payload.

> I think that what you say comes down to that you’re willing to risk war to deny countries of doing any ICBM missile test.

"Accidentally" shooting down an unannounced ICBM out of precaution is not necessarily an act of war, nor will it necessarily lead to war.

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