(03-16-2009 12:56 PM)SumOfAllFears Wrote:  ABM Missile has cost $100 billion, and is still not close to operational. It's deployment and operational costs could cost another $100 billion. We have no choice if Iran and Korea and any other nation looks for the nuclear checkmate. We cannot un-ring that bell so we must push forward because any precieved weakness could cost millions of lives and cost trillions of dollars. ObamaPuppy is weak and will probably be a quitter, and the Russians know he is not ready for prime time.

We have some ABM's in Alaska that are operational. Less than 10.

ABM's are not feasible when you are going against Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicles (MIRV’s). With a ICBM carrying 5 warheads or more, its easy to swamp an ABM system.

An ABM system like we have in Alaska is designed to go against unitary warhead missiles—like those of the Chinese and North Korea,(1 warhead per missile). Its no threat to the Russian missile force.

What scares the hell out of me is that START I Treaty (that limits MIRV’ed ICBM’s) expires in December 2009. After December 2009, the Russians can “reload” their big MIRV capable ICBM’s….and in the meantime we scrapped our large MIRV missile (The Peacekeeper--8 warheads). We crushed our missiles. The Russians didn’t crush theirs.

Negotiations to extend the START 1 Treaty have gone nowhere. We bitched about the Russians invading Georgia and the Russians cancelled the discussions.

do have boomers that can take care of it though. I was always under the impression we did. Park them under the Arctic Ice. M.A.D.

(03-16-2009 12:56 PM)SumOfAllFears Wrote:  ABM Missile has cost $100 billion, and is still not close to operational. It's deployment and operational costs could cost another $100 billion. We have no choice if Iran and Korea and any other nation looks for the nuclear checkmate. We cannot un-ring that bell so we must push forward because any precieved weakness could cost millions of lives and cost trillions of dollars. ObamaPuppy is weak and will probably be a quitter, and the Russians know he is not ready for prime time.

I worked for MDA for a while, so I am familiar w/ this. Your costs are a bit high.

There are challenges to be met, yes. There is some very good work underway in this area. I have the PM on speed dial.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090317/120599733.html

Russia planning large-scale rearmament, predictable given the idiotic direction the US is heading

(03-17-2009 09:47 AM)GGniner Wrote:  http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090317/120599733.html

Russia planning large-scale rearmament, predictable given the idiotic direction the US is heading

Good luck with them funding it, their economy is worse their ours

I've thought about that, if there is any silver lining to the economic mess(which is a global problem) its that it coincided with a weak-minded US administration. Perhaps this will keep Russia from making certain moves, however they did things still as USSR with during bad economies.

Russia announced a modernization of their Military today.

(03-17-2009 08:33 PM)SumOfAllFears Wrote:  Russia announced a modernization of their Military today.

I don't know where they are going to get the money. Their economy is worse than ours. They can't support a large scale rearmament program.

Here is what they are likely to do, based upon their economy and defense infrastructure.

1. "Reload" the MIRV's on their ICBM's. The START Treaty that expires in December limits the number of warheads on missiles. On some of their missiles they went from 6 warheads to 1. But they didn't DESTROY the missiles like the US did. So they pull the missiles out of the silos and load the additional warheads back on.

2. New ballistic missile submarine. They have a design underway to replace the Typhoon, but the problem is that the SLBM missile that is supposed to go on the boat keeps failing its flight tests. Until they get the missile perfected, they aren't building new missile submarines.

That is really all they can afford to do. In the "Bad Old Days" people were worried about waves of Soviet tanks rolling West. Well, their conventional ground forces are a fraction of what they used to be. They can field maybe three armored/motor rifle divisions. The only nation that should be worried is the Ukraine.

The Russian Air Force is basically in mothballs. Pilots aren't flying. They don't have spare parts for their aircraft. All of their Mig 29's are falling apart because of metal fatigue.

The bulk of the Russian Navy is rusting at the dock. They have less than 40 major surface ships that have full crews and are seaworthy. It was a major effort to get a cruiser and destroyer to Venezuela and back --and they took an ocean going tug with them just in case one of the ships had a mechanical problem. Their nuclear submarines are stuck in port because of lack of parts and upkeep, and when they go out they don't go far offshore.

(03-17-2009 11:19 PM)WMD Owl Wrote:  

(03-17-2009 08:33 PM)SumOfAllFears Wrote:  Russia announced a modernization of their Military today.

I don't know where they are going to get the money. Their economy is worse than ours. They can't support a large scale rearmament program.

Here is what they are likely to do, based upon their economy and defense infrastructure.

1. "Reload" the MIRV's on their ICBM's. The START Treaty that expires in December limits the number of warheads on missiles. On some of their missiles they went from 6 warheads to 1. But they didn't DESTROY the missiles like the US did. So they pull the missiles out of the silos and load the additional warheads back on.

2. New ballistic missile submarine. They have a design underway to replace the Typhoon, but the problem is that the SLBM missile that is supposed to go on the boat keeps failing its flight tests. Until they get the missile perfected, they aren't building new missile submarines.

That is really all they can afford to do. In the "Bad Old Days" people were worried about waves of Soviet tanks rolling West. Well, their conventional ground forces are a fraction of what they used to be. They can field maybe three armored/motor rifle divisions. The only nation that should be worried is the Ukraine.

The Russian Air Force is basically in mothballs. Pilots aren't flying. They don't have spare parts for their aircraft. All of their Mig 29's are falling apart because of metal fatigue.

The bulk of the Russian Navy is rusting at the dock. They have less than 40 major surface ships that have full crews and are seaworthy. It was a major effort to get a cruiser and destroyer to Venezuela and back --and they took an ocean going tug with them just in case one of the ships had a mechanical problem. Their nuclear submarines are stuck in port because of lack of parts and upkeep, and when they go out they don't go far offshore.

I re-watched the movie "K-19" (true story) not too long ago and it is honestly how they have done it for the length of their run as a 'Major Military Power' .... they are simply willing to put as many expendable Soldiers in the most Mal-equipped, Dangerous, or simply Outdated machinery to accomplish a single task.

They are notorious for sending out Boats that hardly stay afloat, Planes that have to have Helium Balloon underneath to keep them airborne, and their Sub's stay on the surface more than in the deep due to mechanical issues.

I may be being a bit , but most of you know where I am coming from with this.

Russia does not mind killing 10,000 Troops just to make a point of "Showing Up" as a Super Threat, when the greatest threat they pose, is to their own Cadre.

But still, it will only take a hand full of Nukes and we are down hard and they can get those here on Commercial Airliners if they wanted to badly enough.

Ahhhh .... they will be a Swarm of Locust with Stings to fight and that's why they are there after all ....

.

I hope your right WMD. They do have the largest stockpile of diamonds in the world. The Nuclear rearmament probably doesn't get them where they want to go. I think you are right about Ukraine and others in that area, being attacked by conventional forces. There aggression in that area maybe was a dress rehearsal, and they found out the US cannot stop them. If we move to make them part of NATO we are going to be in for a fight. Just like Taiwan and china, there is going to be a standoff.