I like the thermal images especially when it hits. Looking at the ball make me think that if it was real, thaad was hitting live nuclear head, what will happen then?
Well inside the nuke there is some active material - plutonium? Will it burn or will salt the ground bellow?
Quote from: spaceStalker on 10/05/2011 07:12 pmWell inside the nuke there is some active material - plutonium? Will it burn or will salt the ground bellow? burn up on re-entry.
Thermonuclear bombs also typically have depleted uranium in them to act as a mass tamper for the explosion and generate additional yield from fission under bombardment from fusion neutrons. Same story - toxic, slightly radioactive material dispersed over a wide area.
Sigh. If you were in a tank hit by a sabot round with a DU penetrator AND you had your head in at the point of penetration AND you deeply inhaled before it took your head off, you would suffer the amount of radiation you get from a radium wristwatch in a year.
Quote from: Downix on 10/05/2011 07:45 pmQuote from: spaceStalker on 10/05/2011 07:12 pmWell inside the nuke there is some active material - plutonium? Will it burn or will salt the ground bellow? burn up on re-entry. If these were Plutonium warheads, and destruction occurred in the lower atmosphere, it would be a environmental disaster in the area.
MDA finally got the video added to their THAAD media site:http://www.mda.mil/news/gallery_thaad.html#Video11Compared to the one on Fox News this one has wide angle footage of both launches.This program had major problems in the mid to late 1990's. It is very satisfying to see how well it is performing now.
THAAD is really just an upgrade or replacement to the old Patriot missle defense systems that were used in the first gulf war, right ?
Perhaps they are more accurate, but we are still targetting SCUD-class missles here, right ?
If these were Plutonium warheads, and destruction occurred in the lower atmosphere, it would be a environmental disaster in the area. One microscopic Plutonium particle in you lung is a guarantee for lung cancer. A re-entry burn up in the atmosphere could be even worse, since the Plutonium does not burn into nothing, it just breaks down to smaller and smaller particles at a higher altitude, making the danger more widespread.
Quote from: Lurker Steve on 10/06/2011 02:27 pmTHAAD is really just an upgrade or replacement to the old Patriot missle defense systems that were used in the first gulf war, right ? THAAD is not a PAC-3 replacement or an upgrade. It is a totally different system. The two systems complement each other. The US has a multi-tiered approach to ballistic missile defense. THAAD & Patriot make up the land based lower tier systems.The need for THAAD was made apparent during the 1991 Gulf War that exposed Patriot's inability to defend a large area vs ballistic missiles. Patriot is good for point defense. THAAD's niche is expanded coverage area (AREA is part of the acronym).