The NFIRE satellite will use an infrared sensor to look for the plumes from missiles such as this one, which was launched on 21 March by the US Missile Defense Agency to test tracking technology (Image: Missile Defense Agency)/New ScientistFrom The Danger Room:
Ballistic missile defense as we know it is all-but-dead, one of the country's top military just declared. But already, there are new anti-missile priorities taking shape.
General James Cartwright, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, relayed the message yesterday to the defense industry. "Ballistic missiles are about as passé as e-mail," he said to an audience of missile-defense contractors. "Nobody does it anymore. It's just gone... no stupid person, enemy out there would be so silly as to come at us with a minimum-energy trajectory. Give me a break. Even the people we would call 'Third World' have gone beyond that."
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My Comment: The General is right. President Obama and many key members of Congress have made it very clear that they want this program dead .... and dead it will be.
General Cartwright may be looking for alternative directions .... but it is going to be too late and too little to convince any one that missile defense should continue.