Reply to: Kim's got himself a big bomb

[sbakoola]

I can see the future now. Get out of the major cities ... a storm is a 'comin !

[d000hg]

Interesting stuff Spod. I always pictured those as big lumbering things but clearly not.

[darmstadt]

I am sure there is some stuff out of area 51 the Americans have got from the Alien ships that could deal with these commies.

Just drop McDonalds, Coca-Cola and Playboy over communist countries and that'll be them dealt with (Muslim ones as well...)

[minestrone]

I am sure there is some stuff out of area 51 the Americans have got from the Alien ships that could deal with these commies.

[SupremeSpod]

A Korean one perhaps. Clearly you don't so why don't you post the salient facts rather than questions?

My school didn't teach anything about the capabilities of different modern armaments and I very much doubt yours did either unless you're so old you went to school during the cold war.

Salient facts?

look at the speeds involved.

boost phase: 3 to 5 minutes (shorter for a solid rocket than for a liquid-propellant rocket); altitude at the end of this phase is typically 150 to 400 km (93 to 250 mi) depending on the trajectory chosen, typical burnout speed is 7 km/s (4.3 mi/s), up to the speed of Low Earth Orbit.

midcourse phase: approx. 25 minutes—sub-orbital spaceflight in an elliptic flightpath; the flightpath is part of an ellipse with a vertical major axis; the apogee (halfway through the midcourse phase) is at an altitude of approximately 1,200 km (750 mi); the semi-major axis is between 3,186 and 6,372 km (1,980 and 3,959 mi); the projection of the flightpath on the Earth's surface is close to a great circle, slightly displaced due to earth rotation during the time of flight; the missile may release several independent warheads, and penetration aids such as metallic-coated balloons, aluminum chaff, and full-scale warhead decoys.

reentry phase (starting at an altitude of 100 km (62 mi)): 2 minutes – impact is at a speed of up to 4 km/s (2.5 mi/s) (for early ICBMs less than 1 km/s (0.62 mi/s));

I can't quote Trident figures because the boys and girls at "Mass Consultants" would throw a tulip-fit.

I think we can safely say that a Korean ICBM would have better performance than a WW2 German V2 but if you disagree, have a look at the V2 performance here... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2

Hth.

[minestrone]

I think I read that the North have so much conventional artillery aimed at Seoul that they could destroy it in a day.

[d000hg]

So, you think a fighter jet can intercept an ICBM?

Did you go to the same school as SASGURU?

A Korean one perhaps. Clearly you don't so why don't you post the salient facts rather than questions?

My school didn't teach anything about the capabilities of different modern armaments and I very much doubt yours did either unless you're so old you went to school during the cold war.

[darmstadt]

So, you think a fighter jet can intercept an ICBM?

Only those flown by CUK pilots, with the obligatory spagehtti...

[SupremeSpod]

I was thinking a fighter plane actually. I doubt NK missiles are going to be travelling at mach 5...

So, you think a fighter jet can intercept an ICBM?

Did you go to the same school as SASGURU?

[d000hg]

Yeah because Patriot missiles work so well...

MIM-104 Patriot - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I was thinking a fighter plane actually. I doubt NK missiles are going to be travelling at mach 5...

[Platypus]

Surely a NK bomb lumbering it's way across the sky would be child's play to bring down. Of course the issue of fallout is then raised but stopping it going off should be OK.

Yeah because Patriot missiles work so well...

MIM-104 Patriot - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[d000hg]

Surely a NK bomb lumbering it's way across the sky would be child's play to bring down. Of course the issue of fallout is then raised but stopping it going off should be OK.

[NickFitz]

"America, China, Russia, France and the UK have insisted that the nuclear weapons being developed by North Korea are the bad ones that bring fear and uncertainty not the good ones that bring peace and stability."

- North Korea’s nuclear weapons aren’t the type that bring peace and stability, insist nuclear states

[OwlHoot]

Quite

Revealed: the £130bn hidden cost of Trident replacement | Politics | The Guardian

Money well spent IMHO, as long as the UK isn't just paying the Yanks for the finished product.

High-tech projects like that have a trickle down effect, and could benefit the UK in all kinds of ways, such as safer and more efficient nuclear power and more arms sales, and of course maintaining an effective defence.

[barrydidit]

It is actually a small bomb which is more worrying. What the yanks are most worried about is them strapping a nuke to a long range missile, it only requires a small device to wipe out DC or NYC

That last missile launch (the one that was intended to play 'patriotic songs') was said to be capable of reaching West Coast of US only, so no danger to DC. Not much comfort if you're in California mind.

North Korean rocket 'can reach US west coast 10,000km away' - Telegraph

I would have added the DPR view on proceedings, but their website hasn't got any mention of it yet. Some tourist information, if anyone's interested