[117299] in Cypherpunks
Re: Orbital Weapons Platform
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (William H. Geiger III)
Tue Aug 31 00:37:12 1999
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1999 00:16:57 -0400
Message-Id: <199908310416.AAA11285@domains.invweb.net>
From: "William H. Geiger III" <whgiii@openpgp.net>
To: Multiple recipients of list <cypherpunks@openpgp.net>
Reply-To: "William H. Geiger III" <whgiii@openpgp.net>
In <3.0.6.32.19990830215738.007d7100@mail.intplsrv.net>, on 08/30/99
at 11:41 PM, Sean Roach <roach_s@mail.intplsrv.net> said:
>If I recall my (biased) college lessons right, the whole reason for
>making a star wars type program an issue in the SALT treaties was because
>we were more balanced in a "mexican standoff". The idea that neither one
>of us would survive cept either of us from firing. That and our
>scientists said that it wouldn't work anywat. I paraphrase my professor,
>from 4 years ago.
> If you knock out 90% of the warheads, that leaves 10%. And since
>several warheads would be heading to every major town anyway, you'd still
>die. End paraphrase.
Well this was the false argument presented by the press and the anti
"starwars" crowd at the time. The reason for having such a defence was not
to stop a total launch by the russians but to have some type of defence
that could stop an accidental launch or a small attack from a rouge
nation.
I don't recall it being mentioned publicly but I am sure the DOD studied
the use of such a system against targets other than missiles. A space
based weapons platform could be used to attack land, air & sea forces of
an enemy. Imagine being able to wage a war without ever having to launch a
plane or put troops on the ground. Hit a few buttons on a keyboard and
destroy whatever you want to, anywhere in the world.
--
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