"Missile intercept in 3, 2, 1..." Topic

Whoosh-BOOM!

U.S. Navy tests their missile interceptor over Lake Erie, with some great shots of the missile in launch, flight, and destroy phases: YouTube link

"That blowed up real good!"

That's USS Lake Erie, but still very cool. :)

Dangnabbit. Teaches me to skim the article and go straight for the vid. My apologies to the officers and crew of the USS Lake Erie. Job well done!

looks like a sea going patriot system.

Heavier missile than the Patriot, but it does the same job.

BZ to the officers and crew of USS Lake Erie!

Woohoo! PMRF represent!

Yeah, check your work Parzival! Hell I was thinking, "Damn, that close to home and I missed it? I'd have taken a day off of work to watch that!" Another opportunity to see really impressive fireworks gone. Rats.

I was curious what they're expecting to intercept on Lake Erie in the first place – it hasn't seen naval action since the war of 1812 ;)

Well, maybe rowdy vacationers in the summer… seems like overkill for intercepting tossed beer bottles though ;)

You must have forgotten about "The Great Northern War of 1995", where the infamous Sheriff Bud Boomer led a small intrepid band of militia on an aborted invasion of Canada.

link

Anymore when I see these kinds of high end military test all I think is, there goes another high school with no books, music or art.

"I was curious what they're expecting to intercept on Lake Erie in the first place – it hasn't seen naval action since the war of 1812 ;)".

Russian or Canadian bombers, ICBMs, UFOs, and those giant gaggles of Canadian geese with the funny accents, of course.

I thought the lake myself at first too. Beautiful footage.

UFOs are a lot more likely than Canadian bombers!

" there goes another high school with no books, music or art." And I think there grows up another generation without the fear of imminent distruction by nuclear war.

Anymore when I see these kinds of high end military test all I think is, there goes another high school with no books, music or art.

Based on what? Defense is a federal expenditure, not a state or local one. High schools are paid for by state and local budgets, not the federal budget. As for federal spending on education, it has increased exponentially from the Reagan administration on, with ever more money going into it and no real cuts of any sort. So defense spending has zero negative impact on education spending on the government side at any stage.

But consider this: defense spending on new weapons systems goes into the world of high tech research and development, from electronic components and computer systems and software to propulsion systems and lightweight construction materials. All of these have applications outside of defense, from space exploration and aircraft design down to consumer goods like automobiles and more, which means that the designing corporations are actively increasing the value of the money spent and growing the economy as a whole. These budgets also mean that the corporations which develop the systems are constantly looking to hire engineers, programmers, technicians and skilled fabricators (and paying them top notch wages, too). The corporations are also paying their state and local taxes— especially property taxes— which revenues go to fund the very high schools and programs you mention. Furthermore, the corporations' highly paid employees are also paying state and local taxes, too, as well as demanding quality education for their own children, thus increasing the likelihood that their local high schools will in fact add "books, music or art" which they otherwise would not have had. You wanna find good schools? Go to a community where high tech companies are located. You wanna find bad schools? Go to a community that relies solely on government largess for everything (and probably whines about defense spending and space exploration, too).

But at least one thing is clear: some of that school money needs to be spent on educating people on basic economics.

Other than that, amen to PHGamer's sentiment. The best way not to worry about a rogue state like North Korea is to demonstrate very publicly that you don't have to worry. "You call that a missile? This is a missile."
Hoo-yah!

Just a reminder that this is the step up from the SM3 that plugged a satellite back in 2009.

Best answer to a lunatic threatening to launch missiles is to say, 'awww, look at the cute little baby missiles!'

"If you can read, thank a teacher. If you can read in English, thank a soldier".

Saw it on a tee shirt once, as I recall.

It raises a number of issues, not all of which I'm entirely comfortable with (and is very Anglophilic [or English speaking centered*]) but makes an interesting point:

(What some of us may fondly think of as) Western civilisation needs both Warriors and Educators to flourish, and they both need the tools of their trades to do their jobs.

Trying to pitch one against the other in a bidding war for our GDP is a zero-sum game.

John T

* Though could easily apply in any other language you fancy (though I'm not going to dothe translation for you!)

A friend in the Canadian Forces related a story with a similar theme to the one John T. brought up.

He and another soldier were sitting in uniform on a bench and a pair of girls in full hippie regalia strolled by and gave them a dirty look.

My friend was about to get steamed but the other guy said, "Hey, don't worry about it. They may not like it, but we do what we do so that they can do what they do."

Overall, I think they're right and any country that is going to thrive in the long run needs both strong civil and military institutions.