The Boston Globe had a good editorial piece on the Star Wars project, worth a look.
Instead of directing finite resources toward protecting America against likely threats, he is lavishing billions of dollars on a system that has not been tested under the realistic conditions that would obtain in the unlikely event America came under attack from ballistic missiles launched by North Korea. Instead of funding research that might one day make possible an effective defense against ballistic missiles, Bush is spending $10.2 billion this year – the single biggest item in the defense budget – on a system whose flaws independent scientists regard as insurmountable.
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3 responses to “'Star Wars': The sequel”
Re-run of 20 years ago under Reagan. 🙁
Not necessarily; while the original SDI were a strategic bluff, the research programs have produced a lot of spin-offs, among which are practical rail-gun technology, whose naval applications are discussed below. Maybe the Irish Navy could use them on those Spanish trawlers.
http://www.physics.northwestern.edu/classes/2001Fall/Phyx135-2/19/railgun.htm
http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~js/space/lectures/lec26.html
I also linked to an article about such technology last week
https://www.gavinsblog.com/mt/archives/001296.html