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You don’t always have missile interceptors on the target land. Aegis is a mobile platform that can be deployed anywhere, and being overflown is a real possibili
by Shank 5y ago
You don’t always have missile interceptors on the target land. Aegis is a mobile platform that can be deployed anywhere, and being overflown is a real possibility. For example, your missile defense platform might be off the coast several km, and the target to intercept flies over it aiming for the land behind it. In this scenario, any interceptor launched from that platform would have to “catch up.”
- jhgb 5y agoNo, it would just have to reach the target interception area in time. That's not quite the same as "catching up", although of course the possible radius within which this area must be located shrinks as a function of speed ratios. And if by "flies over it", you meant the defense system as "it", that's still effectively point defense. Although this particular situation is unlikely for obvious reasons; the chance that your defense system would be exactly below the flight path of a missile while not being its target is small.