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Is there a consensus on whether a nuclear missile shield would be feasible, regardless the technology? Basically, if the US invested 1% of the GDP into develop
by RivieraKid 5y ago
Is there a consensus on whether a nuclear missile shield would be feasible, regardless the technology?
Basically, if the US invested 1% of the GDP into developing a missile shield, could it achieve let's say a 98% success rate against incoming missiles?
- HWR_14 5y agoThe issue is global conflicts have a lot of missiles. Your 98% success rate probably still means most Americans are dead. IIRC Russia's ICBMs are measured in tens of thousands, and each one could take out a major US city (until we ran out)
- nradov 5y agoRussia has only about 1600 operational nuclear warheads on a much smaller number of ICBMS. It's not tens of thousands. https://thebulletin.org/premium/2021-03/nuclear-notebook-russian-nuclear-weapons-2021/ https://thebulletin.org/premium/2021-03/nuclear-notebook-rus... But even with that lower number you're correct that we have no hope of defending against a major strike.
- HWR_14 5y agoAh, I had thought 1600 missiles x MIRV multiples of at least 12. But thanks for the correction. I'm sure people in Nampa, Idaho will sleep safer.