Pure kinetic energy. 65 ton missile going 3,600 miles an hour explodes above the target. Everything within half a mile radius is destroyed by long tungsten rods instead of a mushroom cloud.

If the US takes a dislike to something we can hit it anywhere on the globe, within 60 minutes of launch. Coming in 2008, or thereabouts.

Another missile that's smaller, less likely to provoke countries is a 14 foot Waverider missile. It goes Mach 5, btw. Not that impressive until you realize it can sustain that speed for an hour. By using hypersonic waves to keep its speed up, not rocket fuel.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/4203874.html?page=1

I love our future weapons.

Now we just have to convince China and Russia that it isn't a nuclear assault on their nations.

Does a half-mile radius of destruction make it a WMD?

No. Its just a bigger bomb, without any lasting effects.

Biological weapons have the risk of spreading throughout the population.

Nuclear weapons are truly weapons of mass destruction, making scores of miles uninhabitable for centuries and potentially slaughtering hundreds of thousands of people.

Chemical weapons also make wide areas uninhabitable, as deadly poisonous gas can settle in cracks and whatnot only to escape later and kill someone.

edit: evidently the MOAB isn't a FAE.

I still wonder what the destructive footprint of our FAE's are...

Its a WMD

Weapon of Mediocre Destruction!

A fast strike response on an elusive target. Seems cool and valid until I realise that the problem with this fast option is command and control of it.

"How good is this information?" is the first question that gets asked about intel. No one is going to pass rumor and suspicion up to POTUS.

Let's say we get intelligence that Osama is right over there. This information gets sent up a chain of command until it reaches someone with authority to act on that intelligence. This authority directs action to be performed, which is passed down thru a chain of command to the people who perform the action, in this case, an attack of some sort.

Now with a Ballistic Option, the intel has to be routed up to the President, thru how many layers of bureaucracy, each making sure the information is valid. Cross checking with other organizations, both our own and our allies, because the President is not going to order a ballistic launch on the word of some Pakistani informant in the mountains of Afgansitan. This makes the whole rapid response deal a joke.

The real way to act fast is to put authority to act at the local level, and have raw intelligence flow down to the from all bureaucractic organs to the local level. Let the local commander on the scene get all the raw intell now, let him evalute what he can act on, discard what he cannot. The different intel agencies can still do all their polishing and confirming, but the local guy gets his shot at the target, if he can take it.

Technology is great, but all the technology in the world can't beat one good snitch and authority to act on suspicion and rumor.

Which is why they are working on the X-51 hypersonic missle which would enable local commanders the ability to mount a swift deadly strike from a distance.

Aug. 20, 1998, when the USS Abraham Lincoln Battle Group, stationed in the Arabian Sea, launched Tomahawk cruise missiles at an Al Qaeda training camp in eastern Afghanistan, hoping to take out Osama Bin Laden. With a top speed of 550 mph, the Tomahawks made the 1100-mile trip in 2 hours. By then, Bin Laden was gone missed by less than an hour


What I don't know is how long they had the information on Bin Laden's location, and how long it took decide to give the order to make the strike. I'll assume that the ship was in range, and it takes about an hour to launch an unplanned strike. A local commander is not going to have the authority to call in an X-51 strike, that's the problem.

They are counting on the "new improved" missile to make up for the time that the bureaucracy wastes.

What I don't know is how long they had the information on Bin Laden's location, and how long it took decide to give the order to make the strike. I'll assume that the ship was in range, and it takes about an hour to launch an unplanned strike. A local commander is not going to have the authority to call in an X-51 strike, that's the problem.

They are counting on the "new improved" missile to make up for the time that the bureaucracy wastes.

The local commander of a Carrier battle group is general an Admiral, so far as I am aware.

I rather suspect that whoever the commander of one of our carrier groups is, they have a direct line to the national security advisor and the chairman of the joint chiefs. Those are the primary projection of US military power...and we don't put unimportant people in command.

Oh, and doing the trip in 2 hours is ridiculously slow...doing the trip in 30 minutes with a warhead capable of annihilating a half mile radius circle of death...is good.

They are counting on the "new improved" missile to make up for the time that the bureaucracy wastes.

Don't worry, bureaucracy will find a way.