Why It's So Hard to Shoot Down a Nuclear Warhead
Midcourse missile defense explained.
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By Kyle Mizokami
Nov 29, 2016
127
The United States has formidable missile defenses designed to shoot down enemy nuclear warheads. The programs have been fantastically expensive because, as it turns out, intercepting objects in space is really, really hard.
This video from the Center for Strategic & International Studies shows how the United States plans to shoot down nuclear warheads in the so-called midcourse phase, after the nuclear missile has blasted off and lofted its nuclear warhead payload into lower earth orbit. During this phase, the missile falls back to Earth while the warhead—or warheads—sail through space on a ballistic arc at a speed of 4.34 miles a second, on a course that will lead them to re-enter Earth's atmosphere over their target. After that, well, you know what happens.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a24071/how-missile-defense-works/
