According to an explosive new article from the Los Angeles times, the US missile defense system is not only outdated, but, if put to the test, would most likely not even work to properly protect us. Not only that, but the United States is apparently very vulnerable to a long range missile attack.
Off The Grid news had this to sum up the lengthy Los Angeles Times article:
“The Los Angeles Times reported that the United States is vulnerable to a long-range missile attack, even though the Defense Department spent $10 billion on technologies designed to stop such assaults.
A Times investigation discovered that the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) failed completely in its mission to develop a shield capable of preventing enemy missiles from hitting North America. Disturbing facts uncovered by The Times included:
- All of the anti-missile defenses created by MDA could be easily thwarted by the simple strategy of launching large numbers of decoy missiles at American soil.
- The MDA spent $5.4 billion developing a weapon called the Airborne Laser that was so ineffective it was scrapped in 2012. The weapon was a laser beam designed to destroy missiles in flight. It never worked and even if it had, the laser was fired from Boeing 747 jets that could be shot down by enemy missiles or fighter planes.
- Another weapon, the Kinetic Energy interceptor, was designed to destroy other missiles but was abandoned because it was too big to fit on Navy ships. It cost $1.7 billion.
- A third weapons system, the Multiple Kill Vehicle, was so ineffective it was never tested even though the MDA spent $700 million on it.
- The cornerstone of the missile defense efforts, a floating radar system called the Sea Based X Band Radar, or SBX, is also a failure. The SBX was incapable of tracking the most likely enemy missile attack even though it cost $2.2 billion.
“If an enemy launched decoys along with real missiles, U.S. radars could be fooled, causing rocket-interceptors to be fired at the wrong objects — and increasing the risk that actual warheads would slip through,” The Times wrote of SBX.
The LA Times isn’t the only one that is critical of the Pentagon.
“The management of the organization is one of technologists in their hobby shop,” L. David Montague, the former president of missile systems for Lockheed Corp, said of MDA. “They don’t know the nitty-gritty of what it takes to make something work.”
It looks as if America may be more vulnerable to attack than we thought — and the Pentagon knows it.”