Antimissile Missiles

The only weapons that can stop ballistic missiles today are other missiles. The Patriot missile system uses radar to detect incoming missiles when they are 50 miles (80 kilometers) away. The missile is fired from a launch tube. Within a second, it is flying faster than the speed of sound. Radar waves fired at

the target bounce back and are received by the missile, which flies toward it. The Patriot missile must explode at precisely the right split second to destroy the enemy missile.

Patriot is a short-range antiballistic missile that can deal with small ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. The long­distance ICBMs are so fast and powerful that they have to be stopped much earli­er in their flight, when they are far away from their targets. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) project of the 1980s, nicknamed “Star Wars,” was going to use laser battle stations in orbit to shoot down missiles as they climbed into space. Such powerful lasers have
destroyed missiles in tests, but it is very difficult to get them to work well in the real world. The SDI program was eventu­ally abandoned. Antiballistic missiles are still being developed and tested to deal with ICBMs. As new threats appear in a changing world, future antiballistic mis­siles may be carried by ships at sea so that they can be moved within range of targets in different places.

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SEE ALSO:

• Aircraft, Military • Ballistics

• Bomber • Fighter Plane • Global

Positioning System • Radar • Rocket

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