[FPSPACE] Weapons Above

[David Anderman]

There have been two classes of "superpower" ASATS in the past:

Soviet weapons designed to attack targets in high LEO (above the range of 
Scuds). These were relatively primitive devices, albeit beyond what NK is 
capable of today.

The US ASAT. Although not primitive, it was designed for pinpoint kinetic 
kill at low altitude.

Although neither of these systems could be imitated successfully by the 
nations that currently fly Scuds, there is no reason to believe that 
deploying a bucketful of buckshot by these countries would be an 
ineffective weapon. Just because neither we nor the Soviets tried this 
means that it wouldn't work.



At 03:41 PM 6/3/2005, DwayneDay wrote:
>But those things would be neither cheap nor easy.  The "Scuds with a 
>bucket of sand" argument is based entirely upon the claim that ASATs can 
>be cheap and easy.  But I don't think anybody has ever proven that.  And 
>the countervailing evidence--such as the high cost and limited 
>capabilities of past superpower ASATs--tends to, er, counterail this argument.