And it can generate acid rain.

It would be better if the rail gun launched a guided projectile.

The projectiles are too small to have guidance systems, and with the extraordinarily high velocity of 20+ km/sec, it can hit any target in less than a few microseconds. The railgun has the advantage of higher rates of fire owing to its unique mechanism.

The small subsonic missiles are far more economical vs missile boats and other near defenseless targets, hypersonic missiles might be nigh unstoppable, but they are far to scarce and expensive to use vs defenseless targets.

But, like I said, such supersonic missiles are useful against defended high-value targets, like aircraft carriers, fortified bunkers and time-sensitive targets such as Scud TELs and S-300 SAM sites.

For a supersonic / hypersonic cruise missile, stealth is irrelevant. Its immense advantage is speed.

A missile like the projected Fasthawk can reach speeds up to Mach 7, enabling it to penetrate enemy missile defenses like the S-300 family, and accumulating over 30 times the kinetic energy of a subsonic cruise missile, thereby enabling it to penetrate heavily fortified bunkers, reach time-sensitive targets and sink enemy ships the size of supertankers with ease.

[I]US taking Harpoon modification by Pak ‘very seriously’[/I]

Washington The US has taken “very seriously” the reports about illegal modifications made in the American-made Harpoon anti-ship missile by Pakistan, to expand capabilities to strike land targets, a potential threat to India, even as Islamabad has agreed for “mutual inspections”.

“This is something that we take very seriously. We have raised the issue with the Pakistani Government. The (Pak) Government has responded with an agreement in principle for mutually agreed inspections,” the Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P J Crowley, said when asked about a news report published in ‘The New York Times’.

In a news report published August 30, ‘The New York Times’, quoting unnamed American official, said the US has accused Pakistan of illegally modifications in the Harpoon anti-ship missile to expand its capacity to strike land targets, a potential threat to India. Between 1985 and 1988 the Ronald Reagan administration delivered 165 Harpoon missiles to Pakistan.

“In this particular case, we have some concerns. We shared them with the Government of Pakistan. The Government of Pakistan has been responsive,” Crowley said.

“We would wait and see if those inspections can address the concerns that we have raised,” he said. The US has also accused Pakistan of modifying American-made P-3C aircraft for land-attack missions. Both are violations of the US law, including the Arms Control Export Act.

“I am not going to talk about specific issues, brought up in the story. We watch this closely. These are important agreements. This is not about any one country. With any country with which we exchange our defence articles, we have this kind of agreement,” Crowley said.

“When we have concerns about how those systems should be used, we raise these concerns with the appropriate governments,” he noted.

The violation by Pakistan were first noted by the American intelligence agencies on April 23, ‘The New York Times’ said, when Pakistan had an unannounced suspicious missile test, that appeared to give the country a new offensive weapon. While Pakistan has denied those charges.

The modified version of the missile would be a significant new entry into Pakistan’s arsenal against India as these would enable its small navy to strike targets on land in India, this complementing the sizable land-based missile arsenal that Pakistan has developed.

Since early this year, when the Obama Administration had proposed to triple the non-military aid and also increase its military assistance to Pakistan, a number of US lawmakers have been making similar charges against Pakistan and demanding that any military aid to the country should be conditional.

The Congress is in the final stages of taking a decision on providing USD 7.5 billion in civilian aid to Pakistan. The latest expose has the potential to “derail” this, the daily said.

Crowley said the Administration is keeping the Congress full informed on this issue. When asked if this would have any impact on the future of US aid to Pakistan, he said:

“I would like to take one step at a time. We have raised some concerns. It has been done at the highest levels over lengthy period of time. As we gain more facts, will understand its potential implications.”

Source: US taking Harpoon modification by Pak ‘very seriously’

Al-Megrahi should have been in the Mediterranean

I’d wished it had not been the case, for the sake of the victims’ family members, but how self-righteous can they ever stay?

Well, in my opinion, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi should have been taken aboard a RAF C-130 and ‘flown’ to Libya.

Over the Mediterranean, an RAF loadmaster should have strapped a parachute to Al-Megrahi, opened the door and kicked him out at 30000 feet, and after that, the C-130 would have RTB.

What do you think?

Georgia already has SPYDER SAM systems. Israeli aid may be their best option given the SPYDERs and UAVs already imported, but come on, “deter Russia from starting another war’? Clearly that means they asked the USA for nuclear warheads, because that’s really what it’d take.

At least deter Russia from launching another attack against Georgia.