March 03, 2024, 03:38 PM
sigmonkeyQuestion about US ICBM launches for those in the know. (Reference to a novel.)
quote:
Originally posted by corsair:
In my uneducated opinion, if the attacker is relatively nearby, launch a IR-guided (heat seeker) missile at the ICBM, being a hot-launch the missile will home-in and detonate if not on the missile close enough to destroy it or, create a mission kill.
You have less than 45 seconds from the time it clears the silo to hit it.
It will be at Mach 1 about 15 seconds and past Mach 5 at about the end of the boost (1st stage)
If you have not had a solution and fired before 30 seconds, you likely will not succeed.
And you better be within 5 miles from the launch site.
Think, Greyhound racing but with a boosted bunny.