North Korea

[MrSplitshot]

If Kim Jung Un "test fires" a ballistic missle in the next 24 hours...

And you are the United States...

Do you shoot it down?

Discuss.

[RoadToad]

The question is, CAN we shoot it down? Because the worst thing that could happen would be for them to test fire, and we try to shoot it down, and fail. I am thinking that we probably would not try, at this point, since they don't have the range to hit us from across the Atlantic, and my impression is that they probably couldn't even fire one accurately enough to hit a target within the 2,000 mile range (not sure on that, of course).

I'm very interested in this anti-drone laser technology the Navy just unveiled:
US Navy to deploy anti-drone laser in Persian Gulf | The Times of Israel

I think that in a few years, we'll be able to blow away anything they can fire at us. I don't know how reliably we can do that right now, though...

[kygorski]

road toad is right.We have everything to lose and little to gain if we shoot at it, and miss.

[Bill M of NJ]

That little midget needs his tail spanked.

[Hlleonard]

Does anybody other than me believe this little twerp is making all this racket hoping some country ( US ) will give him a crap load of money to sit down and shut up?... He can't seriously believe he can come out on top of this thing in any fashion what so ever.

[GeoFisher]

Does anybody other than me believe this little twerp is making all this racket hoping some country ( US ) will give him a crap load of money to sit down and shut up?... He can't seriously believe he can come out on top of this thing in any fashion what so ever.

We should call his bluff.........DESTROY everything North Korean, and be done with it.

Rebuild the shithole.......

Later,

Geo

[DJD]

No worries...Obama and others like to talk things out and show our adversaries how much we love them. I suspect they are getting Air Force one fueled up as we speak so the whole fam damily can go over for a vacation while on the we love you tour.
If that don't work threaten them with sending Pelosi and Hillary over for good. They will last 24hours.
Seriously, I think they will do what they want. Who are they afraid of?? China is their buddy and china has their hooks in us so what are we gonna do?? They will prolly send it over the ocean anyway.

[parker]

It will be shot down. Nothing but a scud missle propelled by low grade kerocene anyway. This is a non story as far as I am concerned. Just a kid trying to prove something his ancestors could not with a firecracker.

[Moveon]

I'd like to see the US shoot down the missile just to know that the little spoiled brat Leader of North Korea would be jumping up and down and holding his breath until his face turned blue and he passed out. His daddy should have taught him better manners. He thinks he can throw a tantrum and get his way? Well it's time to teach him a lesson.

Let them fire a missile towards Japan or Guam and see what happens. The news will read that the missile failed but in reality it will have been shot down by a US laser bream or Anti Ballistic missile.

We will render the North Koreans Impotent.

[MrSplitshot]

I definitely think we have the ability to shoot it down. The technology that the U.S. Government has at the ready would probably scare most of us to death if we fully understood it. We've got spy satellites parked over North Korea watching their every move, guaranteed. Think of how far we can zoom in and check out pictures of a lake or river with Google Earth in seconds, just as civilians. Now, make that real time and far better quality...and there you go. They can tell from watching the spy satellites that North Korea has prepped mobile missiles and filled them with liquid fuel already. The word is that if a missile flies, they'll be able to pick up the trajectory within a couple of minutes and determine whether it's heading out to sea or heading somewhere else...then make the decision whether or not to drop it. I'm confident that we could drop it...and I kinda think we should.

[RoadToad]

We should call his bluff.........DESTROY everything North Korean, and be done with it.

Rebuild the shithole.......

Later,

Geo

I think we would have by now, if not for the inconvenient fact that tens of thousands of South Korean civilians would die in the process.

As to whether we could shoot it down, another thing to keep in mind is that this is going to be a "test firing," and historically their test missiles have crashed pretty quickly after launch. The thing might not be in the air long enough for us to shoot it down. And we might benefit more from watching it to see just what they CAN do. Realistically, I think it is very unlikely what we WOULD shoot it down.

[apb]

I think we would have by now, if not for the inconvenient fact that tens of thousands of South Korean civilians would die in the process...

Well, that and the fact that China would not take too kindly to US boots being on the ground in NK. China getting involved would be a much bigger issue than NK. Also agree with Hlleonard, NK is making a bunch of noise hoping to get some $$ or food to feed their citizens if they agree to shut up. Been their MO for years. Andrew