Japan warns it might shoot down North Korea Rocket

Scratch

Captain
As far as I know this rocket is one with liquid fuel and thus not militarily relevant. If it were not the journalists taken to the launch site will tell us.

Aren't basicly all of NK's other military missiles (Nodong, Taepodong, Musudan) liquid fueld ones as well? I know that you'd prefer solid fueld ones for military purposes, but if you can't make them, then it's liquid fuel, even if it's more cumbersome to operate those.
 

Igor

Banned Idiot
Even if it fails,

a) this is still an invaluable missile test, the only consequence internationally being strongly worded letters

b) Iran bases it's IRIS space launch vehicles on north korean technology and has no issues launching satellites, thus it's clear this was more ambitious, i.e a fully fledged ICBM.

c) Once again, if nk really wanted to launch satellites, it could do so with a more conservative rocket, but it brings out the 3 stage monster with a functional payload every time in order to help test and eventually design a working ICBM that can reach the continental US.

d) In conclusion, these are disguised ICBM tests.

This phase is costly and messy. The russians, the US, everybody that has embarked upon a long range missile programme has run into repeated failures. Once the initial hurdle is passed, your rockets get a whole lot more reliable. Expect another couple of failures before they get it right. By 2020 they should be able to fission surprise Los Angeles at the very least.
 

siegecrossbow

General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Doesn't look like they'll get the try:

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SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's much hyped long-range rocket launch on Friday ended in apparent failure, South Korean officials said, dealing a blow to the prestige of the reclusive and impoverished state that defied international pressure to push ahead with the plan.
North Korea said it wanted the Unha-3 rocket to put a weather satellite into orbit, although critics believed it was designed to enhance the capacity of North Korea to design a ballistic missile deliver a nuclear warhead capable of hitting the continental United States.
A spokesman for the Defense Ministry in Seoul told journalists that the rocket had broken up and crashed into the sea a few minutes after launch.
Officials from Japan confirmed the mission had failed, while ABC News cited U.S. officials saying it had failed, although there was no immediate indication of where it fell.
The rocket's flight was set to take it over a sea separating the Korean peninsula, with an eventual launch of a third stage of the rocket in seas near the Philippines that would have put the satellite into orbit.
This was North Korea's second consecutive failure to get a satellite into orbit, although it claimed success with a 2009 launch and there was no comment on the launch from North Korea's official media.
The Unha-3 rocket took off from a new launch site on the west coast of North Korea, near the Chinese border.
The launch had been timed to coincide with the 100th birthday celebrations of the isolated and impoverished state's founder, Kim Il-sung, and came after a food aid deal with the United States had hinted at an easing of tensions on the world's most militarized border.
(Additional reporting by TOKYO newsroom; Writing by David Chance and Jonathan Hopfner; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
 

bladerunner

Banned Idiot
Failure couldnt happen to a better bunch of people. For those scientists , in a country short on everything, loss of special privileges is gonna hurt

---------- Post added at 09:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:03 PM ----------

So all screaming about NK missiles is so much hot air.
The same thing will happen next time, and the next time and the next time.
 

Red___Sword

Junior Member
So can we say the timely failure of NK's rocket, gives a stepping stone for EVERYBODY to get down to the ground, from the would-be-shooting game?

If the NK's rocket is a failure, its would-be-success luanching and the would-be-intercepting countermeasure, would really be a disaster.
 

bladerunner

Banned Idiot
So can we say the timely failure of NK's rocket, gives a stepping stone for EVERYBODY to get down to the ground, from the would-be-shooting game?

If the NK's rocket is a failure, its would-be-success luanching and the would-be-intercepting countermeasure, would really be a disaster.

The speculated trajectory of the rocket was away from the countries that were capable of shooting it down anyway.
 

plawolf

Lieutenant General
Tinfoil hat time.

Where was the Boeing Airborne laser during the NK rocket launch? Would it be possible to detect it if the rocket had been engaged by the airborne laser?
 
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