Protection is defined as the state of being protected and protected as to cover or shield from exposure, injury, damage, or destruction. This definition is from Webster's online dictionary. While war is being waged in the mid east, the U.S. is working feverishly on creating a shield that will protect our troops and Israel from not only incoming rockets, but also from artillery shells. We have two systems that we are concentrating on right now, one is laser based and the other is an antimissile missile system. The problem is that we still haven't gotten them ready for use. I would think that the antimissile system, even if it were perfected, would certainly not be cost effective. Can you imagine shooting down artillery shells with expensive missiles? Sooner or later you would go bankrupt. The laser sounds better, but it requires six trucks with batteries to operate. The company that makes this system is now attempting to shrink it down to a size that one soldier can operate. This is all well and good, but a problem arises. These systems can be overwhelmed by a barrage of missiles and/or artillery rounds and mortar rounds.

I think that we all remember how effective we thought the Patriot antimissile system was. During the first Iraqi invasion we kept being told that the system was knocking down enemy missiles left and right. The truth turned out to be that the system was no where near as effective as we were led to believe. Here is the worst part, a few batteries cost 1.2 Billion dollars. As I said can you imagine shooting down artillery shells at this price? I guess you can't put a price tag on protection, but we can't have runaway costs either, especially when these systems are not perfect and no amount of them can absolutely guarantee that a missile with a nuclear or standard warhead will not get through. That is the problem will all our antimissile defenses, they are geared at shooting down things. They are all aggressive systems. What is really needed here is a system that will put a shield over an area. We have to work on something similar to the systems that are seen on some scifi shows. For example we need an all encompassing energy field of some type that would be impenetrable. It would have to be able to be turned on for a missile warning and then off on the all clear. This would be done so as not to hinder air traffic.

Patriot Missiles
Photo Source: US Army

In case you are curious about how an antimissile works here is the short answer. Some missiles use infrared to locate their targets. They will sight in on an exhaust for example and fly to it. The exhaust is hotter than the rest of the target, so it is usually easy for the missile to find it. This is not how the antimissile Patriot system works. The Patriot has radar stations on the ground that locate and track the incoming missile or artillery shell. The radar locks on to the incoming missile or shell, identifies it and if it hostile, it launches its missiles and guides them to their target. When you get a Patriot battery, you get missiles, the launcher, radar, a van that holds your computers and controls and a truck that contains generators to power the system. There have been problems in the past with misidentification of targets by the system. It has shot down such things as a U.S. Navy Hornet and a British Tornado. Not only that, but it fired 4 missiles at the Tornado and only one hit.

The Russians have an antimissile system named the A-35 system which is composed of the Gorgon and Gazelle missiles. This system was the one that was built around Moscow. Sixty four launchers were places in strategic locations around the city. This system has been around for quite some time. The first A-35 system entered service in 1972. This system around Moscow was still operational as of February 2007 and Moscow is the only city in the world that now has full missile protection. Since these systems can be easily overwhelmed, it is only good for having a chance at protecting Moscow from a terrorist missile attack comprised of a few missiles and even then, at least one will probably get through.

There is another antimissile system available in the world. It was heavily funded by the U.S. and was built for Israel. It is known as an anti tactical ballistic missile system or ATBM system. The majority of the system was built in the U.S. with Boeing being the main contractor. Development began when the U.S. placed a contract in 1988 with the Electronics Division of Israel Aircraft Industries. The system is the Arrow Weapons System. We poured over $600,000,000 into the development of the system in grants, but the system is built in such a way that it is compatible with U.S. systems. In seven tests of the antimissile missile, it was successful six times, giving it a success rate of about 85%. The system works using both infrared and radar. Infrared is used for air breathing targets at low altitude. Radar is used to lock on to missiles and high flying targets. The Arrow system can be used in conjunction with other defense systems since it was built to be very flexible. It is fast, the missile is launched even before the target is plotted and the data is updated as it is acquired while the Arrow is in flight. It is said that missiles can be detected up to 500 km away, that is about 300 miles away.

Antimissile systems are very tricky. Imagine trying to shoot down a bullet with another bullet. It seems like an impossible task, doesn't it? Unfortunately this is only one part of the equation. Countries are not always attacked by missiles as 9/11 proved. There is no sure way of protecting ourselves from every threat, If we truly want protection, we have to proceed on several fronts at once. One is the technical front, which means discovering a way to protect ourselves form all missiles and possible bombs and the diplomatic front, which means trying to get better relations with the other countries of the world. A third thing that we seem to have never learned is that you can't buy true friends. Just look at who attacked us, most were from countries that we have helped many times, with money, equipment and men. It is about time we realized that the countries of the world are getting more powerful and we just might have to share some of the Earth's resources.

There is something new on the horizon. We are getting near the development of a new type of radar. It is actually quantum radar and will be able to see through the Earth. This will no doubt give us more warning time when missiles are launched and even locate where they are coming from more precisely.