Re: Air Power was: REALITY CHECK TIME!

----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Siebold" <gamers@ameritech.net>
To: <gzg-l@scotch.csua.berkeley.edu>
Sent: Friday, July 19, 2002 5:34 PM
Subject: Re: Air Power was: REALITY CHECK TIME!

> My base assumption is that the majority of "Air Defense" weapons are
> energy weapons that
> operate at the speed of light with computers able to acquire targeting
> information from multiple
> sources and process it in real time (real time being millisecond time
> scales or less).

Neat.  The problem is, the kind of sensor output coming from your air
defenses has a tendency to draw missiles like magnets.	Even today, we
have
satellites capable of reading your license plate from orbit and
anti-radar
missiles that will use your own detection systems as guidance against
you.
The Iraqis don't dare even turn on air defense radars in the no-fly
zones
because they have a tendency to get shot quickly.

Which ultimately means that air control is probably going to go to
whoever
has space control.  Space control means that the high altitude
satellites
for communicating and detecting things will all be on that side.  Air
defense sensors, anywhere on the planet, will be detectable by these
things
and will, much as they do today, attract either orbital bombarbment or
surface-skimming cruise missile attack very quickly.  And that's
assuming
that they haven't bombarded from orbit with enough firepower to reduce
the
surface population to mush in the first place.

E