North Korea Threats

They couldn't be destroyed by air attacks alone. NK has tons of bunkers for their military to hang out in until it let up. A ground war would be inevitable. Easy for old men sitting in Washington to send young men to deaths but I don't think the American people would have the stomach for a real war....especially since it would be all over their televisions.

The regime isn't stupid. They know the US can't initiate an attack for political and regional stability reasons.

Maybe they will eventually screw up and do something that crosses a line....but they have done plenty of nasty stuff in the past that hasn't crossed any lines.

If Reagan hadn't hidden Pakistan's nuclear weapons program from Congress in the 80s Pakistan likely would have never had the opportunity to share their technology with NK. Thank a US politician for a nuclear NK.

And that rail gun is new technology that has been largely untested. I agree with you that the current air defense systems could possibly "decimate" a flurry of ballistic missiles but....

dec·i·mate
ˈdesəˌmāt/
verb

1. 1.
   kill, destroy, or remove a large percentage or part of.
   "the project would decimate the fragile wetland wilderness"
2. 2.
   historical
   kill one in every ten of (a group of soldiers or others) as a punishment for the whole group.

That's not good enough when it comes to nuclear warheads. They need to be obliterated.

If I wanted to get around missile defense systems and I had less than 5 nuclear warheads I would launch 1 nuclear warhead right next to 100 conventional warheads at the same target. You might be able to shoot some of them down, but you aren't going to get all of them.

FYI: what was shown shooting in that video was NOT a rail gun. It was a Gatling gun with exploding rounds used to shoot down helicopters, mortars and rockets and other slow moving aircraft and projectiles....not ICBMs. They were also showing some type of mortar that throws out shrapnel to destroy the same kind of aircraft projectiles. That thing was hardly launching those mortars 200 meters. Nice distance to destroy rockets and mortars....not so much for a nuclear warhead on an ICBM. Those operate in conjunction with short range air defense (SHORAD) radars (below 2k ft and a range of....well, not very far). You need HIgh to Medium Air Defense (HIMAD) systems like the Patriot missile system to shoot down high and fast moving objects. Robot voice videos are complete bollocks most of the time.

Not sure what good a rail gun would do for air defense anyways. Their propose is to avoid launch detection and radar acquisition of warheads....not to shoot down anything.

 

I don't see nuclear weapons as a bad thing. They do serve a purpose for those countries that have them and nuclear weapons are very likely the reason we don't have regular large scale wars between highly developed countries. I don't think the world would be a safer place without them.

Countries without nuclear weapons get the sh*t end of the stick. Since the big boys can't get in fights with each other without completely obliterating each other the only choice is to fight each other through proxy wars (well, we could just not fight wars but....not human nature) in countries far away filled with people that most just don't give a sh*t about. Korean War, Cuba, Vietnam, Iran, Afghanistan 80s, Pakistan, Iraq 1, Bosnia, Iraq 2, Libya, Ukraine, Syria, etc, etc. All places we have either fought wars or supplied weapons to spread our influence/control.....not a d*mn one of those countries had nuclear weapons when we were fighting there.

Nuclear weapons are about the only way smaller countries can cut the strings from their puppet masters. It may seem like many of these smaller countries are screwed up, and they very well may be, but let's not act like we haven't played a large part in making sure they stay screwed up.

I don't like seeing a nuclear NK but I can certainly understand the strategy and logic behind it. They aren't stupid or crazy. Anyone who thinks they aren't having briefing after briefing after briefing in NK to talk about their strategy and to figure out just exactly how far they can push the international community is sorely mistaken. Almost every single thing they do is a calculated decision.

There are no simple solutions to the problem....too many players with different interests in the region. I personal don't see them as much of a problem. I think Pakistan is far more dangerous a country to allow to have those weapons. They currently have nuclear missiles in taliban controlled areas....and the Taliban has been attacking their military bases in areas thought to have these missiles in an attempt to gain access to them. NK is predictable. They have been doing the exact same sh*t on a regular cycle ever since the cease fire was declared. The Taliban on the other hand, give them a nuke and you can be 100% certain they will use it on the West given the opportunity.

Everyone thinks they are the good guys.