History has been made. In the words of the science and technology website Gizmodo, “Humanity Just Witnessed Its First Space Battle: In what may be the first known instance of combat occurring in space, an Israeli defense system destroyed a ballistic missile above Earth’s atmosphere.”
On October 31, using the Israel-designed Arrow 2 anti-missile defense system, the Israeli Defence Forces shot down a ballistic missile fired from Yemen, intercepting it over 62 miles above sea level, which is the “Kármán line,” considered to be the boundary with outer space.
I marveled at the technological achievement, something like shooting a bullet to hit another bullet, and in outer space at that.
Then I thought, wait a minute. . .the missile was fired from Yemen? . . .the Houthi rebels, that ragtag band of desert tribesmen, have ballistic missiles? That can go into space?
Sure enough, they do. The “rockets” we hear about being fired at Israel are not just those little 4th-of-July sized rockets but actual missiles.
The missile that was intercepted was reportedly a model called the Qadar from Iran, which is about 50 feet long, 4 feet in diameters, with a range of 1200 miles. It is capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
Reportedly, such high-tech weaponry is being supplied to the Houthis by Iran through Hezbollah. The Houthis, like the Iranians, are Shi’ite Muslims, and they are trying to wrest control of Yemen (at the southern “heel” of the Arabian peninsula) from the Saudi-backed government, representing Sunni Muslims. The Arab world agrees in hating Israel, but they are divided religiously. The Shi’ites vs. the Sunnis is like the conflict between Catholics and Protestants during the 30 Years War, though both sets of Christians opposed the Turks.
If terrorists have access to this kind of hardware, they don’t have to be anywhere near the U.S. to inflict serious damage to our country. And Israel is getting bombarded by these things constantly.
Longtime reader of this blog Bob Foote brought this to my attention. Bob, my cousin by marriage, was an industrial engineering professor at the University of Oklahoma who did some work with the military, leading to a position at West Point. I knew that Bob did some foundational research for anti-missile defense and that he was part of a team that developed some of the latest technology.
I thought you might be interested in our conversation on the subject via text. Here is an edited, redacted version, which I share with his permission:
Bob: Two historical firsts. IDF F-35 shoots down Ballistic missile. Arrow system shoots down ICBM in outer space. This is important as this keeps ICBM from MIRV ing out. Culmination for work of legendary hillbilly Jay High School alumni Billy J Walker.
[MIRV = Multiple Independently-targeted Re-entry Vehicle. The point is, an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile needs to be shot down in outer space before it can release its multiple warheads. Not that the Houthi missile was intercontinental or that it had multiple warheads, but this is the principle why being able to intercept a missile in space is important. Walker, also from the University of Oklahoma and grew up in the same small Oklahoma town that Bob did, is the engineer who came up with much of this technology.]
Me: Amazing! But the Houthi rebels have ballistic missiles capable of going into space? That’s scary.
Bob: Get them from Iran. Why did Hamas have no consequences for 16 years of firing missiles at Israel. Hezbollah getting no consequences. Houthi should be subject to guerella action by our special ops.
Me: I want to blog about this, tipping my hat to you. Can I say that you helped develop this technology?
Bob: You can say I was a part of this. My plan was published in 2007 which showed need for non static sensors and launchers. I will send photos of developed elements satisfying my paper. Paper won award in 2007.
Me: Would anything prevent an Islamic terrorist from launching one of these at the USA? Do we have anti-missile systems in place to shoot them down as the Israelis do? We would have to do that over a much larger space than Israel does. It sounds like they can hit us from thousands of miles away.
Bob: They can. Yes we have systems in place. Problem is we have let in terrorists.
[He sent me a link to a non-classified paper he published in the military research journal Phalanx: Loitering Aircraft as a Capability Added for Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems, which shows how hypersonic anti-missiles could be fired from “loitering aircraft“–that is, drones that can stay in the air for months at a time–along with pictures of such aircraft.]
Me: I’m glad to actually see these! They are very impressive. What a contribution you, along with others of course working with you, have made to the defense of your country! Would you mind if I put all of this in a blog post?
Bob: This is all background. I figured out how to shoot down hypersonic missiles. . . .An Air Force General accidentally implied the method 2 years ago. Russia and China know it anyway. Go ahead. . . .
Me: Can we shoot down hypersonic missiles at the present time, or is it still being worked on?
Bob: I don’t know. If you go 2 miles per sec , are you stable and can you turn? This is what officer addressed. My method addresses this. I do not use lasers. If you use lasers, if you lock on, it is dead. Speed of light does not allow time to move. You have to track . Very tough. We are employing satellites. Draw triangle from satellites and you have wide base . Distance enough to track and pass on to next satellite. Space X is launching these satellites. Many have been put in orbit.
Me: Fascinating!
Bob: Our F-35 can shoot down ballistic missiles. I don’t know details. . . .
Me: Well, good! Thanks for all of this.
Photo of “The Ghadr-110 Missile” [aka “Qadar”] by MNA via Flickr, CC by-SA 2.0
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