MDA’s O’Reilly: 10 ICBMs to Break Through
Stars and Stripes, which provides news and information to the U.S. military community, featured the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) Lt. Gen. Patrick J. O’Reilly in a story titled, “Drones, laser beams, ships, START treaties: This is the new missile defense.”
“In a little over an hour, Lt. Gen. Patrick J. O’Reilly juggled the complex physics of solid-fueled rocket boosters, the wary diplomacy of Russians who refuse U.S. invitations to join the missile defense network, the Senate politics of nonproliferation treaties, the faulty production lines of giant defense contractors, all amid the shrinking budget ‘efficiencies’ of Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
“Not to mention, O’Reilly and his intelligence agency counterparts keep tabs on more than 6,000 missiles and 1,000 launchers that exist outside of NATO, the U.S., China and Russia. But drones with freakin’ laser beams attached to their heads? Well, it has come up.
“Tonight, MDA will attempt the latest test of its airborne laser, an effort to shoot down a missile at more than 100 miles away, or twice the range as the first test. The exact range is classified but O’Reilly said the first test showed it was possible.”
The article notes that representatives from Russia will witness today’s test of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense radar system, but the visit doesn’t mean Russia is ready to work with the U.S. on missile defense.
Like his commander-in-chief, Lt. Gen. O’Reilly downplays the Iranian threat. He told the reporter that Iran would need to launch 10 intercontinental ballistic missiles at once to break through the country’s defense network. The inference is that Iran isn’t presently capable of launching that many weapons at once. Is he sure?
