"Orval Fairbairn" wrote in message
news
In article ,
"Tarver Engineering" wrote:

"Scott Ferrin" wrote in message
...



I think it's kindof interesting that they've already got mockups of
the launcher and the missile. Until the last couple days, publicly at
least, it seemed like a paper idea.

Nope, we were working on plume detectors at RPL in 1983.



They're going to have to get pretty close to the launch site to be
effective during boost phase, which can last from only 20 or so seconds
to 120 sec -- not much time to detect, track. launch and intercept!

Once you know the vehicle is a rocket launch, it is not problematic to
track. (ie not an airliner) The boost phase interceptor is expected to
destroy missiles within the first 5 minutes from launch.