eli5: why can’t we intercept nuclear missiles?
In: 1
Quoting myself some months back in response a similar question:
“Practically, shooting down an ICBM is a bit like shooting a bullet with a bullet. There are systems that can do it on a limited scale, but it’s still not hard to deploy countermeasures like decoy missiles/warheads, or simply overwhelm missile defenses with a huge number of missiles. To your question, one nuke might be stoppable depending on where it goes, but are you willing to accept a 25% chance of your capital city being vaporized? Even 10%?
Also important, missile defense is controversial. The whole theme of the Cold War was mutually assured destruction–if you nuke me, I nuke you, we both die, so why bother. If any nation can nuke another without fear of attack because of missile defense, it now has an overwhelming power advantage. Rolling out a serious missile defense system would be considered an aggressive act that attempts to establish nuclear dominance.
ELI5: You and your brother each have a baseball bat, and have agreed not to hit each other because you know everyone will get hurt. If your brother puts on a helmet and says “Don’t worry, this is just for defense,” would you be concerned?”
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