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Category Archives: Space Based Defense

August 23, 2016—Soldier Down . . . General Vessey, Rest in Peace.

by Henry F. Cooper on August 22, 2016 in Henry F. Cooper, High Frontier, SDI, Space Based Defense, Vessey, Watkins

Not quite seventeen, this “soldier’s soldier” volunteered to become a Minnesota National Guardsman and received an Anzio battlefield commission in World War II and the Army’s second highest medal for valor, the Distinguished Service Cross, in Viet Nam. He led the U.S. and U.N. Forces in Korea and opposed withdrawing U.S. Forces which cost him the Army Chief of Staff post under President Jimmie Carter—an implicit rebuke cast aside when President Ronald Reagan appointed him as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and after his retirement and return to Minnesota into other important posts. President George H.W. Bush awarded Gen. Vessey the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. A life of service with unquestionable integrity. Read Full Story

August 2, 2016—Demand Cost-Effective Defenses and Stay the Course This Time!

by Henry F. Cooper on August 1, 2016 in Brilliant Pebbles, Henry F. Cooper, High Frontier, Nitze Criteria, Space Based Defense

“There is no upper bound to the cost of a program the sponsor doesn’t want to do and doesn’t know how to do.” ~ Dr. William R Graham, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy under President Ronald Reagan Read Full Story

February 9, 2016—Revive Reagan’s Challenge!

by Henry F. Cooper on February 9, 2016 in Henry F. Cooper, High Frontier, Ronald Reagan, SDI, Space Based Defense, Space Based Interceptors, Space Defense

“It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more difficult of success, nor more dangerous to manage, than the creation of a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institutions and merely lukewarm defenders in those who would gain by the new ones.” Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli in The Prince, 1513. Read Full Story

December 4, 2014—Time to Debate About Space Based Defense?

by Scott Cooper on December 4, 2014 in Arms Control, Brilliant Pebbles, Henry F. Cooper, High Frontier, Raptor Talon, Space Based Defense

A recent National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) publication raised a timely issue—that it is time to debate the utility of space based defenses against ballistic missiles, because of the growing threat. I could not agree more, and here provide additional reasons why and offer some counters to those who criticized aspects of this important paper. Read Full Story

June 5, 2014—Perceptions vs. Reality . . .

by Scott Cooper on June 5, 2014 in Boost-Phase Defenses, Henry F. Cooper, High Frontier, Missile Defense, Raptor Talon, Space Based Defense

The most cost-effective way to counter the threat of proliferating ballistic missiles with improved offensive countermeasures is with space-based defenses that can intercept attacking ballistic missiles while their rockets are burning in their boost phase, before they can release their decoys that can overwhelm our current mid-course defenses that work in outer space. These space-based defense concepts remain controversial—and are falsely perceived to be too expensive and beyond our reach. Over two decades ago, the most advanced technology produced by the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was used to design a far more cost-effective system concept than any other basing alternative—before or since. We need to overcome this false perception and take full advantage of current technology to build a modern space-based defense system. And there are signs this is possible. Read Full Story

May 22, 2014—Will We Ever Learn?

by Scott Cooper on May 22, 2014 in Effective Countermeasures, Henry F. Cooper, High Frontier, Missile Defense, Space Based Defense

Recent Pentagon strategic guidance states that the threat of proliferating ballistic missiles with improved offensive countermeasures will defeat current and planned ballistic missile defense systems—suggesting major changes in direction are required. Actually, this situation should not be a surprise since the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) era recognized this potential problem and dealt with it—regrettably those initiatives were scuttled by the Clinton administration and have not been revived, presumably for political reasons because this condition need not be tolerated if we would simply return to the SDI vision and technology championed by President Ronald Reagan. Stay tuned. Read Full Story

September 27, 2013—No Executive Order Arms Control . . . Please!

by Scott Cooper on September 27, 2013 in Arms Control, Henry F. Cooper, High Frontier, Missile Defense, Space Based Defense, United Nations

Secretary of State John Kerry signed the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty against the clear wishes of the U.S. Senate—there were 51 votes against it last March. Now it will be important for the Senate to refuse to ratify this ill-advised treaty which is not in our national interest and could lead to unwelcome constraints, enforced by international bodies, on our Second Amendment Constitutional rights. Read Full Story

August 28, 2013—About that Reset . . .

by Scott Cooper on August 28, 2013 in China, Egypt, EMP, Henry F. Cooper, High Frontier, Iran, Missile Defense, Reset, Space Based Defense

In 1785, Robert Burns wrote To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough, which contained these famous words: “The best laid schemes of mice and men go often awry, and leave us nothing but grief and pain for promised joy!” Those words aptly describe the misplaced confidence in the Obama administration’s touted “reset” strategies on a number of fronts—and lay a challenge for new “resets” to replace them. Read Full Story

July 5, 2013—The Most Cost-Effective Defense: Space Based Interceptors!

by Scott Cooper on July 5, 2013 in Aegis, Brilliant Pebbles, EMP, Gulf Coast Defense, Henry F. Cooper, High Frontier, Iran, Missile Defense, North Korea, Space Based Defense

Space based interceptors are potentially the most cost-effective way to defend against ballistic missiles of all ranges more than a few hundred miles—and over twenty years ago the technology was sufficiently mature to build such a system within five years of a decision to do so. But the pathway to such cost-effective defenses is blocked by ideological concerns that masquerade behind phony arguments, such as about costs—and contrary to findings 20 years ago that have been forgotten, after the key programs were canceled in 1993. How can we go back to the future? Read Full Story