Next Big Future February 19, 2024
A SpaceX Starship will be much harder to shootdown than an ICBM. It is like an ICBM with massive course change capabilities. A SAM-5 surface to air missile is a larger missile with a top speed of Mach 4 and reaches an altitude up to 19 miles. Passenger airplanes have a cruising altitude of 33,000 to 40,000 feet (6-8 miles). The Russian S-200 SAM has a maximum altitude of 180,000 feet (55 km or 34 miles). It is generally expected that it will take four interceptors to have high probability of taking out an ICBM just dropping to its target. The interceptors will have to be directly in the flight path of the ICBM. The US THAAD has repeatedly proven it can intercept descending missiles. THAAD has a top altitude of 93 miles. The operational range is 120 miles. To shoot down SpaceX Starship, the Starship would have to fly towards the known THAAD batteries and perform no course changes after detecting THAADs in the air. The SpaceX Starship can turn on its engines again while in the air. A SpaceX Starship can change where it is going to 100 miles. Starship can get out of range of THAAD and avoid interception… read more.