Medvedev yesterday threatened the USA after Trump stated he would be giving less than 50 days to respond to a peace deal.

I'm wondering if the Russians are feeling that their only defense has been their nuclear weapons umbrella- and that it may not work for them in an attack against the USA for much longer

the fact that Israel/USA could shoot down Iranian ballistic missiles with 95% success rate - does this scare the Kremlin into believing they have no first strike or second strike capability to wipe out all of the USA?

in a word NO

ballistic missiles are ancient technology. how many hypersonic missiles did the iron dome shoot down?

Detmersdislocatedshoulder said:

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in a word NO

ballistic missiles are ancient technology. how many hypersonic missiles did the iron dome shoot down?

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supposedly the Iranians did fire hypersonics which were shot down by Arrow 3

and Arrow 4 is going through final stages for deployment.

Ballistic weapons *are* hypersonic. They're just a little more predictable than the newer glide vehicles.

Regardless, I doubt any current missile defense would stop a determined attack by a near-peer adversary.

I think the fear would be that before there was MAD Mutually Assured Destruction in any exchange

if there is an American Golden Dome that may ensure the USA has continuity in government and would "survive" even during a nuclear war

while simultaneously the Russians have nothing to stop any of our weapons.

I don't think the Russians plan to get into a ballistic missile fight with the US.

That said, while the Arrow might work against hypersonic threats such as oreshnik for tiny Israel, the scale/scope of providing a blanket of protection over the continental US as such vs. either China or Russia would be so daunting as to not really be applicable.

Ideally, we can place some up north so that any rogue future Iranian/Nork launch could be taken down, of course, but the idea that we could strike down all of the MIRV's from a real salvo of nukes from Russia or China is…a big stretch, imho.

The Israeli's mainly protect their main 3 cities with a combo of David's Sling (low end rockets from Hamas), Iron Dome (itself a layered system), and now Iron Beam (lasers). A similar tactical posture using Arrow 4-ish systems, THAAD, SHORAD defenses, and directed energy would be an ideal state for US forces in places like Eastern Europe/middle east, if we have to deal with such conflicts in the future. Getting there will take 10+ years.

The Russians infiltrated our institutions and gave us this bunch of Marxist idiots running today's universities and institutions. They are destroying us from within.

At a theatre level they have seen Iron Dome/Archer work mostly successfully against cruise and ballistic missile attacks - though they can be overwhelmed and is not 100%. The US has less than 50 ground based interceptors - mostly in Alaska, and under 200 sea based SM-3's that could shoot down ballistic missiles. They are not sufficient to neutralize Russia's ICBM & SLBM arsenal.

The Russians have seen their own army flounder against a former satellite state where they began the war with a major base already inside their country (Sevastopol). Not to diminish the defense and sacrifices of the Ukrainians, but this would be similar to the United States starting a war against Cuba out of our base in Guantanamo Bay and having the offensive ground to a halt before capturing Santiago de Cuba 50 miles away, then removing US Navy vessels from the Gulf of America due to the threat of ASM and drone attacks. Their air force is only capable of launching cruise missiles and glide bombs and has not established air superiority at any point during the war. Their logistics are still dependent on rail - in the year 2025 shortages of trucks and transport have forced the Russian army into employing mules and horses for transport. They have drawn down stocks of Soviet ammunition and equipment to the point they are now heavily reliant on North Korean munitions.

Medvedev and Putin aren't afraid of Iron / Golden dome. They are afraid public opinion in Moscow and St. Petersburg will turn on them - they've eroded any good will in the far eastern provinces by sending one million of their "men" to their deaths or maiming. And what do they have to show for it? Unirrigated Crimea, devastated Donetsk & Luhansk, inability to transit from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, and an EU that has abandoned Green energy and Russian gas for more reliable American/Mid East/African supplies. They are afraid someone with ambition will avoid falling out of a window and wrest control from their cold dead hands before the Chinese decide taking the Russian far east is a better prize at less cost than attempting to take Taiwan by force.

Annie Jacobson has a few ideas on this - and the US and everyone else are woefully prepared for an all out ballistic missile attack at scale.

BlueSmoke said:

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Annie Jacobson has a few ideas on this - and the US and everyone else are woefully prepared for an all out ballistic missile attack at scale.

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doesn't she discuss an EMP attack over the USA?

Detmersdislocatedshoulder said:

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in a word NO

ballistic missiles are ancient technology. how many hypersonic missiles did the iron dome shoot down?

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Pretty much all ICBMs are hypersonic, fwiw...

ord89 said:

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The Russians infiltrated our institutions and gave us this bunch of Marxist idiots running today's universities and institutions. They are destroying us from within.

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For being pro-Russia, those dolts sure went all in on Ukraine the past few years. Would be like Mossad destroying us from within as evidenced by the pro-Palestinian riots.

Wait a minute, maybe there is something to all this...