Just You Think About This For A Moment....

[HARDCORE]

6-27-2021

Here we are, trapped upon a minuscule little planet, careening at breakneck speeds, aimlessly around an ever expanding universe, with (literally) no idea if some other galactic body is traversing the exact same trajectory and void at the very same time, eventually leading to a monumental collision that may obliterate centuries of advancement, ideas and even progress – and this has happened before you know!

I can only guess that this means that maybe we are not all that quintessentially important to the finite nature of things after all – “Now Are We?”

The very best that we can all hope for in life is that we remain a stranger to any chance meeting with another celestial body, as in a meet-up such as this, ending up as an also-ran or even second best, means that even with all of our wars of dominance, all of our scientific prowess, all of our riches, and all of our endless braggadocio, we are still (almost) eternally at the mercies of -

“The Elements, Nature, Chance and of course – The Almighty Esoteric Itself!!”

“Now - Just How Financially Important, Politically Prominent Or Even Physically Eternal, Does That Make Any Of Us Really Feel - Right About Now?”


Hardcore

[Boats]

The Pentagon's Sword of Armageddon Will Fly in 2023
By: Kyle Mizokami - Esquire News & Politics - 06-28-21
Re: https://www.esquire.com/news-politic...gic-deterrent/

It's all our new toy's we make year after year!
Photo link: https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod...g?resize=980:*

Long in the works, America's next major missile is one step closer to its debut.

The Pentagon’s next intercontinental ballistic missile will begin test flights in 2023, the Air Force announced.

The Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) missile will replace the existing Minuteman III in the Pentagon’s nuclear strike force and provide a rapid response nuclear delivery system that can hit almost any point on Earth within minutes. But critics of the program suggest the U.S. could save billions relying on older missiles instead.

GBSD will form the land-based leg of America’s strategic deterrent—a.k.a. the nuclear triad—which also includes B-2 and B-52 bombers and Ohio-class submarines fitted with Trident II D-5 nuclear missiles. GBSD will replace Minuteman III ICBMs, which debuted in 1970.

Although the Air Force has steadily upgraded the Minuteman IIIs, the missiles and their infrastructure—there are 400 missiles located in hardened silos scattered across the West—are reaching the ends of their serviceable lives. The missiles and their support systems, now in their fifth decade, are growing increasingly difficult to service.

GBSD is currently in a “critical design review” of subsystems, Air Force magazine reports. Northrop Grumman is building both the missile and the B-21 Raider, the replacement for the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. The GBSD program manager said the missile is “months away” from first test flights, which are scheduled to commence from Vandenberg Air Force Base in late 2023.

Northrop is developing GBSD using digital engineering techniques, which lets contractors make the missile faster and study different configurations without actually building them.Northrop reportedly studied 6 billion different configurations for the missile using computer modeling software before settling on the final design.

The Air Force will likely build 400 new ICBMs to directly replace the Minuteman III. The total estimated cost of the GBSD program—for now, anyway—is $61 billion over 10 years. GBSD will be armed with the W87-1 thermonuclear warhead, which has a yield of 335,000 to 350,000 tons of TNT. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, by comparison, had a yield of about 15 kilotons.

But at a time when the Pentagon is also preparing to build new missile submarines and nuclear-capable bombers, GBSD’s cost has prompted critics to propose canceling, delaying, or replacing the system.

Canceling would still cost about $25 billion to refurbish the Minuteman III, a path the Air Force opposes. Delaying the program, meanwhile, means GBSD will still get built, but the 400-strong missile fleet wouldn’t be ready by 2036 as currently planned. Yet another proposal: substituting land-based versions of the Trident II D-5 ballistic missile, a proven design that is currently deployed on Navy missile submarines.

About this writer: Kyle Mizokami - Writer on Defense and Security issues, lives in San Francisco.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Personal note: HC - Until our world eliminates waring amongst ourselves our future looks pretty grim. And as for meeting other worldly visitors - our opportunities of meeting said aliens from other worlds - will most likely find us - as a burned out planet - where life once existed. They will judge us as a hostile planet unable to co-exist amongst ourselves. Where once opportunities may have once flourished or existed.
-
It's now just a radiated world of none living things. They may also make a comment that (we) once had promise - but missed the opportunities to advance - due to never ending internal hostilities. Last comment this planet is now no longer capable of sustainable life - and move on.
-
Boats