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Experts are suggesting the in-flight failure and crash of the missile launched by North Korea on Wednesday could have been the result of a "left-of-launch" attack by the United States. While these failures may have been the result of poor engineering on the part of the North Koreans, they may also have been deliberately brought down by the US.
[...] In 2014, then-President Barack Obama authorized additional research into "left-of-launch" efforts to neutralize North Korean missiles, as opposed to the more traditional deployment of anti-missile systems to destroy inbound weapons. "Left-of-launch" strategies involve electromagnetic propagation or cyber attacks against missiles immediately after launch, including through infected electronics aboard the weapon that confuse its command and control or targeting systems.
[...] Part of the beauty of a "left-of-launch" attack, said Lance Gatling, a defence analyst and president of Tokyo-based Nexial Research Inc, is that the North Koreans cannot be sure that any imported electronics have not been deliberately permitted to evade sanctions because they are infected with malware. Similarly, when a launch fails they are also unable to determine what brought the missile down.
Previously: North Korean Missiles and What the US is Doing About It
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday April 07 2017, @04:11PM (1 child)
I guess North Korea is west of the U.S. so countering the missile at its launch site is considered West/Left? As opposed to intercepting it in-flight, which apparently usually happens during the descent phase, which over California could be considered "East"?
Or maybe this is a "right-vs-left" thing involving testosterone where hacking the missile instead of shooting it down is considered unsporting? Hence "left" instead of "right" (/correct)?
Either way it's a dumb name.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 4, Interesting) by bob_super on Friday April 07 2017, @05:31PM
I thought it was because a sabotage before launch, on a traditional western left-to-right timeline, would be on the left side of the countdown.