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posted by martyb on Wednesday November 29 2017, @04:08AM   Printer-friendly
from the plans-are-for-next-launch-to-put-DC-in-oven dept.

North Korea's latest missile launch appears to put Washington, D.C., in range (archive)

North Korea appears to have launched another intercontinental ballistic missile, the Pentagon said Tuesday, with experts calculating that Washington, D.C., is now technically within Kim Jong Un's reach.

[...] The missile launched early Wednesday local time traveled some 620 miles and reached a height of about 2,800 miles before landing off the coast of Japan, flying for a total of 54 minutes. This suggested it had been fired almost straight up — on a "lofted trajectory" similar to North Korea's two previous intercontinental ballistic missile tests. [...] If it had flown on a standard trajectory designed to maximize its reach, this missile would have a range of more than 8,100 miles, said David Wright, co-director of the global security program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. [...] The U.S. capital is 6,850 miles from Pyongyang.

Although it may be cold comfort, it is still unlikely that North Korea is capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the U.S. mainland. Scientists do not know the weight of the payload the missile carried, but given the increase in range, it seems likely that it carried a very light mock warhead, Wright said. "If true, that means it would not be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to this long distance, since such a warhead would be much heavier," he said in a blog post.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 29 2017, @07:05AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 29 2017, @07:05AM (#602851)

    Ethanol_fueled! Stop! Please re-cork the bottle, and fall into your usual stupor. You are contributing nothing, you are nothing. Your comments are not making anything better. Please stop. Ethanol_fueled, log out now. We have arranged for a donkey to arrive in the alley behind your residence in five minutes. Please shutdown the computer, go out into the alley, and wait. Please, Eth? Please?

  • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday November 29 2017, @07:14AM (3 children)

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Wednesday November 29 2017, @07:14AM (#602855) Homepage

    You can bring a donkey to my alley...but you cannot explain the disappearance of the quantum experts from Freescale Conductor on MH370.

    So how about that donkey?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 29 2017, @08:00AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 29 2017, @08:00AM (#602871)

      Sorry, the best we could do was . . . squirrel!!

      • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday November 29 2017, @12:09PM (1 child)

        by Gaaark (41) on Wednesday November 29 2017, @12:09PM (#602945) Journal

        Just. Get. A. Room!, you two!

        Slam it out with your bones!
        ;)

        --
        --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
        • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 29 2017, @01:06PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 29 2017, @01:06PM (#602962)

          And a donkey.