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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.
(Score: 4, Funny) by driverless on Wednesday November 29 2017, @10:41AM (2 children)
No, you don't understand their strategy. They're going to arm this thing with the Golfball of Doom, and loft it over to the US so it drops on any golf course there. Then when Trump turns up to play golf, grips the golf bat in his tiny hands, and gives it a good whack, it blows up in his face, killing him. Score one for Little Rocket Man.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Gaaark on Wednesday November 29 2017, @12:26PM (1 child)
Talking about golf, and here you are...driverless...
:)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by driverless on Wednesday November 29 2017, @12:49PM
That's a reference to the lack of Linux driver support for my laptop, you insensitive clod!