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Latest North Korean Ballistic Missile Launch Puts Washington, D.C. in Range

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

takyon writes:

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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Original Submission

• Re:s/thousand/million/ (Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Wednesday November 29 2017, @05:36PM

  by khallow (3766) on Wednesday November 29 2017, @05:36PM (#603072) Journal

  if you have an Atapen you could just walk away from the attack

  Maybe. Atropine is not a cure in the traditional sense. It is a rival nerve agent for VX (and similar compounds) and has its own side effects. Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] had this to say:

  Adverse reactions to atropine include ventricular fibrillation, supraventricular or ventricular tachycardia, dizziness, nausea, blurred vision, loss of balance, dilated pupils, photophobia, dry mouth and potentially extreme confusion, deliriant hallucinations and excitation especially amongst the elderly. Most of available ampules are carried on sulphate which can cause histamine release and anaphylaxis to susceptible patients or patients with allergy to sulpha products. These latter effects are because atropine is able to cross the blood–brain barrier. Because of the hallucinogenic properties, some have used the drug recreationally, though this is potentially dangerous and often unpleasant

  So walking away is not guaranteed.

  Parent

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