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Article: Lack of 'Single Integrated Picture' Hinders Commanders, Study Says.(NORAD studies highlights missile defense weaknesses)
- Article from:
- National Defense
- Article date:
- November 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 National Defense Industrial Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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If acruise missile--fired from a ship or a submarine offshore--entered U.S. airspace, national authorities would detect it, but would not know where it came from.
Such a scenario was presented at a summer 2001 counter-terrorism exercise conducted by the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD). One of the situations in the exercise, called Amalgam Virgo '01, was the firing of a cruise missile from a nondescript merchant ship in the Gulf of Mexico, into the U.S. mainland. Because cruise missiles fly at low altitudes, NORAD would not be able to see them from beyond the horizon.
The cruise-missile threat is just one example of the types of ...