An anonymous reader writes: The United States since the 1980's has been trying to make missile defense, aka hitting a bullet with a bullet, work. Billions of dollars spent, tons of political capital spent, and not a lot to show. The U.S. does have two viable options, the SM-2 and 3, although both are not 100% perfect.
The U.S. with European allies have been deploying missile defense in Europe to block a possible strike from Iranian nuclear tipped missiles (even though they have not made nukes or the missiles to carry them). One problem: such defenses could, in theory, also block Russian and Chinese missiles. Russia is now planning to make more missiles to counter such defenses and could pull out of the new Start treaty and stop helping U.S. forces from supply themselves in Afghanistan.
Is this all worth it for something that might not even work?
