Well now the military wants a billion dollars to put in an undisclosed radar missile defense system (complete with countermeasures) on the island of Oahu. https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-military-aims-1b-missile-defense-radar-hawaii-003417197.html
Of course this is probably just the military capitalizing on an unrelated event, but you've got to admit that missile scare probably did a lot to sway public opinion in favor. So much so, that I question if it was really an accidental alert. After all, the army handled the internal investigation, and the person responsible was never named.
This follows a string of other events involving missile defense in the Hawaii area over the last couple years years.
Jan. 18 2017: The Arrow 3 missile defense system was declared operational (for sale to US allies). The lobbying of organizations including the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA) resulted $930 million in funding over 10 years towards a joint venture between Boeing and Israel Aerospace Industries, who produced the Arrow 3 (with a projected operating cost of about $800 million over 3 years), for deployment near Beit Shemesh, Israel.
June 21 2017: Raytheon SM-3 missile defense system fails to intercept a missile in a joint US-Japan test over Hawaii.
Jan. 13 2018: Hawaii false alarm occurred.
Jan 16 2018: A Japan news network broadcasts a similar false alarm.
Jan. 17 2018: Newt Gingrich (who has advisers that sit on defense and aerospace boards) calls for a new missile defense system.
Jan 30 2018: Trump warns of North Korea's missile range. (Note US secretary of the army appointed by trump is a Raytheon lobbyist.
Jan. 31 2018 Missile interception exercise out of Hawaii fails. Raytheon SM-3 system was unable to intercept a test missile for the second time.
And now the military calling for a new system. If I didn't know better, I'd say there was a secret PR war going on between Lockheed-Raytheon and Boeing-IAI.
Conspiracy? Opportunism? You decide.
No comments, yet...