Missile Defense is NP-Complete
31 points by veqq
31 points by veqq
Fascinating coverage of the topic, very clearly described. They better have supercomputers run the numbers instead of a MacBook Pro though which of course they likely do
Not to be confused with the classic arcade game Missile Command, in which the player shoots anti-ballistic missiles to defend six cities from incoming missiles for as long as possible until all cities are destroyed. The headline made me hope for an analysis of that game’s difficulty.
Glad I'm not the only one expecting the Atari game, though the article definitely didn't disappoint. Both are interesting topics
Fascinating... The conclusions are brutal. Spamming an overwhelming number of MIRV warheads and decoys in a surprise first strike seems to be the optimal strategic move. I'm glad this stuff has never been truly tested in the real world.
Yeah it's actually a good argument for a MAD doctrine, alas. The attacker's job is a lot easier than the defender's, so an effective counterattack is a lot easier than an effective defense.
Very interesting read about a cruel topic.
Every missile not shot, must not be intercepted. Hope that everyone in the Lobsters community is safe right now :)
Every missile not shot, must not be intercepted.
I think I know what you mean, but to reply to this particular phrasing, part of the doctrine is indeed to intercept unshot missiles - those in launchers and in storage. Only through other means.
Building enough interceptor capacity to mitigate air defense saturation is incredibly hard. Quite a few of the missiles are also built to disperse cluster munitions at a point before singular interception is (currently?) viable.