I was apparently misinformed. I was bragged at the Polaris could hit a phone booth or deliver a pizza to a patio (provided there was a nearby field where the fuselage could safely crash). I was lied to.
By comparison, Joseph Heller notes the B-25 Mitchell featured a sighting instrument that could drop its payload into a pickle barrel at 30,000 feet. Although in retrospect about 30% of bombs dropped by Allied bombers actually hit their targets (often hitting orphanages and hospitals nearby we were trying to miss).
Contrast also USSR ICBM guidance systems which couldn’t reliably hit a military hardpoint, for which they compensated with massive redundancy.
This is why I made arguments that we shouldn’t fear the DPRK efforts to go nuclear too much, since we haven’t seen them successfully hit the Americas. (And there are still massive deterrents to picking a hot fight).
henfredemars@infosec.pub 2 months ago
I remember getting to see the inside of one of these in person. Very cool!