A ground-based missile interceptor is lowered into its missile silo during a recent emplacement at the Missile Defense Complex at Fort Greely, Alaska. Eighteen interceptors are emplaced in two fields on the 800-acre complex. Photo by Sgt. Jack W. Carlson III, USA.

Some of you think I'm making this stuff up, apparently. This sure looks like an Alaska National Guard missile defense operation to me. (And Sarah Palin is the commander of the Alaska National Guard, by the way. Obama has passed out flyers for ACORN.)

Alaska Guard Troops Conduct Vital Missile Defense Mission

Eleven ground-based interceptor missiles buried in underground silos here represent a key part of a multi-layered defense system designed to protect the United States from a ballistic missile attack. These interceptors, and two more at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., would destroy incoming missiles at the “midcourse phase,” outside the earth’s atmosphere.

In the event of an attack, members of the Alaska Army National Guard’s 49th Missile Defense Battalion based here would use sophisticated surveillance and radar systems to track the missile through its initial boost phase, explained Maj. Joe Miley, the unit’s operations officer. If the missile reached the midcourse phase, the Alaska Guardsmen would await the order to engage it.

On order, they would fire an interceptor at the incoming missile. The force of the collision --the equivalent of two refrigerators slamming into each other at 15,000 mph -- would destroy the target before it reentered the atmosphere, Miley said.

Miley noted that the National Guard is perfectly suited to perform such an important mission.

Alaska Guardsmen Serve on Front Line of U.S. Missile Defense

In the last 20 years, the number of countries interested in having or actually having intercontinental ballistic missile capability has increased from six nations to more than 20, Besch said. The number of test launches has increased every year.

“The world’s a dangerous place, and the future is uncertain, and technology allows us to have this capability,” Besch said. “We know from 9/11 that if an event were to occur in a major city … that the impact to human life and the cost in dollars would be astronomical.”

The intent of the system, Besch said, was to create an integrated system to defend the United States and its friends and allies against all ranges of missiles in all phases of flight.

The 49th Missile Defense Battalion focuses primarily on intercepting missiles during their midcourse phase of flight, or while they are arching in the “exoatmosphere” -- the region of space just outside the Earth's atmosphere.

While the 54-foot-6-inch interceptors look like missiles, there are no explosive warheads attached. The main body acts as a booster vehicle. The booster vehicle serves to propel into space the embedded kill vehicle, a 152-pound “smart bullet” that basically steers itself into the path of the oncoming warhead, causing an explosion on impact.

The first interceptor was emplaced in July 2004. Now, 18 such interceptors are emplaced in the site’s two missile fields. When finished, the complex will house 40 interceptors in three fields.