1. A method for detecting the presence and location of a reentry vehicle in the presence of decoys in which the decoys have associated flight characteristics different from those of the reentry vehicle, comprising the steps of: determining from a kill vehicle launched toward a threat cloud in a stripping operation a number of atmospheric drag characteristics of objects lying along the trajectory of the threat cloud; responsive to the determined characteristics, identifying in the threat cloud the reentry vehicle as opposed to a decoy and the projected track thereof; and, guiding the kill vehicle to intercept the identified reentry vehicle as it travels along its projected track.