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Posted

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,1331...html?ESRC=eb.nl

 

A top Pentagon official leveled sharp words at China Wednesday, reacting with some of the most candid and unambiguous language yet to that country's destruction in January of a satellite in space with a ground-launched ballistic missile.

 

Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne called the shoot-down an "egregious act" and said the Chinese sent a clear message to the U.S. military that its aging satellite force is under threat.

 

"We were not surprised, we were shocked," Wynne said at a Sept. 19 meeting hosted by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a defense policy think tank. "What was shocking about it was the denial."

 

"Was it part of a plan; was it not part of a plan?" Wynne wondered. "That's what was shocking about it."

 

Wynne said the shoot-down of a 1990's-era Chinese weather satellite in polar orbit has forced astronauts aboard the international space station to avoid the debris field scattered in the intercept, and he concluded that China now claims space as a legitimate battlefield.

 

Future enemies "want to make sure that you will not want to get involved" in a conflict, Wynne reasoned.

 

"They can pin-prick you, they can threaten you - as China has with shoot-down of the satellite - just to tell us 'you don't think you're safe up there,' " he said. "Space is not a sanctuary anymore."

 

The Chinese government was silent on the shoot-down - and the international condemnation that resulted - for weeks after the Jan. 11 hit, and has been murky on the issue ever since. In June, U.S. Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Peter Pace said he had not raised the issue with his Chinese counterparts during a meeting in May.

 

A Pentagon report released this summer assessing the Chinese military said the test was an example of China's pursuit of asymmetric countermeasures to American military prowess.

 

"The test put at risk the assets of all space faring nations and posed dangers to human space flight due to the creation of an unprecedented amount of debris," the report stated. "The direct ascent ASAT system is one component of a multi-dimensional program to generate the capability to deny others access to outer space."

 

Wynne's comments are some of the strongest yet from a senior Pentagon official and indicate how seriously the military considers Chinese anti-satellite weapons development. America's increasing reliance on space-borne assets to guide weapons, conduct long-range communications and keep an all-seeing eye on potential enemies could become the Pentagon's Achilles Heel in a future conflict, many analysts fear.

 

The move prompted Air Force planners to redouble their efforts to come up with ways to defend U.S. space assets from destruction. But officials are reluctant to replace a $1.5 billion satellite, only to have it destroyed by a $100 million ASAT missile.

 

"If space comes under attack, maybe we don't want to put up big, expensive retainer forces, maybe all we want to put up is just enough to kick the crap out of whoever shot at our satellite - kind of send a message to them," Wynne said. "And then we'll put up another expensive satellite."

 

Other experts wonder whether the Pentagon could reduce its dependence on satellite systems - particularly those used for GPS navigation - and position more assets in the atmosphere, leaving fewer targets for enemy ASAT weapons to hit.

 

Whatever defensive solution is adopted, the Air Force faces an aging fleet of satellites that are running out of fuel to keep them in orbit, Wynne said. Now, the service is faced with a potential investment of $20 billion per year to replace its space-borne fleet in the face of an aggressive threat from ASAT weapons.

 

"Right now, the satellites have gone up all in a peaceful mode," Wynne said. "I do think we should have some defensive mechanisms, but it is very hard to defend a satellite you're actually trying to talk to."

Guest JamesG123
Posted

Uh...

Has not the US conducted several "live fire" ASAT tests since the 80s?

Was not SDI, "Star Wars" the militarizing of LEO?

 

Pretty hypocritical to criticize others for doing the same I think...

Posted
Uh...

Has not the US conducted several "live fire" ASAT tests since the 80s?

Was not SDI, "Star Wars" the militarizing of LEO?

 

Pretty hypocritical to criticize others for doing the same I think...

 

I think the targets were already in an orbit or were on a ballistic arc so the destructive test was an intercept test. This one in particular loaded the orbit layer with a lot of high energy debris that could hit other functional satellites and cause a chain reaction making that entire orbit layer unusable and that could spread to other dense orbit regions.

Posted
Uh...

Has not the US conducted several "live fire" ASAT tests since the 80s?

Was not SDI, "Star Wars" the militarizing of LEO?

 

Pretty hypocritical to criticize others for doing the same I think...

 

Actually the only ASAT weapon system that was ever functional and tested to the best of my knowledge was the F-15 deployed ASAT rocket. Not sure if it was ever used on a target in orbit, but I'm pretty sure if it was it was well under 500 nm. MIRCL was also used on a defunct USAF satellite but a laser would not fragment the target.

Posted

The problem here isn't so much militarization of space, but scattering satalite killing objects all over the spacelanes in the test.

 

A bit like someone throwing large boulders on the free way all over the place randomily during rush hour, its a bit rude.

Posted (edited)
Actually the only ASAT weapon system that was ever functional and tested to the best of my knowledge was the F-15 deployed ASAT rocket. Not sure if it was ever used on a target in orbit, but I'm pretty sure if it was it was well under 500 nm. MIRCL was also used on a defunct USAF satellite but a laser would not fragment the target.

 

ASM-135A.

 

 

 

 

It was test launched by an F-15A in 1985, and sucessfully destroyed the old (but still functional) solar observation satellite "P-78-1" at an altitude of 600km (375mi). 112 were supposed to be ordered, but this was canceled in 1988 amid fears of starting a massive pissing match with the Soviets. Some scientists were also apparently less than happy when the satellite went suddenly and permanently "off-line". :D

 

Incidentally, I just got done reading Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising (again), and it plays a pretty important role in there.

 

- John

Edited by Kensuke
Posted (edited)
Uh...

Has not the US conducted several "live fire" ASAT tests since the 80s?

 

Yes, but only one of them used against an actual target (satellite). And in that case the sat in question was parked in a sufficiently low orbit (about 345-375 miles) to where most of the debris would burn up in the atmosphere in short order.

 

Satellite altitudes very depending on what they're used for. For instance, photographic spy satellites and SIGINT satellites are usually in very low orbit (around 200 miles for the KH-11 series). Ocean surveillance satellites are in higher orbits (800-1000 miles). And communications and weather satellites are higher still (tens of thousands of miles) .

 

If he Chinese go into high orbit it would give them the ability to smash the USAF's MILSTAR network (DoD com relay), which is something that would obviously worry the DoD, but debris could also have potentially disastrous effects against civilian birds like the Hughes and Boeing satellites that Direct TV, Dish Network, and most media conglomerates feed off of.

 

BTW, you can read the whole ASAT saga here:

 

http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/histind/ASAT/F15ASAT.html

 

- John

Edited by Kensuke

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