U.S. criticizes China over missile test

[Zorro]

This action by the Chinese is significant and indicates a potentially serious threat.

<snip>

The United States criticized China on Thursday for conducting an anti-satellite weapons test in which an old Chinese weather satellite was destroyed by a missile.

The Bush administration has kept a lid on the test for a week as it weighs its significance. Analysts said China's weather satellites would travel at about the same altitude as U.S. spy satellites, so the test represented an indirect threat to U.S. defense systems.

"The United States believes China's development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of cooperation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area," National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. "We and other countries have expressed our concern to the Chinese."

<snip>

More at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070119/ap_on_go_ot/us_china_test

[Ignacio Upton]

1. Tin foil time: Maybe China wants to to buy more copies of this week's Time

Since they're getting another "China is the next superpower" piece. :tinfoilhat:

[jayfish]

2. Isn't That Rich?

The most heavily armed and possibly most aggressive country on the planet condemns China over a missile test.

Here's another snippet for hypocrisy's sake

Last October, the US adopted a tough new policy aimed at protecting its interests in space.

The 10-page strategic document states that the US national security "is critically dependent upon space capabilities, and this dependence will grow".

"The United States will preserve its rights, capabilities, and freedom of action in space... and deny, if necessary, adversaries the use of space capabilities hostile to US national interests," it says.

The document rejects any proposals to ban space weapons.

Jay

[Richard Steele]

3. Yes, how DARE they develop the type of missiles we've had for over 20 years!

We haven't even bothered to TEST our anti-satellite
missile technology since the mid-80s; it worked fine
then.

[Purveyor]

5. Yeah baby! We will so "kick their asses"....

Along with the Russians and all their old Soviet "junk"!

[maddezmom]

6. thanks for posting

I was just about to go looking for it. :eyes: Reminds me of a out of control convo with my 6 yr old daughter. I say "only I can" and she say's "you're not the boss of me."

[malaise]

7. Sometimes

it's best to laugh and then cry.

[unkachuck]

4. US does....

....alot of criticizing....

"Analysts said China's weather satellites would travel at about the same altitude as U.S. spy satellites, so the test represented an indirect threat to U.S. defense systems."

....and our satellites represent an indirect threat to China and the world....

"Our space assets are the first asset on the scene," Pike said. "They are absolutely central to why we are a superpower ? a signature component to America's style of warfare."

....so where's the mystery? China and the world will do what they have to do....

[CrispyQ]

8. But we're the deciders!

We get to decide who gets to have what kind of technology & how they can use it, damnit! :sarcasm:

[David__77]

9. China has a smart defense strategy.

Especially when compared with the Soviets in the past. They are focused on very high tech means of principally neutralizing its opponenets militarily. This missile test, and the development of electromagnetic pulse technology are indicative of this. Yet they are avoiding big expenditures on massive numbers of personnel and conventional weaponry, which would be little use against the US.

[hunter]

10. There's gotta be some sparsely populated island nation we can invade...

... something that will get our confidence back up after the debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_the_British_Empire

[classysassy]

11. Granada here we come again

we can use the returning wounded from Iraq.

[IndianaGreen]

12. It was Bush who first spoke about militarizing space, and who rejected

China and Russia's efforts to get the US to agree to keep space free of weapons and of the military. China's actions are rational and purely defensive in light of the madman atomic cowboy we have in the White House.

[burrowowl]

13. The U$ of A provoked it

by not agreeing to the arms out of space treaty.

[struggle4progress]

14. US plans anti-satellite lasers (May 2006)

18:39 03 May 2006
A controversial effort by the US Pentagon to develop ground-based anti-satellite lasers has been highlighted by Congressional hearings held this week. Unclassified Air Force budget documents discussed during the hearing propose funding for an ongoing project called Advanced Optics and Laser Space Tech. The major long-term goal of the project is to "perform atmospheric compensation/beam control experiments for applications including anti-satellite weapons" ...
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn9104-us-plans-antisatellite-lasers.html

May 3, 2006
U.S. Air Force Plans a Laser Test Against a Satellite in FY 07
The U.S. Air Force has requested $5.7 million in funding for fiscal year (FY) 2007 to fire a laser from its Starfire Optical Range in New Mexico at a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite, as part of a program testing and developing “advanced weapons technologies.” ... The last declared U.S. ASAT tests was the 1985 launch by an F-15 fighter of a missile against the Air Force’s Solwind satellite, which resulted in the creation of more than 250 pieces of space debris, some of which did not reenter Earth’s atmosphere until 2002. The last declared test of a laser against an operational satellite was the Army’s 1997 use of the New Mexico-based MIRACL laser at the Air Force’s MSTI 3 satellite -- which was justified .. as a test of satellite vulnerability rather than an ASAT test ...
http://www.cdi.org/friendlyversion/printversion.cfm?documentID=3411

13 April 2006
Paul Marks
Magazine issue 2547
... The Pentagon's budget plans for 2007 include thinly disguised funding for the development of anti-satellite weapons that could lead to an arms race in space and the sullying of near-Earth space with dangerous clouds of debris ... In 2001, a committee headed by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld warned that the US faces a potential "Pearl Harbor in space" unless it develops weapons to protect its space hardware. And the US air force has incorporated "fighting in space" into its mission statement, and speaks openly of achieving "space superiority" ...
http://space.newscientist.com/article/mg19025475.700

Pentagon eyeing weapons in space
Budget seeks millions to test new technologies
By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | March 14, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon is asking Congress for hundreds of millions of dollars to test weapons in space, marking the biggest step toward creating a space battlefield since President Reagan's long-defunct ''star wars" project during the Cold War, according to federal budget documents. The Defense Department's budget proposal for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 includes money for a variety of tests on offensive and defensive weapons, including a missile launched at a small satellite in orbit, testing a small space vehicle that could disperse weapons while traveling at 20 times the speed of sound, and determining whether high-powered ground-based lasers can effectively destroy enemy satellites ...
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/03/14/pentagon_eyeing_weapons_in_space?mode=PF

Disarmament Diplomacy
Issue No. 68, December 2002 - January 2003
Opinion & Analysis
Anti-Satellite Capabilities of Planned US Missile Defence Systems
By David Wright and Laura Grego
... Both the United States and Soviet Union developed and tested dedicated anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons in the past, although further development of weapons that physically destroy satellites has been restricted by Congressional bans and voluntary Russian moratoria on testing them. Both countries retain some ASAT capability, including the ability to disrupt satellite functions without disabling them, such as temporarily blinding them with ground-based lasers or jamming their transmissions (even those in geosynchronous orbits). In addition to this capability, some of the systems currently being developed to intercept ballistic missiles would have considerable inherent capability to be used as ASAT weapons, and could therefore significantly increase US ASAT capability. Indeed, while the technologies being developed for long-range missile defences may not prove very effective at defending against ballistic missiles, some could be much more effective against satellites, since in many ways attacking satellites is an easier task. Satellites travel on predictable orbits that can be determined accurately by tracking from ground facilities, allowing the position of the satellite to be known at future times. The United States would have time to plan an attack, could choose the timing, and would have time to take as many shots as necessary to destroy it. In contrast, in a ballistic missile attack, the attacker would have the advantage of surprise and the defence less than 30 minutes to respond. In addition, an interceptor attacking a satellite would not have to deal with the severe countermeasure problem that would face a missile defence system. Current-generation satellites are not equipped to defend themselves. While future satellites might include defences of some type, it will be difficult to overcome the advantages that an attacker has ...
http://www.acronym.org.uk/dd/dd68/68op02.htm

Pentagon beams over military laser test
U.S. wants to determine vulnerability of satellites
October 20, 1997
Web posted at: 5:50 p.m. EDT (2150 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In an effort to gauge the vulnerability of military satellites to laser attacks, the United States shot a ground-based Army laser at an aging Air Force satellite, the Pentagon announced Monday ...
http://www.cnn.com/US/9710/20/pentagon.laser/index.html?eref=sitesearch

2d U.S. Anti-Satellite Rocket Is Fired in Test by Air Force
Published: November 14, 1984
The Air Force today announced it had conducted its second live-firing test of its new air-launched anti-satellite rocket. The test, conducted over the Western Test Range at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, focused on the guidance system contained in the new weapon, the Pentagon said in a brief announcement ...
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9906E7DB1E39F937A25752C1A962948260

NBC Evening News for Tuesday, Jan 31, 1978
Abstract:(Studio) Discovery of more pieces of USSR satellite .. in Canada ... Gerald Ford's comments .. reported.
REPORTER: David Brinkley ...
(Palm Springs, California) ... FORD - cites own orders for resumption of United States development program for anti-satellite capability. Assumes it's still underway ...
REPORTER: Carl Stern ...
http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1978-1/1978-01-31-NBC-4.html