Navy Missile Likely Hit Fuel Tank on Disabled Satellite

American Forces Press Service ^ | Gerry J. Gilmore

[neodad]

One shot, one kill. What a good day for the Navy and America.

[coloradan]

They didn’t nick it either, because it didn’t start hissing, it blew up.

[illiac]

Oh China.....can you hear us now?

[Ronin]

Are there any good links to video of the shoot? I checked YouTube but all I found were cheesy animations.

[Enchante]

We’ve been told by ignorant leftists for 25 YEARS that this was an impossible feat, like “hitting a bullet with a bullet” — yet counting all the tests from both land and sea, we have done it quite a few times now.

[Kolb]

Nice shot! Released Navy footage here:

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/video-pentagon.html

Pootie, do you need to change your tighty whities now?

[TASMANIANRED]

Not only hit it but hit the center..Amazing.

[Chode]

there was a good link to the video on drudge but it's gone now...

[SandRat]

try here

http://pentagontv.feedroom.com/?skin=oneclip&fr_story=5d38ee48405bfc712d1affee13983b668f5dd5ee&rf=ev&autoplay=true

and here

http://www.dodvclips.mil/?skin=oneclip&fr_story=FRdamp250959&rf=ev&autoplay=true

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks Kolb. Very nice. That initial blast made it look like only particles would be left. It would be good if all of the satellite could now to burn up on reentry.

[SandRat]

oh and here http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/video-pentagon.html

[RDTF]

Good one from news conference on CNN:

Pentagon: Toxic tank was hit

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2008/02/21/pentagon.sat.shoot7a.cnn

[Slick91]

“We’ve been told by ignorant leftists for 25 YEARS that this was an impossible feat, like “hitting a bullet with a bullet” — yet counting all the tests from both land and sea, we have done it quite a few times now.”

Actually, we’ve been able to do it since 1985!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASM-135_ASAT

[duffus]

And with that one shot.
The ICBM becomes obsolete.
Nuclear blackmail is now history.
The only thing left is to build a full system now that it has been qualified.

[BIV]

I never thought contamination was a concern. I thought the shoot down was aimed to prevent it from falling into the hands of the bad guys. That may have been part of it, but now it seems to me anyway that the reason was to show the bad guys that they can’t hit us, at least with a limited number of ICBMs. That is a monumental development for stability, and you can bet the lesson is not lost on Dinajad or Kimmy or Hugo or Senator Reid et al.
Maybe there was never any super secret stuff associated with the satellite at all. I did read someone suggest that the satellite was perhaps capable of tracking subs.
Obviously, a barrage from Russia is probably not containable right now, but think about how far back we pushed Iran’s nuclear missile program with one shot.
We hit a cold bullet with a bullet at over 17,000 mph.
MAD is dead w/o destabilization. Now it’s you fire at us you are dead and we’re not. I like that better. Gives us a little more room to stretch.
But, overall, an amazing feat. Hats off to those smart guys and gals who did it. And to RR who was correct once again.
Yesterday was a magnificent space day for the USA, considering Atlantis, too.
I’m proud of the USA every single day, but this was special and far more significant than the msm admits. I guess that’s ‘cause they were hoping, and assured in their conceited way, that the Navy and its civilian colleagues would fail. One shot! The left is sick about it.

[GulfBreeze]

What I just continue to fin awesome is that they were able to choose there point of impact. I am not sure if I am understanding everything right but it is truly amazing.

These folks have a pretty tough straight-forward job to do keeping us safe. Sometimes it’s pretty grim. I’m glad they got this moment to shine and I hope it puts our enemies at pause for a bit...

[stuartcr]

More likely likely accomplished one of its goals of destroying the satellite’s toxic fuel tank...

[Jagman]

Raise a glass to the gipper and Star Wars!

[-YYZ-]

I still wish they’d stop saying “shoot down” - they didn’t shoot down squat. They destroyed it - it was already in a low and decaying orbit, and while this may have hastened that process, “shoot down” is not the right terminology. It’s not a plane being kept aloft by lift from its wings that comes crashing down when hit by a missile - it’s an orbiting object. Only gravity and the drag of the earth’s atmosphere can effectively bring it down.