Lord Vader, the plans for the Death Star have been approved.
Excellent, Soon our enemies will pay the final price!
LOL
Posted on 05/18/2005 6:17:05 AM PDT by OESY
The Air Force, saying it must secure space to protect the nation from attack, is seeking President Bush's approval of a national-security directive that could move the United States closer to fielding offensive and defensive space weapons, according to White House and Air Force officials.
A senior administration official said that a new presidential directive would replace a 1996 Clinton administration policy that emphasized a more pacific use of space, including spy satellites' support for military operations, arms control and nonproliferation pacts.
Any deployment of space weapons would face financial, technological, political and diplomatic hurdles, although no treaty or law bans Washington from putting weapons in space, barring weapons of mass destruction.
A presidential directive is expected within weeks, said the senior administration official, who is involved with space policy and insisted that he not be identified because the directive is still under final review and the White House has not disclosed its details.
Air Force officials said yesterday that the directive, which is still in draft form, did not call for militarizing space. "The focus of the process is not putting weapons in space," said Maj. Karen Finn, an Air Force spokeswoman, who said that the White House, not the Air Force, makes national policy. "The focus is having free access in space."...
[mandatory excerpting now in effect]
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Better we get into space first with guns and ammo than someone else.
Someone should post a picture of the deathstar here...hahahahahahaha!
Like China would second national interest to that of the touchy feely community...weapons in space is an eventuality, not a choice.
Yep. I've wondered how plausable/effective a kenetic energy gun striking land targets could be. Basically a rail gun firing a projectile at 10km/sec, apparently the speed of you average space body (meteor, etc). The impact on earth would be like a small meteor strike, they can deliver a real punch. It would hit 40 or so seconds after firing. With a ring of a dozen satellites you could hit anywhere on earth within a minute. Think really heavy artillery.
.
And SANDY BERGER guaranteed us all on NBC' 'Meet the Press' during the 1990's that there was "No Way" Communist China could get a hold of our Missile and Space Technolgy when launching American Space satellites from its Communist soil.
The Enemy is now within...
and always has been.
.
You have got it right!
The Chi-Coms have already sent an astronaut into orbit in a space program strongly tied to the military. We cannot let other gain the high ground in space.
Bumper that FRiend!
The ultimate high ground.
Much better if that ground is American rather than Chinese.
It's not like we haven't had the secret capability to do this for years.
"Hello Kim? this is Dubya. You might not want to mess with us."
Why the rush to dup_thread when several dup_threads have already been dup_thread.zotted?
Point noted, but it looks to me like your beef is with whomever chose not to use the Times' headline and substituted their own version, eh?
Steve Cline/U.S. Air Force
A Minotaur rocket successfully lifted an XSS-11 microsatellite into orbit last month from California. 
Pentagon Envisioning a Costly Internet for War
A New Model Army Soldier Rolls Closer to the Battlefield
Cost Concerns Plague Army's High-Tech Plan
They renamed the latter and added this graphic.
Navy of Tomorrow, Mired in Yesterday's Politics
From time to time, I’ll ping on noteworthy articles about politics, foreign and military affairs. FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.
I posted all of the other articles here at FR. You don't have to go to the Times, unless if you want to check for more additions like graphics or pics.
Soldiers are always happy to get new toys and gear.
But if the politicians don't give the soldiers the equipment and decide to play games with it, then the politicians only have themselves to blame when soldiers die.
Heck.
The armored combat suit looks like a good idea.
Heck, I'd have loved to have one!
Billions and billions for space defense. Great! I'm all for it.
Meanwhile, on our border...
>>I've wondered how plausable/effective a kenetic energy gun striking land targets could be.
We dropped concrete bombs to take out targets adjacent to schools, hospitals, apartments, and such, when taking down Saddam's army. PGMs are darn good these days.
bump and ping
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