Posted on 01/18/2007 2:25:26 PM PST by blam
Military Geography... Space the ultimate high ground.
Actually, I think this is pretty cool, that they were able to do it. Technology marches on - somewhere...
The plan is working. Now they should build 10,000 of these at ruinous cost.
Hint: China could care less about the complaints.
We used to put condems on our m-16's in Iraq.
What is the point. We have no treaty banning said weapons.
???
I really don't like diplomats. The only time they are effective is when they carry threats for generals....
As you say, clinton and his donors were responsible for giving China their MIRV technology, which is applicable here as well.
Clinton got some very nice Chinese campaign donations in return, in the 1996 election.
He also sold them our most advanced nuclear technology.
U.S. & Canada - do something about it or STFU.
About 1971 the US gave an SR-71 to Moscow and trained them in maintenance and provided pilot training and spare parts. The plane is still there.
A "kinetic kill vehicle" may have left lots of space junk which causes damage to the other satellites wherever that junk goes.
By Alex Massie in Washington
Last Updated: 6:13pm GMT 18/01/2007
The Telegraph (UK)
China drew fire from the United States for testing a space weapon that could be used to destroy satellites and other US equipment in orbit.
US intelligence agencies believe that China launched a ground-based "satellite-killer" missile on Jan 11 to destroy an aged and obsolete weather orbiter, 587 miles above the earth's surface. The weapon, which US intelligence believes was launched from the Xichang space centre, destroyed its target through a "kinetic impact" – or direct hit – the US said.
The sophistication of the launch and the weapon's ability to track and home in on a tiny satellite has raised fears that the major powers are heading towards the "militarisation" of space.
advertisement"The US believes China's development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of co-operation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area," said a spokesman for the National Security Council.
"We and other countries have expressed our concern regarding this action to the Chinese." Australia and Canada also made their concern known to China.
The weaponisation of space is becoming an increasingly controversial element of international arms control agreements.
China's progress in missile technology further increases tensions between Washington and Beijing who increasingly see one another as long-term strategic rivals in the Pacific Ocean. Chinese investment in its navy is perceived as threatening the US-guaranteed independence of Taiwan, while Beijing's efforts to persuade the EU to lift its embargo on the sale of arms to China has also been opposed by the US.
Testifying before Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill last week, Lt-General Michael Maples warned that "Russia and China continue to be the primary states of concern regarding military space and counter-space programmes".
Other countries, he said, "continue to develop capabilities that have the potential to threaten US space assets, and some have already deployed systems with inherent anti-satellite capabilities, such as satellite-tracking laser range-finding devices and nuclear-armed ballistic missiles."
Beijing and Moscow have both denied seeking space weapons and have called for an international ban on weaponising space.
The United States already possesses similar missile technology to that tested by the Chinese this month. In 2004 the US Air Force deployed the 76th Space Control Squadron which is capable of using ground-operated electronic jamming devices and missiles to disable foreign satellites.
Last year the Bush administration unveiled the first new National Space Policy in 10 years, which warned that the US would take all action necessary to protect its space capabilities "and deny, if necessary, adversaries the use of space capabilities hostile" to those interests. "Freedom of action in space is as important to the United States as air power and sea power."
"The policy is designed to ensure that our space capabilities are protected in a time of increasing challenges and threats," said Robert Joseph, under-secretary for arms control and international security at the State Department. "This is imperative because space capabilities are vital to our national security and to our economic well being."
We did also.
Who's weather satellite was destroyed?
Wasn't there a lot of hubbub recently over space junk burning up in the atmosphere above Colorado? Was there ever any explanation as to what this was? Maybe an old Chinese weather satelite...
The US was griping recently about China using a type of laser to 'blind' our spy satelites. China, I think, is far more advanced than a lot of people give them credit for. They may steal a lot of technology, but however they get it, they get it.
My thoughts exactly. Wonder how close the shuttle comes to all of that space debris?
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