Chinese test Anti-Satellite weapon

Thought folks might want to know about this one.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1188

Chinese Test Anti-Satellite Weapon
By Craig Covault, Aviation Week & Space Technology, Cape Canaveral
Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Courtesy of Aviation Week & Space Technology and Aviationnow.com

U. S. intelligence agencies believe China performed a successful
anti-satellite (asat) weapons test at more than 500 mi. altitude Jan.
11 destroying an aging Chinese weather satellite target with a kinetic
kill vehicle launched on board a ballistic missile.

The Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the
Defense Intelligence Agency, NASA and other government organizations
have a full court press underway to obtain data on the alleged test,
Aviation Week & Space Technology reports on its web site
Aviationnow.com.

If the test is verified it will signify a major new Chinese military
capability.

Neither the Office of the U. S. Secretary of Defense nor Air Force
Space Command would comment on the attack, which followed by several
months the alleged illumination of a U. S. military spacecraft by a
Chinese ground based laser.

China's growing military space capability is one major reason the Bush
Administration last year formed the nation's first new National Space
Policy in ten years, Aviation Week will report in its Jan. 22 issue.

"The policy is designed to ensure that our space capabilities are
protected in a time of increasing challenges and threats," says Robert
G. Joseph, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security
at the U. S. State Dept.

"This is imperative because space capabilities are vital to our
national security and to our economic well being," Joseph said in an
address on the new space policy at the National Press Club in
Washington D. C.

Details emerging from space sources indicate that the Chinese Feng Yun
1C (FY-1C) polar orbit weather satellite launched in 1999 was attacked
by an asat system launched from or near the Xichang Space Center.

The attack is believed to have occurred as the weather satellite flew
at 530 mi. altitude 4 deg. west of Xichang located in Sichuan province.
Xichang is a major Chinese space launch center.

Although intelligence agencies must complete confirmation of the test,
the attack is believed to have occurred at about 5:28 p.m. EST Jan.
11. U. S. intelligence agencies had been expecting some sort of test
that day, sources said.

U. S. Air Force Defense Support Program missile warning satellites in
geosynchronous orbit would have detected the Xichang launch of the asat
kill vehicle and U. S. Air Force Space Command monitored the FY-1C
orbit both before and after the exercise.

The test, if it occurred as envisioned by intelligence source, could
also have left considerable space debris in an orbit used by many
different satellites.

USAF radar reports on the Chinese FY-1C spacecraft have been posted
once or twice daily for years, but those reports jumped to about 4
times per day just before the alleged test.

The USAF radar reports then ceased Jan. 11, but then appeared for a
day showing "signs of orbital distress". The reports were then halted
again. The Air Force radars may well be busy cataloging many pieces of
debris, sources said.

Although more of a "policy weapon" at this time, the test shows that
the Chinese military can threaten the imaging reconnaissance satellites
operated by the U. S., Japan, Russia, Israel and Europe.

The Republic of China also operates a small imaging spacecraft that can
photograph objects as small as about 10 ft. in size, a capability good
enough to count cruise missiles pointed at Taiwan from the Chinese
mainland. The Taiwanese in the past have also leased capability on an
Israeli reconnaissance satellite

David E. Powell wrote:
Thought folks might want to know about this one.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1188

Chinese Test Anti-Satellite Weapon
By Craig Covault, Aviation Week & Space Technology, Cape Canaveral
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
snip

Shouldn't be a problem since Globalist George and his Buds said we can
do business with them.
Americans are paying for the Communist Chinese advances in Military
capabilities.
I wonder if they will demand we turn over America to them to redeem all
those Dollars they hold or if they will demand the surrender of America
for the Communist cause?

"john" wrote in message
...
David E. Powell wrote:
Thought folks might want to know about this one.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1188

Chinese Test Anti-Satellite Weapon
By Craig Covault, Aviation Week & Space Technology, Cape Canaveral
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
snip

Shouldn't be a problem since Globalist George and his Buds said we can do
business with them.
Americans are paying for the Communist Chinese advances in Military
capabilities.
I wonder if they will demand we turn over America to them to redeem all
those Dollars they hold or if they will demand the surrender of America
for the Communist cause?

Not to worry. Since they've tied their economy to our markets (yes, they
are still our markets), the first time they take out one of our staellites,
their economy will go belly up. And I don't think the Chinese are that
stupid.

George

"George" writes:

"john" wrote in message
...
David E. Powell wrote:
Thought folks might want to know about this one.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1188

Chinese Test Anti-Satellite Weapon
By Craig Covault, Aviation Week & Space Technology, Cape Canaveral
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
snip

Shouldn't be a problem since Globalist George and his Buds said we can do
business with them.
Americans are paying for the Communist Chinese advances in Military
capabilities.
I wonder if they will demand we turn over America to them to redeem all
those Dollars they hold or if they will demand the surrender of America
for the Communist cause?

Not to worry. Since they've tied their economy to our markets (yes, they
are still our markets), the first time they take out one of our staellites,
their economy will go belly up. And I don't think the Chinese are that
stupid.

Certainly they are not stupid, Asian civilizations have a long culture
of valuing education and learning from the past. However, I don't
think your comment about "belly up" is valid. There are too many
parameters involved in turning an economy belly-up. And since China's
economy is still *not* an export-reliant industry, like for example
Japan's, export restrictions will probably not have terrible effects
(just my opinion too, BTW, not criticizing your view as wrong, I just
don't give it the same probability). Model results would help I
suppose. Another thing is that China holds a vast stock of US treasury
bills, much as does Japan. That's "tying" the US economy to China and
Japan, as much as US markets tie their conomies to the US.
--
BOFH excuse #51:

Cosmic ray particles crashed through the hard disk platter

"Gernot Hassenpflug" wrote in message
...
"George" writes:

"john" wrote in message
...
David E. Powell wrote:
Thought folks might want to know about this one.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1188

Chinese Test Anti-Satellite Weapon
By Craig Covault, Aviation Week & Space Technology, Cape Canaveral
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
snip

Shouldn't be a problem since Globalist George and his Buds said we can
do
business with them.
Americans are paying for the Communist Chinese advances in Military
capabilities.
I wonder if they will demand we turn over America to them to redeem all
those Dollars they hold or if they will demand the surrender of America
for the Communist cause?

Not to worry. Since they've tied their economy to our markets (yes,
they
are still our markets), the first time they take out one of our
staellites,
their economy will go belly up. And I don't think the Chinese are that
stupid.

Certainly they are not stupid, Asian civilizations have a long culture
of valuing education and learning from the past. However, I don't
think your comment about "belly up" is valid. There are too many
parameters involved in turning an economy belly-up. And since China's
economy is still *not* an export-reliant industry, like for example
Japan's, export restrictions will probably not have terrible effects
(just my opinion too, BTW, not criticizing your view as wrong, I just
don't give it the same probability). Model results would help I
suppose. Another thing is that China holds a vast stock of US treasury
bills, much as does Japan. That's "tying" the US economy to China and
Japan, as much as US markets tie their conomies to the US.

Oh I agree completely with that assessment. But China now has something it
has wanted for a very long time - a western-style economy. Too many have
made too much money from it to want to see it rolled back, in IMHO. I just
don't see them using this new weapon in any meaningful way in the near
future, least of all against the U.S. I do see them saber-rattling at
Taiwan, and I think that that is where the threat truly lies, if there is
one.

George

This is why we need to continue are start wars program. We most likely
helped in this technology as we had it in 1985 when an F-15
successfully downed a satelite over northern Canada. The Chinese are
working on this tech, and I suppose the Russians too. But it can be a
good thing as more and more kooks try to get their own nukes, ie North
Korea and Iran. If Iran gets nukes and launches one into Isreal, what
do you think will happen.

David E. Powell wrote:
Thought folks might want to know about this one.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1188

Chinese Test Anti-Satellite Weapon
By Craig Covault, Aviation Week & Space Technology, Cape Canaveral
Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Courtesy of Aviation Week & Space Technology and Aviationnow.com

U. S. intelligence agencies believe China performed a successful
anti-satellite (asat) weapons test at more than 500 mi. altitude Jan.
11 destroying an aging Chinese weather satellite target with a kinetic
kill vehicle launched on board a ballistic missile.

The Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the
Defense Intelligence Agency, NASA and other government organizations
have a full court press underway to obtain data on the alleged test,
Aviation Week & Space Technology reports on its web site
Aviationnow.com.

If the test is verified it will signify a major new Chinese military
capability.

Neither the Office of the U. S. Secretary of Defense nor Air Force
Space Command would comment on the attack, which followed by several
months the alleged illumination of a U. S. military spacecraft by a
Chinese ground based laser.

China's growing military space capability is one major reason the Bush
Administration last year formed the nation's first new National Space
Policy in ten years, Aviation Week will report in its Jan. 22 issue.

"The policy is designed to ensure that our space capabilities are
protected in a time of increasing challenges and threats," says Robert
G. Joseph, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security
at the U. S. State Dept.

"This is imperative because space capabilities are vital to our
national security and to our economic well being," Joseph said in an
address on the new space policy at the National Press Club in
Washington D. C.

Details emerging from space sources indicate that the Chinese Feng Yun
1C (FY-1C) polar orbit weather satellite launched in 1999 was attacked
by an asat system launched from or near the Xichang Space Center.

The attack is believed to have occurred as the weather satellite flew
at 530 mi. altitude 4 deg. west of Xichang located in Sichuan province.
Xichang is a major Chinese space launch center.

Although intelligence agencies must complete confirmation of the test,
the attack is believed to have occurred at about 5:28 p.m. EST Jan.
11. U. S. intelligence agencies had been expecting some sort of test
that day, sources said.

U. S. Air Force Defense Support Program missile warning satellites in
geosynchronous orbit would have detected the Xichang launch of the asat
kill vehicle and U. S. Air Force Space Command monitored the FY-1C
orbit both before and after the exercise.

The test, if it occurred as envisioned by intelligence source, could
also have left considerable space debris in an orbit used by many
different satellites.

USAF radar reports on the Chinese FY-1C spacecraft have been posted
once or twice daily for years, but those reports jumped to about 4
times per day just before the alleged test.

The USAF radar reports then ceased Jan. 11, but then appeared for a
day showing "signs of orbital distress". The reports were then halted
again. The Air Force radars may well be busy cataloging many pieces of
debris, sources said.

Although more of a "policy weapon" at this time, the test shows that
the Chinese military can threaten the imaging reconnaissance satellites
operated by the U. S., Japan, Russia, Israel and Europe.

The Republic of China also operates a small imaging spacecraft that can
photograph objects as small as about 10 ft. in size, a capability good
enough to count cruise missiles pointed at Taiwan from the Chinese
mainland. The Taiwanese in the past have also leased capability on an
Israeli reconnaissance satellite

Analogy: The Chinese take a shot gun to a sleeping rabbit, the FY-1C
weighs in at 950 kg and was in a sun synchronous orbit, ie an easy
target. The KH-11 is the weight of a school bus and changes its orbital
inclination and its altiutude from 150 nm to 600nm, it is designed to
avoid anti-satellite missiles, as is its brother the KH-12.

http://www.cdi.org/terrorism/satellites.cfm

David E. Powell wrote:
Thought folks might want to know about this one.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1188

Chinese Test Anti-Satellite Weapon
By Craig Covault, Aviation Week & Space Technology, Cape Canaveral
Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Courtesy of Aviation Week & Space Technology and Aviationnow.com

U. S. intelligence agencies believe China performed a successful
anti-satellite (asat) weapons test at more than 500 mi. altitude Jan.
11 destroying an aging Chinese weather satellite target with a kinetic
kill vehicle launched on board a ballistic missile.

The Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the
Defense Intelligence Agency, NASA and other government organizations
have a full court press underway to obtain data on the alleged test,
Aviation Week & Space Technology reports on its web site
Aviationnow.com.

If the test is verified it will signify a major new Chinese military
capability.

Neither the Office of the U. S. Secretary of Defense nor Air Force
Space Command would comment on the attack, which followed by several
months the alleged illumination of a U. S. military spacecraft by a
Chinese ground based laser.

China's growing military space capability is one major reason the Bush
Administration last year formed the nation's first new National Space
Policy in ten years, Aviation Week will report in its Jan. 22 issue.

"The policy is designed to ensure that our space capabilities are
protected in a time of increasing challenges and threats," says Robert
G. Joseph, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security
at the U. S. State Dept.

"This is imperative because space capabilities are vital to our
national security and to our economic well being," Joseph said in an
address on the new space policy at the National Press Club in
Washington D. C.

Details emerging from space sources indicate that the Chinese Feng Yun
1C (FY-1C) polar orbit weather satellite launched in 1999 was attacked
by an asat system launched from or near the Xichang Space Center.

The attack is believed to have occurred as the weather satellite flew
at 530 mi. altitude 4 deg. west of Xichang located in Sichuan province.
Xichang is a major Chinese space launch center.

Although intelligence agencies must complete confirmation of the test,
the attack is believed to have occurred at about 5:28 p.m. EST Jan.
11. U. S. intelligence agencies had been expecting some sort of test
that day, sources said.

U. S. Air Force Defense Support Program missile warning satellites in
geosynchronous orbit would have detected the Xichang launch of the asat
kill vehicle and U. S. Air Force Space Command monitored the FY-1C
orbit both before and after the exercise.

The test, if it occurred as envisioned by intelligence source, could
also have left considerable space debris in an orbit used by many
different satellites.

USAF radar reports on the Chinese FY-1C spacecraft have been posted
once or twice daily for years, but those reports jumped to about 4
times per day just before the alleged test.

The USAF radar reports then ceased Jan. 11, but then appeared for a
day showing "signs of orbital distress". The reports were then halted
again. The Air Force radars may well be busy cataloging many pieces of
debris, sources said.

Although more of a "policy weapon" at this time, the test shows that
the Chinese military can threaten the imaging reconnaissance satellites
operated by the U. S., Japan, Russia, Israel and Europe.

The Republic of China also operates a small imaging spacecraft that can
photograph objects as small as about 10 ft. in size, a capability good
enough to count cruise missiles pointed at Taiwan from the Chinese
mainland. The Taiwanese in the past have also leased capability on an
Israeli reconnaissance satellite

The working relationships that this administration seems to have with
its "enemies" is really remarkable. If we say al Qaeda is the major
threat to the world, bin Laden drops a video saying just the same
thing; if we rip Iran for their once and future nuke, they come back
with a nyah-nyah we're going to bomb you. Now the Chinese are building
up their really awful satellite intercept so the administration can
pump for a giant laser.

January 19, 2007
Flexing Muscle, China Destroys Satellite in Test
By WILLIAM J. BROAD and DAVID E. SANGER

China successfully carried out its first test of an antisatellite
weapon last week, signaling its resolve to play a major role in
military space activities and bringing expressions of concern from
Washington and other capitals, the Bush administration said yesterday.

Only two nations - the Soviet Union and the United States - have
previously destroyed spacecraft in antisatellite tests, most recently
the United States in the mid-1980s.

Arms control experts called the test, in which the weapon destroyed an
aging Chinese weather satellite, a troubling development that could
foreshadow an antisatellite arms race. Alternatively, however, some
experts speculated that it could precede a diplomatic effort by China
to prod the Bush administration into negotiations on a weapons ban.

White House officials said the United States and other nations, which
they did not identify, had "expressed our concern regarding this
action to the Chinese." Despite its protest, the Bush administration
has long resisted a global treaty banning such tests because it says it
needs freedom of action in space.

The weather satellite hit by the weapon had circled the globe at an
altitude of roughly 500 miles. In theory, the test means that China can
now hit American spy satellites, which orbit closer to Earth. The
satellites presumably in range of the Chinese missile include most of
the imagery satellites used for basic military reconnaissance, which
are essentially the eyes of the American intelligence community for
military movements, potential nuclear tests and even some
counterterrorism, and commercial satellites.

Experts said the weather satellite's speeding remnants could pose a
threat to other satellites for years or even decades.

In late August, President Bush authorized a new national space policy
that ignored calls for a global prohibition on such tests. The policy
said the United States would "preserve its rights, capabilities, and
freedom of action in space" and "dissuade or deter others from
either impeding those rights or developing capabilities intended to do
so." It declared the United States would "deny, if necessary,
adversaries the use of space capabilities hostile to U.S. national
interests."

The Chinese test "could be a shot across the bow," said Theresa
Hitchens, director of the Center for Defense Information, a private
group in Washington that tracks military programs. "For several
years, the Russians and Chinese have been trying to push a treaty to
ban space weapons. The concept of exhibiting a hard-power capability to
bring somebody to the negotiating table is a classic cold war
technique."

The White House statement, issued by the National Security Council,
said 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."

An administration official who had reviewed the intelligence about
China's test said the launching was detected by the United States in
the early evening of Jan. 11, which would have been early morning on
Jan. 12 in China. American satellites tracked the launching of the
medium-range ballistic missile, and later space radars saw the debris.

The antisatellite test was first reported late Wednesday on the Web
site of Aviation Week and Space Technology, an industry magazine. It
said intelligence agencies had yet to "complete confirmation of the
test."

The test, the magazine said, appeared to employ a ground-based
interceptor that used the sheer force of impact rather than an
exploding warhead to shatter the satellite.

The Bush administration has conducted research that critics say could
produce a powerful ground-based laser weapon that would be used against
enemy satellites.

The largely secret project, parts of which were made public through Air
Force budget documents submitted to Congress last year, appears to be
part of a wide-ranging administration effort to develop space weapons,
both defensive and offensive.

The administration's laser research is far more ambitious than a
previous effort by the Clinton administration to develop an
antisatellite laser, though the administration denies that it is an
attempt to build a laser weapon.

"There's nothing subtle about this," he said. "They've
created a huge debris cloud that will last a quarter century or more.
It's at a higher elevation than the test we did in 1985, and for that
one the last trackable debris took 17 years to clear out."

Mr. Krepon added that the administration had long argued that the world
needed no space-weapons treaty because no such arms existed and because
the last tests were two decades ago. "It seems," he said, "that
argument is no longer operative."

"Jack Linthicum" wrote in message
ups.com...
The working relationships that this administration seems to have with
its "enemies" is really remarkable. If we say al Qaeda is the major
threat to the world, bin Laden drops a video saying just the same
thing; if we rip Iran for their once and future nuke, they come back
with a nyah-nyah we're going to bomb you. Now the Chinese are building
up their really awful satellite intercept so the administration can
pump for a giant laser.

The biggest fallout(pun intended) might well be from the junk in left in
LEO, though I'm beginning to wonder why we've lost contact with our lastest
KeyHole...

wattman5619 wrote:
This is why we need to continue are start wars program. We most likely
helped in this technology as we had it in 1985 when an F-15
successfully downed a satelite over northern Canada. The Chinese are
working on this tech, and I suppose the Russians too. But it can be a
good thing as more and more kooks try to get their own nukes, ie North
Korea and Iran. If Iran gets nukes and launches one into Isreal, what
do you think will happen.
The way to negate the threat is to target the launch facility or better
yet just the pad used as to lessen the aftershock after a B-2 attack.
Just make sure to use a bomber and not a conventional tipped ICBM as it
could make China very nervous and wonder about it being a MIRV and
lauch their nukes on a raid warning. Does anyone know if China has a
credible satellite missile launch warning system? They might have spies
based around our ICBM missile fields to call home if we launch but if a
boomer opens up on them from the Pacific are they going to see the
missiles comming before its to late to return fire? We could probably
arrange an attack in such a way to ensure that a boomer is to far away
from the sea lanes for anyone to see the rocket plume as it goes up.
Just so the Russians don't warn China which they might not as China
might figure what the hell if we are getting nuked anyway we should
ensure that Russia doesn't come in after we have been crippled and nuke
the ones who warned them too.