Who didn't see the satellite shootdown coming?

[bigtree]

This looks so much like a set-up to test their new satellite destroying weapons. They have been pushing for ages to mount lasers on space-based platforms to 'protect' the commercial sats the U.S. has floating around, including our GPS ones. China hates the idea, of course.

A senior U.S. military officer warned in October of 2003 that, "Space may become a war zone in the not-too-distant future," in an apparent reaction to China becoming the third country besides the U.S. and Russia to put a man in space.

"In my view it will not be long before space becomes a battleground," Lieutenant General Edward Anderson, Deputy Commander, United States Northern Command, and Vice Commander, U.S. Element, North American Aerospace Defense Command, said at a geospatial intelligence conference in New Orleans.

"Our military forces depend very, very heavily on space capabilities, and so that is a statement of the obvious to our potential threat, whoever that may be," he said.

Anderson had served on the Army staff in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Research, Development, and Acquisition in the Pentagon as a space acquisitions and appropriations warrior.

"They can see that one of the ways that they can certainly diminish our capabilities will be to attack the space systems," said Anderson, who was formerly with the U.S. Space Command.

"Now how they do that and who that's going to be I can't tell you in this audience," he warned ominously.

In a Reuters article published in the same month as Anderson's remarks, Rich Haver, former special assistant for intelligence to Donald Rumsfeld, said he expected battles in space within the next two decades.

"I believe space is the place we will fight in the next 20 years," said Haver, now vice president for intelligence strategy at Northrop Grumman Mission Systems. (sincere, concerned look on his face as he speaks)

"There are executive orders that say we don't want to do that," Haver explained. "There's been a long-standing U.S. policy to try to keep space a peaceful place, but ... we have in space assets absolutely essential to the conduct of our military operations (and our portfolios), absolutely essential to our national security. They have been there for many years," he asserted.

"When the true history of the Cold War is written and all the classified items are finally unclassified, I believe that historians will note that it was in space that a significant degree of this country's ability to win the Cold War was embedded," Haver extolled. (http://www.alternet.org/story/17329/)

Responding to a question about the implications of China sending a man into space, at the time of his statements, Haver said: "I think the Chinese are telling us they're there, and I think if we ever wind up in a confrontation again with any one of the major powers who has a space capability we will find space is a battleground."



http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree

[SoCalDem]

1. D'oh.. NOW we know the real reason Spielberg pulled out of the China Olympics

:evilgrin:

[Vincardog]

2. See it coming? It is their stated policy They want to militarize everything

That is what war mongers chicken hawks do. They love to profiteer at our expense.

[zbdent]

3. and the pundits said that Clinton was bombing things to prove how much of a man he was ...

and yet ... any pundit who did so then give any indication of how Bush is extending his penis now?

[MADem]

4. Welcome to the New Cold War. GE needs a REASON to stay Top Ten Pentagon Contractor.

That War in the Middle East theme has run its course.

Here's why they're shooting off that missile--it's the "You bring a knife, we bring a gun" game.
http://cbs3.com/topstories/russian.bombers.buzz.2.651907.html

Time to ramp it up again against the Russkies--so Pootie Poot and the pals at GE can restart their weapons manufacturing capablity, and sell arms to proxy nations to fight proxy wars for us, just like in the "good old days."

[Mojorabbit]

5. I read a while back

that they thought it might not burn up in the atmosphere and refused to say if there were hazardous materials on the satelite. I am more worried it might crash somewhere and contaminate the area if it does have nuclear materials on it. Either scenario makes me uneasy.

[Javaman]

7. Imagine it has some low grade nuke material on it and they want to

blow this thing up?

they are trying really hard to get their dirty bomb scare anyway they can.

[Javaman]

6. Yeah a real "test"...

one object on a single trajectory. If they can't hit this thing, with even a friggin' whiffle ball, then we are all in very deep trouble.

more of their "real world" tests.

does this one have balloons attached to it??

[bigtree]

8. from '97

Military Is Hoping to Test-Fire Laser Against Satellite

The developers of the nation's most powerful military laser are seeking permission to fire the laser's beam into space at a $60 million Air Force satellite in what military officials say would be the first test of its kind.

The test, planned for September, would be a major step toward perfecting a weapon that could demolish satellites and other spacecraft, an ability that the Pentagon regards as crucial in time of war.

But advocates of arms control say the test is likely to set off a race for new space weapons that will ultimately endanger the nation's own satellites. And the maker of the satellite, which is owned by the Air Force, says that the craft still has years of useful life and that its destruction would be a foolish waste.

The military wants an anti-satellite weapon mainly to stop enemies with orbital cameras from spying on American weapons and troops during combat. For years, the United States dominated space-based reconnaissance, but recently other countries and even private companies have begun efforts to loft their own spy satellites, with the companies seeking to market high-quality satellite photos.

The United States has no demonstrated way of shooting down satellites, though experts speculate that it may have secret ways that could work in an emergency. In theory, a laser weapon would allow the United States to dominate the world of orbital reconnaissance at least for a while.

The laser, installed at a sprawling base in the New Mexico desert, is run by the Army. The planned test would have it strike the Air Force satellite, an experimental craft designed to improve ways to track missiles, to see what it takes to destroy it. The Air Force says it no longer needs the satellite and plans to switch it off, despite the maker's protests.

On Thursday, military officials met at the Pentagon to review the laser plan but came to no decision on whether to approve it. A final go-ahead would probably have to come from the secretary of defense, probably in concert with the White House.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/library/news/1997/nyt_970901.htm

[dysfunctional press]

9. it took the chinese thre tries to shoot their's down.

and when they did hit it, it threw thousands of pieces of space debris in all directions- a really fucked up thing to do, considering all the satellites and the space station which could all be damaged if not destroyed by impacts with pieces of the debris.

[Jim__]

10. The day space becomes a battleground is the day we all die. - n/t

[soothsayer]

11. Well there goes Cleveland! (This gov't cannot do a single thing right--

I predict this will end badly)