Missile Defense (General thread)

[American Patriot]

Missile Defense Exercise and Flight Test Successfully Completed (long range)
MDA.Mil ^ | Sept 28, 2007 | Rick Lehner

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced today it has completed an important exercise and flight test involving a successful intercept by a ground-based interceptor missile designed to protect the United States against a limited long-range ballistic missile attack. The flight test results will help to further improve and refine the performance of numerous Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) elements able to provide a defense against the type of long-range ballistic missile that could be used to attack an American city with a weapon of mass destruction.

The interceptor was launched from the Ronald W. Reagan Missile Defense Site, located at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. For this exercise, a threat-representative target missile was launched from Kodiak, Alaska.

The exercise was designed to evaluate the performance of several elements of the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS). Mission objectives included demonstrating the ability of the Upgraded Early Warning Radar at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., to acquire, track and report on objects. The test also evaluated the performance of the interceptor missile’s rocket motor system and exoatmospheric kill vehicle, which is the component that collides directly with a target warhead in space to perform a “hit to kill” intercept using only the force of the collision to totally destroy the target warhead. Initial indications are that the rocket motor system and kill vehicle performed as designed. Program officials will evaluate system performance based upon telemetry and other data obtained during the test.

The target was also successfully tracked by the Sea-Based X-band (SBX) radar and an Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense ship using onboard SPY-1 radar. The Missile Defense Agency is developing and deploying an extensive network of land and sea-based radars to detect and track all types of ballistic missiles and to provide targeting information to interceptor missiles through the Command, Control, Battle Management and Communication (C2BMC) system.

The Ground-based Midcourse Defense system currently has interceptor missiles deployed at Ft. Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg AFB, Calif. Several U.S. Navy Aegis-class cruisers and destroyers with advanced SPY-1 radar have been modified for integration in to the command, control, battle management and communication element of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system.

[American Patriot]

Is China the new `missile gap'?
The Taipei Times ^ | Oct 02, 2007

Editorial: Is China the new `missile gap'?

Tuesday, Oct 02, 2007, Page 8

US Air Force Lieutenant General Bruce Wright, the commander of US forces in Japan, dropped a bombshell of sorts last week when, during an interview, he painted a disconcertingly grim portrait of US capabilities vis-a-vis China's growing military strength.

Comments to the effect that China's air defenses are now "difficult if not impossible" to penetrate by the US' aging F-15s and F-16s, in addition to complaints that operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have cannibalized US military resources in East Asia, could be seen as ringing alarm bells for Taiwan.

But we've heard all that before. Wright, like any other official in his position, is a bean counter who vies with other branches of the US Defense Department for resources. If he sends the right signals, his share of the defense pie could grow in the next annual budget. After all, no commander in his right mind would come out and say he has enough -- or perhaps even too many -- resources to meet his requirements. What they want is what writer James Carroll, in his excellent history of the Pentagon, House of War, calls the "upwards spiral of weapons accumulation" -- more, more, more. And they are encouraged to do this by defense contractors who can only benefit from such pleas.

So they decry the poor state of one's order of battle, bemoan its age, while at the same time overestimating the capabilities and resources of the opponent -- a tradition perfected by defense analysts during the Cold War, who gravely warned of a growing "missile gap" with the Soviets, a wild overestimate (in fact a lie) that indeed led to a substantial missile gap -- in the US' favor.

While acknowledging the great strides China's military has made in recent years, it is important to recognize that the capabilities alone -- the number of aircraft, destroyers, personnel and so on -- an army possesses is insufficient to determine the likely outcome of a military engagement.

While it is true that the US' F-15s and F-16s are older than China's Su-27s, Su-30s and the quasi-mythical J-10 (a reference that emphatically screams for a bigger and permanent deployment of brand new, albeit costly, F-22s to Okinawa), Wright's assessment leaves out other, equally important factors such as training, combat experience, command-and-control and spatial mapping.

In all these aspects, the US military is light years ahead of China. US pilots receive far better training and get many more flight hours than their Chinese counterparts. And given engagements like the Gulf War in 1991, Somalia in 1993, the Balkans in the mid-1990s, Kosovo in 1999, Afghanistan in 2001 and the ongoing war in Iraq, US military personnel have a tremendous advantage in combat experience over the Chinese, whose last conventional military ventures were the Sino-Indian war of 1962 and the invasion of Vietnam in 1979.

That China's modernization of its military warrants careful scrutiny by the international community is indisputable. That regional powers like Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and the US must position themselves so that they can meet China's growing capabilities is beyond question.

But, simultaneously, we must shield ourselves against depictions, such as Wright's, that overestimate the nature of the Chinese "threat" and in the end constitute little more than an attempt to grab as much as possible from a growing, though nonetheless finite, US military budget.

[American Patriot]

ALERT!!!!!




SEA-BASED MISSILE DEFENSE "HIT TO KILL" INTERCEPT ACHIEVED (Aegis)
MDA.Mil ^ | Nov 6, 2007 | Chris Taylor and Rick Lehner, Public Affairs

Air Force Lieutenant General Henry 'Trey" Obering, Missile Defense Agency (MDA) director, announced the successful completion today of a multiple simultaneous engagement involving two ballistic missile targets. This was MDA's latest "hit to kill" intercept flight test conducted jointly with the U.S. Navy off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii.

For the first time, the operationally realistic test involved two unitary "non-separating" targets, meaning that the target's warheads did not separate from their booster rockets. This was the 32nd and 33rd successful "hit-to-kill" intercepts since 2001.

Designated as Flight Test Standard Missile-13 (FTM-13), it marked the tenth and eleventh successful intercepts, of thirteen targets in twelve scheduled flight tests for the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Program, a sea-based component of the Agency's Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS). Aegis BMD is designed to intercept and destroy short to intermediate-range ballistic missile threats. The mission was completed by the cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70), using the tactically certified 3.6 Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense shipboard weapon system and the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IA interceptor.

At approximately 6:12 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time (11:12 p.m. EST), a target was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF), Barking Sands, Kauai, Hawaii. Moments later, a second, identical target was launched from the PMRF. The USS Lake Erie's Aegis BMD Weapon System detected and tracked the targets and developed fire control solutions.

Approximately two minutes later, the USS Lake Erie's crew fired two SM-3 missiles, and two minutes later they successfully intercepted the targets outside the earth's atmosphere more than 100 miles above the Pacific Ocean and 250 miles northwest of Kauai. The intercepts used "hit to kill" technology, meaning that the targets were destroyed when the missiles collided directly with the targets.

A Japanese destroyer also participated in the flight test. Stationed off Kauai and equipped with the certified 3.6 Aegis BMD weapon system, the guided missile destroyer JS Kongo performed long-range surveillance and tracking exercises. The Kongo used the test as a training exercise in preparation for the first ballistic missile intercept test by a Japanese ship planned for later this year. This event marked the fourth time an allied military unit participated in a U.S. Aegis BMDS test.

MDA and the Navy cooperatively manage the Aegis BMD Program. Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems and Sensors of Moorestown, New Jersey is the Combat System Engineering Agent (CSEA) and prime contractor for the Aegis BMD Weapon System and Vertical Launch System installed in Aegis-equipped cruisers and destroyers. Raytheon Missile Systems of Tucson, Arizona is the prime contractor for the SM-3 missile and all previous variants of Standard Missile.

(And this from me... awesome, and thanks to the MDA... and you're welcome from me )

[American Patriot]

Boeing's 12,000lb chemical laser set to fry targets from aircraft (21st Century AC-130)
Network World (blog) ^ | 12/12/2007 | unknown

Boeing this week said completed work on and installed a 12,000-pound chemical laser in a C-130H aircraft and will now test the weapon, which will fire through a rotating turret that extends through the aircraft's belly, until an official demonstration set for 2008.

Boeing's Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) which is being developed for the Department of Defense, will destroy, damage or disable targets with little to no collateral damage, supporting missions on the battlefield and in urban operations, Boeing said.

The ATL team includes L-3 Communications/Brashear, which made the laser turret, and Hytec which made various structural elements of the weapon system, Boeing said.

The ATL is complementary to the Airborne Laser (ABL), which Boeing is developing for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency to destroy airborne ballistic missiles. The ABL consists of a megawatt-class chemical laser mounted on a Boeing 747-400 freighter aircraft. According to Boeing the C-130H transport, which belongs to the U.S. Air Force's 46th Test Wing, will be modified to carry the high-energy chemical laser and battle management and beam control subsystems.

Both systems employ a Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL) that is made by combining a bunch of nasty chemicals - potassium, peroxide, chlorine, iodine and other stuff and then fired at supersonic speeds. According to as post on Wikipedia, each COIL burst produces enough energy in a five-second burst to power a typical American household for more than one hour. The system doesn't so much evaporate its target as melts or damages it rendering it useless. In the case of using it against missiles, the missle is typically weakened and then explodes, experts said.

"The installation of the high-energy laser shows that the ATL program continues to make tremendous progress toward giving the war fighter a speed-of-light, precision engagement capability that will dramatically reduce collateral damage," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems. "Next year, we will fire the laser at ground targets, demonstrating the military utility of this transformational directed energy weapon."

Boeing said in a statement that the program "achieved two other major milestones earlier this year. 'Low-power' flight tests were completed in June at Kirtland; the ATL aircraft used its flight demonstration hardware and a low-power laser to find and track moving and stationary ground targets. .... The low-power laser, a surrogate for the high-energy laser, hit its intended target in each of more than a dozen tests. "

The Navy has also been hard at work on laser weapons. The company that makes what it calls directed energy weapons, Ionatron, earlier this year said it had won an almost $10 million contract from the U.S. Navy to continue developing of its Laser Induced Plasma Channel (LIPC) technology. According to the company's Website, a short pulse laser that can be directed at a target with ferocious intensity. The company also notes that the gun is available in lethal and non-lethal versions.

The Department of Defense is also testing the Active Denial System (ADS), which fires pain-inducing beams of 95-GHz radio waves, for deployment on ground vehicles. (By comparison, microwave ovens operate at around 2.5 GHz.) The Active Denial System is being adapted for possible use as a battlefield weapon and as a security measure for nuclear facilities. The ADS heats a target's skin, producing a sensation similar to having a light bulb pressed against flesh.

[American Patriot]

US Navy to Test Fire Electric Hypercannon
register.com ^ | 01/30/08 | Unknown

The US Navy will astound the world tomorrow by test-firing a radical new weapon system at an unprecedented power level. The new piece of war-tech on trial is that old sci-fi favourite, an electromagnetic railgun.

According to the Office of Naval Research, which is in charge of the project, the electric cannon will deliver over ten megajoules of energy in one shot. The ONR say this is "a power level never before achieved" by a railgun, and already represents significantly more poke than a normal five-inch naval gun can put behind its shells.

The designers hope in future to get the technology up to 64 megajoule muzzle-energy levels, able to shoot hypervelocity projectiles at a blistering Mach 7 and strike targets two hundred miles away - still going at Mach 5 - with pinpoint precision.

The US navy is interested in the kit for a number of reasons. For one, its next generation warships are expected to use electric drive systems, meaning that they will be have 80 megawatts or more on hand. If this power can be used to put violence onto the enemy as well as driving the ship, that's good news for logistics and supply.

The only ammo you need is solid shot with guidance fins; there's no need for tons of high-explosive warheads and low-explosive chemical propellants for regular shells and missiles. These are replaced by nice simple fuel for the ship's engines.

The lack of exploding warheads could offer a chance to deliver more surgical strikes, too. They could take out a single vehicle from far out at sea, perhaps, rather than pulverising a whole area like present-day cruise missiles. This kind of thing is very trendy nowadays in military circles, though the problem of getting the right vehicle remains a tricky one.

Furthermore, even the ritziest missiles struggle to get above Mach 3-4, especially over any distance; thus the railgun slugs would be quicker to arrive when bombarding shore targets. They might also be good for shooting down fast-moving flying things.

Indeed, if the cannon could aim quickly enough and the hyper-bullets could steer well enough in flight, lighter-calibre weapons might tip the balance of naval warfare back in favour of surface craft. Ever since the Battle of Midway, sailors have reluctantly been forced to accept that aircraft win sea battles, not ships. But railguns might demote aircraft carriers from their current big-dog naval status and bring in electric dreadnoughts as the capital ships of tomorrow, able to sweep the skies of pesky aircraft or missiles as soon as they dared show themselves above the horizon.

It's easy to see why navies like the idea of electric hypercannons, then. But there are a lot of problems to be overcome. For one, the gun barrel tends to come apart after just a few shots. For another, packing a steady hundred-megawatt supply down into ultra-brief 64 megajoule pulses isn't simple.

[American Patriot]

Pentagon to shoot down broken spy satellite
AP ^ | 02-14-2008 | AP

WASHINGTON - U.S. officials say the Pentagon is planning to shoot down a broken spy satellite expected to hit the Earth in early March.

This is the U.S. military will use a missile to destroy a satellite in space, NBC News reports.

The spy satellite has lost all power and is expected to crash back on earth in early March, spreading debris and potentially hazardous fuel over several hundred miles.

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...

[Ryan Ruck]

I would be very interested in seeing how they do that, whether they've still got some of the old ASAT missiles designed to be fired from the F-15 or if this is something else.

[Ryan Ruck]

Here's a pic of that F-15 launched ASAT missile - the ASM-135 - by the way...

[Ryan Ruck]

Just saw on Fox News the Navy is going to be using an ABM Aegis cruiser.

I think the F-15 launched one is cooler though!

[American Patriot]

hahaha I was about to post that. Sorry been busy in a thread on FR beating this shit out of a guy. lol

[American Patriot]

Satellite shoot-down shows missile muscle
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/...plate=nextpage

By Bill Gertz
February 15, 2008


Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman Gen. James Cartwright, center, flanked by Deputy National Security Adviser James Jeffrey, left, and NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, gestures during a news conference at the Pentagon, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008, to discuss the use of a Navy missile to attempt to destroy a broken U.S. spy satellite. (AP Photo/Heesoon Yim)

---

The Pentagon's plan to shoot down a failed satellite with a missile defense interceptor in the coming days is aimed at preventing toxic fuel from reaching earth. But U.S. officials and experts said yesterday it would also signal that U.S. missile defenses can be used to counter China's strategic anti-satellite weapons.

China conducted its first successful test of an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon on Jan. 11, 2007, in what defense and military officials called a new strategic threat to the United States.

Bush administration defense and national security officials involved in interagency discussions on the satellite destruction plan said one reason for using the missile defense system against a space target would be to highlight its potential as an ASAT weapon. The Pentagon has been discussing ways to deter and counter China's ASAT weapon, which can threaten U.S. military and civilian communications, especially command and control systems involving satellites.


Video: Dead satellite will be shot down

Publicly, however, officials who announced the plan yesterday sought to play down the ASAT capability.

The Greyhound bus-sized intelligence satellite failed shortly after launch in 2006. Intended to conduct both electronic eavesdropping and photographic intelligence-gathering, the satellite contains a large tank of unused toxic fuel called hydrazine. The fuel would pose a health risk if the tank survived re-entry and landed in a populated area. The satellite has been gradually moving closer to the atmosphere and could come down some time in the next several weeks.

Since the satellite cannot be maneuvered to fall into the ocean, the plan calls for firing a modified Navy SM-3 anti-missile interceptor from an Aegis battle management system equipped warship in the northern Pacific, as the satellite nears the atmosphere.

It will be the first time a missile defense interceptor will be used against a satellite, something that has not been attempted since the 1980s, when the Pentagon tested an anti-satellite missile from a jet fighter.

The administration began notifying the world community about the plan late last month, Deputy National Security Adviser James Jeffries told reporters in announcing the plan.



Asked if the modified SM-3 will be viewed by some foreign states as an ASAT weapon, Mr. Jeffries said that whatever other nations might think, "the truth" is that the missile strike is meant to prevent the hyrdazine tank from landing in a populated area.

Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, however, made clear that the Navy interceptor, which is designed to hit ballistic missiles as they transit space, was picked because of its ability to hit targets in space.

"Does it have the kinetic capability? That's why we picked it. But you'd have to go in and do modifications to ships, to missiles, to sensors and they would be significant" before it could be an effective ASAT system, he said during the meeting with reporters.

"This is an extreme measure for this problem," Gen. Cartwright said. "It is not transferrable to a fleet configuration."

Gen. Cartwright was asked if the missile shot will show China a U.S. ASAT capability and he did not answer directly.

Video: Dead satellite will be shot down

To configure the missile against the satellite, SM-3 software is being modified that will help guide its nonexplosive warhead to the satellite, which is traveling at about 22,000 miles an hour. Three missiles will be available for the satellite shot and if successful it will result in most of the debris burning up in the atmosphere over several weeks or a month.

China's ASAT weapon test, by contrast, used a ground-based missile to hit an orbiting Chinese weather satellite, and it left some 2,500 pieces of debris in a belt 527 miles in space that military officials say poses a danger to both manned and unmanned spacecraft.

U.S. military and national security officials said the Chinese ASAT test is part of China's asymmetric warfare capabilities and represents a new strategic weapon that could cripple the U.S. military in a future conflict by giving Beijing the capability to shoot down most low-earth orbit satellites.

The window for the shootdown could begin in the next three or four days and last for as many as eight days, Gen. Cartwright said.

Announcement of the plan comes as China and Russia renewed an international effort to ban weapons in space.

John Tkacik, a China specialist at the Heritage Foundation, said the proposed China-Russia agreement, if enforced, would prevent the missile shot against the satellite.

"We have a fleet of Aegis destroyers, including those in the Pacific, and the Japanese have several," Mr. Tkacik said. "The demonstration of these anti-mission capabilities against a satellite, regardless whether it is intended as a signal to China or not, will certainly get the attention of the Chinese."

Mr. Jeffries said President Bush authorized the anti-satellite blast because of concerns that if the satellite fell in a populated area "there was a possibility of death or injury to human beings beyond that associated with the fall of satellites and other space objects normally."

"Specifically, there was enough of a risk for the president to be quite concerned about human life," he said.

[American Patriot]

Satellite Shot Offers Navy Key Space Defense Trial: How It Works

The guided missile cruiser USS Shiloh launches an SM-3 during a ballistic missile defense exercise. The ship is one of three that will use the same system to shoot down a spy satellite within weeks. (Photograph courtesy of the U.S. Navy)



By Joe Pappalardo
Published on: February 14, 2008

The Pentagon today announced that a Navy warship has been tasked with shooting down a failing United States spy satellite that, if left alone, was expected to hit Earth within weeks.


In a joint news conference, NASA administrator Michael Griffith and Gen. James Cartwright, the No. 2 officer at the Defense Department, announced that an SM-3 missile, designed to hit inbound ballistic missiles, will be fired from a Navy cruiser or destroyer during the next month to obliterate the inbound spacecraft. The idea is to break apart the satellite to rid it of toxic fuel onboard by smashing its tank, which is the largest intact piece left. If successful, it would be the first direct U.S. test against a satellite since 1985, when an F-15 climbed to 80,000 ft. to fire a three-stage missile at a defunct solar-monitoring platform in low-Earth orbit.

A growing number of guided missile cruisers­ are fitted with Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense systems that are designed to track and destroy short- and medium-range ballistic missiles just outside Earth’s atmosphere. The powerful radars on board the ships that detect ballistic missiles can also spot satellites at low orbits. Reportedly, one of three cruisers will have a shot at the inbound satellite.

Several successful anti-ballistic mile tests have been conducted from the cruisers, most frequently from the USS Shiloh, but no test has the urgency or high profile as the impending satellite shoot-down. The SM-3, when fired vertically, can target a satellite as high as 310 miles. After the third stage of the rocket is spent, the kill vehicle finds the target with forward-looking infrared sensors and steers itself into the satellite. “What we’re talking about is a minor modification in software, from the Aegis system and the missile itself,” Cartwright said.

The Bush administration has made ballistic missile defense a priority, fielding various interceptors at bases in Alaska and on ships. Although the odds were in favor of the satellite crashing in the ocean and/or losing much of the sensitive equipment during a fiery reentry, the chance to use the ballistic defenses against a real-life target was likely considered too good to pass up.

The operation is reminiscent of last year’s strike by the Chinese military against one of its defunct spy satellites. However, the impact of the Chinese test produced a halo of space junk that remains in orbit. The U.S. Navy strike should only leave debris that will burn up harmlessly during reentry. Also, the Chinese test left debris that will last decades due to its higher orbit, Griffith said. The lower in orbit that the Navy can shoot down the satellite, the quicker debris gets pulled back in to the atmosphere. Griffith said the debris should be cleared out of Earth’s orbit within weeks.

The Chinese and U.S. tests are also similar in that both strikes use rockets (in China’s case, reportedly a four-stage rocket instead of the SM-3’s three stages) to take a non-explosive warhead into low-Earth orbit and steer it into the target. Ways to knock out satellites at high altitudes—like communications satellites soaring at over 20,000 miles—are more esoteric and largely untested. Most high-orbit methods would require weapons already launched into orbit.

The target spacecraft is reportedly a spy satellite that launched on a Delta II rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base in December 2006, but failed within minutes after the launch. After a fiery reentry, tens of pounds of material would be left—posing a small but real risk of landing in a populated area. The likelihood of gathering usable intelligence from the crash is thought to be minimal, since its antennae and sensors would be among the most fragile components—and would not likely survive the heat of reentry. The craft’s fuel, however, is considered toxic. “[We want to] get rid of the hydrozine and have it land in the ocean,” Cartwright said. “That is the only thing that breaks it out and makes this different.”

That could be worrisome, because predicting exactly where the satellite will land has to wait until reentry begins. Cartwright and Griffith said NASA and the military could get a quadrant of the impact, but would not know the location of the impact until it was too late. “Nothing we can do makes it worse, and almost everything we do would make it better,” Griffith said.

[Jag]

Sources: Navy to shoot down failed satellite Thursday

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Navy will likely attempt to shoot down a faulty spy satellite Thursday, the day after the space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to land, two officials told CNN Monday.
A Delta II rocket lifts off in December, carrying a reconnaissance satellite that failed hours later.





The officials -- who spoke on condition of anonymity because much of the planning remains classified -- said the idea is to leave as much time as possible so a second attempt could be made if necessary.

Because the 5,000-pound satellite malfunctioned immediately after launch in December 2006, it has a full tank of fuel. It would likely survive re-entry and disperse potentially deadly fumes over an area the size of two football fields, officials have said.

The Navy plans to fire at the satellite as it enters Earth's atmosphere at an altitude of about 150 miles.

Officials want the missile to hit the edge of the atmosphere to ensure debris re-enters and burns up quickly.
Don't Miss

• Shooting down spy satellite to cost up to $60 million
• Shooting down satellite doesn't worry space crew

The Missile Defense Agency estimated the cost of a sea-based attempted intercept at $40 million to $60 million.


Without any intervention, Pentagon officials have said they believe the satellite would come down on its own in early March.

The option of striking the satellite with a missile launched from an Aegis cruiser was decided upon by President Bush after consultation with several government and military officials and aerospace experts, said Deputy National Security Adviser James Jeffrey.

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said there's nothing the military can do to make the outcome worse.

"If we miss, nothing changes. If we shoot and barely touch it, the satellite is just barely in orbit" and would still burn up somewhat in the atmosphere, Griffin said.

"If we shoot and get a direct hit, that's a clean kill and we're in good shape," he added.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/0...ept/index.html

Jag

[American Patriot]

Having not a small amount of insider knowledge, I predict a clear, clean hit.

[American Patriot]

Navy waits for satellite kill shot (10:30 p.m. ET)
CNN ^

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Navy gunners in the Pacific were watching the sea and sky Wednesday, waiting for perfect conditions to take a kill shot on an errant satellite 150 miles above them.

hey have just a 10-second window to fire, a Pentagon official said, and may not be able to take their shot on their first opportunity at 10:30 p.m. ET Wednesday.

"It's not enough to say 'no,' but we're watching the weather," the official told reporters at the Pentagon. "It's on the margin."

The cruiser USS Lake Erie will get one 10-second window each of the next nine or 10 days to fire an interceptor missile that will destroy the faltering spy satellite before it can tumble to Earth and -- possibly -- release a cloud of toxic gas.

The Pentagon said the window of opportunity to strike the 5,000-pound satellite opened Wednesday, when the space shuttle Atlantis landed in Florida. The Pentagon wanted to be sure the shuttle would not be struck by any debris from a destroyed satellite.

But the official said conditions have to be perfect, and that was not the case Wednesday with swells in the Pacific Ocean west of Hawaii running slightly higher than Navy would like.

The National Weather Service forecast 12- to 15-foot seas west of Hawaii Wednesday with a storm developing in the area.

The United States plans to spend up to $60 million to try to destroy the satellite even though there is only a remote possibility the satellite could fall to Earth, survive re-entry and spew toxic gas in a populated area, said James Jeffrey, deputy national security adviser.

"The regret factor of not acting clearly outweighed the regret factor of acting," he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...

[American Patriot]

Kaboom
http://gizmodo.com/359031/video-of-s...ting-shot-down
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=71c_1203596547
Video of Spy Satellite Getting Shot Down




Watch as General Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (and apparently Jack Bauer's older brother) shows how the Aegis missile launches and successfully destroys the rogue spy satellite. This is a huge success for the Pentagon and the anti-missiles system that was first conceived in the mid-80s as part of President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative. Specially after many critics were saying it wasn't going to work.


The mission was simple. At 10:26PM EST, a standard missile 3 carrying a kinetic warhead was launched northwest of Hawaii from the USS Lake Eire, a Ticonderoga Class missile defense cruiser. 24 minutes later, at 10:50, the Joint Space Operations Center at the Vandenberg Air Force base confirmed the breakup of the satellite at 153 nautical miles above the Earth from a direct hit.


While they can't confirm completely the destruction of the tank, which was needed to release the toxic fuel that may have posed a danger to us Earthlings, the Pentagon has declared the mission a complete success and with good reason. Some experts criticized the plan as probable failure during the past days, with the argument that the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense, part of the Ballistic Missile Defense System being developed by the US Missile Defense Agency, wasn't designed to do this and, therefore, it wasn't going to be able to hit the target and destroy it effectively.


Their reasons were three: first, the kinetic warhead, launched in a long range standard missile 3, a isn't designed to destroy targets by explosion but by the sheer force of multiple impacts. While this is enough to destroy other incoming missiles, the critics said that this wasn't going to be enough to destroy the much larger satellite. Second was the speed of the target, which was traveling at double the speed of the missiles which are the usual target of the Aegis. And third, the tracking system, which wasn't originally designed to operate in high orbits.


The video, however, shows that the direct kinetic hit has completely obliterated its target. Now the world can rest at peace. Until A542B, that asteroid ten times bigger than Texas, finally arrives. [Wikipedia, Defense Tech Org and LiveLeak]

[Jag]

What's left of the satellite, debris field, just passed over China....

Jag

[Ryan Ruck]

Gates Says Will Share Data With China

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the United States is prepared to share with China some of the information it has about this week's U.S. satellite shootdown.

His comments came after Beijing complained the missile strike could cause harm to outer space security and some countries.

Gates told reporters during a visit to Hawaii that the United States is prepared to share whatever it can "appropriately" share with China.

The Pentagon said earlier that debris from the obliterated satellite is being tracked over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans but appears to be too small to cause damage on Earth.

[American Patriot]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

SATELLITE DEBRIS ANALYSIS INDICATES HYDRAZINE TANK HIT

The Department of Defense announced today that based on debris analysis,
officials are confident the missile intercept and destruction of a
non-functioning National Reconnaissance Office satellite, achieved the
objective of destroying the hydrazine tank and reducing, if not eliminating,
the risk to people on Earth from the hazardous chemical.

"By all accounts this was a successful mission. From the debris analysis,
we have a high degree of confidence the satellite's fuel tank was destroyed
and the hydrazine has been dissipated," said Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"The successful satellite engagement was truly a collaborative effort from
across the U.S. government, the armed forces, industry and academia working
together to reduce the risk to human life," said Cartwright.

"The teamwork and interagency accomplishment associated with this operation
was tremendous," said Cartwright. "Close workings with the National
Security Council, State Department, Defense Department, NASA, Missile
Defense Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, and Department of Homeland
Security was absolutely key to the effort. The U.S. Navy, particularly the
Pacific Fleet, was fundamental to the operation and did a superb job. The
expertise of people from the U.S. Strategic Command, Air Force Space Command
and Army Strategic Command was invaluable."

A single modified tactical Standard Missile-3 (SM-3), fired from the USS
Lake Erie was used to engage the satellite. The remaining two modified
missiles will be configured back to their original status as tactical
missiles and the operational computer software programs aboard the Aegis
ships will be re-installed.

The Joint Functional Component Command for Space Joint Space Operations
Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., is tracking less than 3,000
pieces of debris, all smaller than a football. The vast majority of debris
has already reentered or will shortly reenter the Earth's atmosphere in the
coming days and weeks. To date, there have been no reports of debris
landing on Earth and it is unlikely any will remain intact to impact the
ground.

- MORE -
U.S. Strategic Command space surveillance sensors continue to track and
characterize the debris to ensure timely notifications are made, if
necessary, with regards to ground or on-orbit debris-related risk.

-END-

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia Obtained US Guarantees On Missile Shield: Lavrov

The United States gave Moscow guarantees that its proposed anti-missile shield "will be not directed" against Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday in a first sign of progress in very hard negotiations between the two countries.

"The Americans are ready to provide us with a series of measures to give us confidence and reassure us that this system is not directed against us," said Lavrov in an interview published on the website of the daily Izvestia.

The Russian diplomat was referring to a US proposal to install 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a tracking radar in the Czech Republic as part of an anti-missile system which Washington says is aimed at protecting against "rogue" states such as Iran and North Korea.

The Russian side had never taken such a positive stance about the extremely sensitive proposal, which Moscow sees as a direct threat to its security, especially with a radar installation that could survey parts of Russia's territory.

Lavrov said the United States had proposed giving Russia the possibility of monitoring, both with inspectors and equipment, "the function of the radar station" in the Czech Republic and "the actual condition of the base of interceptor missiles" in Poland.

"At this stage, we have succeeded in getting the Americans to admit that our concerns are not without foundation," Lavrov said, commenting on talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Moscow on Tuesday.

"Of course, they continue to assure that they are not going to use these bases in Poland and in the Czech Republic against us, but they are forced to accept our argument: in affairs like this, it is not the intentions that count, but the potential," Lavrov said.

Russia's foreign ministry had said Wednesday it was studying new written proposals from the United States aimed at allaying Moscow's concerns over Washington's missile defence plans in Europe.

The proposals came after Rice and Gates held talks in Moscow on Monday and Tuesday with outgoing President Vladimir Putin, president-elect Dmitry Medvedev and other top officials.

Russian newspapers on Wednesday said both sides were keen to ensure that Putin's planned attendance at a NATO summit in Bucharest on April 2-4 was a cordial affair.

Despite Russian opposition, this week's meetings marked a contrast with previous angry exchanges.

Lavrov earlier described as "important and useful" the latest US proposals, previously said to include allowing Russian officers to inspect the defence sites.

Wednesday's edition of the state newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta said that while Russia remained unhappy with the overall missile defence plan, this week's meetings "clearly can't be called a failure."

The independent Gazeta newspaper said the US proposals "give reason to predict a warm, friendly atmosphere at the NATO summit" to be attended by Putin.