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Day By Day by Chris Muir August 12, 2008
The Russian invasion of Georgia reminds the United States that the world is a dangerous place and that other countries are NOT deterred by talk in the United Nations.And, what was the flap about American developing a national missile defense and basing some of the components in Poland and the Czech Republic?
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Technorati Tags: Day By Day, Russia, Georgia, missile defense
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United States Warns Russia Over Nuclear Bombers in Cuba
Russian Federation renews projection of nuclear bombersRussia is pissed off about the United States missile defense plans for Eastern Europe and have made statements about basing nuclear bombers in Cuba.Russia would cross “a red line for the United States of America” if it were to base nuclear capable bombers in Cuba, a top US air force officer warned on Tuesday.
“If they did I think we should stand strong and indicate that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America,” said General Norton Schwartz, nominated to be the air force’s chief of staff.
He was referring to a Russian news report that said the military is thinking of flying long-range bombers to Cuba on a regular basis.
It was unclear from the report whether that would involve permanent basing of nuclear bombers in Cuba, or just use of the island as a refueling stop.
Cuba is a non-starter for Russian-American relations and violates the mutual agreement reached after the Cuban Missile crisis. They lost the “COLD WAR” and with renewed financial vigor based on their oil they wish to SABER RATTLE.
More importantly Russia has been supplying Iran with S-300 aircraft missile defense systems and fissonable material for their nuclear reactors. Socialist dictator Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has been weapon shopping in Russia recently.
Russia should NO LONGER be treated as a friend but an adversary – a NEW COLD WAR?
Technorati Tags: Cuba, Russia, Missile Defense
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Missile Defense Watch: Another Successful Aegis System Intercept
SM-2 Launch June 5, 2008
Yesterday there was another successful test of the sea-based missile defense sytem.
Air Force Lieutenant General Henry “Trey” Obering III, Missile Defense Agency (MDA) director, announced the successful completion of the latest flight test of the sea-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) element, conducted jointly with the U.S. Navy off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii. The event, designated as Flight Test Maritime-14 (FTM-14), marked the fourteenth overall successful intercept, in sixteen attempts, for the Aegis BMD program and the second successful intercept of a terminal phase (last few seconds of flight) target by a modified Standard Missile – 2 Block IV (SM-2 Blk IV) interceptor. The mission was completed by the cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70), using the tactically-certified Aegis BMD shipboard weapon system, modified for a terminal capability, and the modified SM-2 Blk IV. This is the 35th successful terminal and midcourse defense intercept in 43 tests since 2001.
Aegis BMD is the sea-based mid-course component of the MDA’s Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) and is designed to intercept and destroy short to intermediate-range ballistic missile threats. In 2006, the program’s role was expanded to include a sea-based terminal defense effort, using a modified version of the SM-2 Blk IV. Unlike other missile defense technologies now deployed or in development, the SM-2 Blk IV does not use “hit to kill” technology (directly colliding with the target) to destroy the target missile. Rather, it uses a blast fragmentation device that explodes in direct proximity to the target to complete the intercept and destroy the target.
Congratulations to the Missile Defense Agency for another successful test of the Aegis BMD system.
Does anyone see the direct application of this sytem?
How about parking the USS Lake Erie off the coast of Israel(against Syria or Iran)in the Persian Gulf (against Iran or Syria) or Japan (against North Korea).
And, to think that there are members of the United States Senate, namely Sentors Levin, Kerry, Kennedy and Biden who ridiculed the Reagan and the two Bush Administrations for researching and deploying this system.
Amazing and WRONG short-sightedness.
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China and Russia Critical of U.S. Missile Defense
Shocker: Secret Launch Site for Iranian Long Range Missiles
Missile Defense Watch: Bush Wins NATO Endorsement of European Missile Defense Shield
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China and Russia Critical of U.S. Missile Defense
Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev (R) and Chinese President Hu Jintao inspect the honour guard during an official welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square May 23, 2008. Medvedev arrived in Beijing on Friday, offering energy deals and military cooperation by seeking pledges of solidarity with resurgent China at a time when ties with the West are strained.
In a shocker, China and Russia are upset with the United States over its National Missile Defense program.
China and Russia jointly condemned a U.S. plan for a global missile defense system on Friday at the start of a highly symbolic visit by new Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
More specific than previous joint criticisms, the statement from Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao objected to the installation of missile defense components in “some regions,” an apparent reference to former Soviet bloc countries where the U.S. plans to deploy components of the system.
“The creation of global missile defense systems and their deployment in some regions of the world … does not help to maintain strategic balance and stability and hampers international efforts in arms control and nuclear nonproliferation,” Hu and Medvedev said.
Medvedev’s choice of China as the main destination of his first foreign trip reflected the two nations’ increasing closeness in recent years as part of their efforts to counterbalance what they have called Washington’s global dominance.
When his predecessor Vladimir Putin went abroad for the first time as president in 2000, he traveled to London — via Belarus — with a message Russia wanted closer ties to the West.
China and Russia also signed a $1 billion nuclear cooperation deal that strengthens Russia’s role as a supplier to China’s fast-growing nuclear power industry. It calls for Russia to build a $500 million nuclear fuel enrichment plant and supply semi-enriched uranium worth at least $500 million.
Russia is bitching about America placing interceptors in Eastern Europe and China needs Russia’s nuclear technology to build power plants. So, they are scratching each others backs.
Russia and China do not have the conventional military strength to intimidate/blackmail neighboring countries and must rely on their nuclear weapons to threaten. The United States Missile Defense program (in its various forms) can be used to neutralize their nuclear arsenals.
So, they bitch and moan.
Too bad. They lost the argument during the Reagan Administration over twenty years ago. The American missile defense shield is operational. Get over it.
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Shocker: Secret Launch Site for Iranian Long Range Missiles
Missile Defense Watch: Bush Wins NATO Endorsement of European Missile Defense Shield
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Shocker: Secret Launch Site for Iranian Long Range Missiles
New spy photographs reveal the “SHOCKING” truth.
The secret site where Iran is suspected of developing long-range ballistic missiles capable of reaching targets in Europe has been uncovered by new satellite photographs.
The imagery has pinpointed the facility from where the Iranians launched their Kavoshgar 1 “research rocket†on February 4, claiming that it was in connection with their space programme.
Analysis of the photographs taken by the Digital Globe QuickBird satellite four days after the launch has revealed a number of intriguing features that indicate to experts that it is the same site where Iran is focusing its efforts on developing a ballistic missile with a range of about 6,000km (4,000 miles).
A previously unknown missile location, the site, about 230km southeast of Tehran, and the link with Iran’s long-range programme, was revealed by Jane’s Intelligence Review after a study of the imagery by a former Iraq weapons inspector. A close examination of the photographs has indicated that the Iranians are following the same path as North Korea, pursuing a space programme that enables Tehran to acquire expertise in long-range missile technology.
Have to unload all of those uranium enrichment centrifuges somewhere, right?
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Missile Defense Watch: Bush Wins NATO Endorsement of European Missile Defense Shield
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Missile Defense Watch: Bush Wins NATO Endorsement of European Missile Defense Shield
President George Bush today won NATO’s endorsement of his proposed missile defense shield for Europe despite Russia’s opposition.
President Bush won NATO’s endorsement Thursday for his plan to build a missile defense system in Europe over Russian objections. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called it a “breakthrough agreement” for the military alliance.
“Now it is clearly understood in the alliance that the challenges of the 21st century, the threats of the 21st century, make it necessary to have missile defense that can defend the countries of Europe,” Rice told reporters at the NATO summit.
Progress on missile defense represented perhaps the biggest boon to Bush from the NATO summit. Russia has fiercely opposed it.
Rice also noted that NATO has “also asked Russia to stop its criticism of the alliance effort and to join in the cooperative efforts that have been offered to it by the United States.”
A NATO statement calls on the alliance to explore ways in which the planned U.S. project, to be based in Poland and the Czech Republic, can be linked with future missile shields elsewhere. It says leaders should come up with recommendations to be considered at their next meeting in 2009.
The U.S. plan calls for 10 interceptor missiles based in Poland and a tracking radar site in the Czech Republic.
Kudos to the President for his steady support for missile defense for the United States and her allies.
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Missile Defense Watch: US Shoots Down Failed Spy Satellite
Missile Defense Watch: United States to Target Failed Satellite Tonight?
Missile Defense Watch: Failed Satellite To Be Downed on Wednesday, February 20
Russia Says United States Has Ulterior Motive in Shooting Down Satellite
Missile Defense Watch: Failed Satellite – A Message to China
United States Speeding Up Missile Defense Plans – Russia
Missile Defense Watch: Putin Continues to Say NYET to Eastern Europe Missile Defense
Missile Defense Watch: US Proposes Joint Missile Defense with Russia
Missile Defense Watch: Operational
Missile Defense Watch: Vandenberg AFB Ground-Based Interceptor Missile Test is Successful
Missile Defense Watch: Gates – Missile Defense in Eastern Europe Continues
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Missile Defense Watch: US Shoots Down Failed Spy Satellite
The Pentagon Briefing and the first video of the missile strike of the satelliteThe USS Lake Erie armed with an SM-3 missile successfully intercepted a failed United States spy satellite. However, it will be another 24-48 hours to know for sure that the tank containing hydrazine fuel had been destroyed.
The Pentagon said on Thursday it had “a high degree of confidence” that a Navy missile hit the toxic fuel tank of a disabled U.S. spy satellite, which posed a potential threat if it struck land on reentry.But Marine Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters it could take another 24-48 hours to know for sure that the tank containing hydrazine fuel had been destroyed.An SM-3 missile fired from the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie in the Pacific Ocean northwest of Hawaii hit the errant satellite on Wednesday at 10:26 p.m. EST, 153 nautical miles above the Earth.
Here is a computer-generated video of satellite debris reentry:
Key graph:
Cartwright said there was nearly a 90 percent chance that the tank had been breached in the collision.
“We’re very confident that we hit the satellite. We also have a high degree of confidence that we got the tank,” Cartwright said at a Pentagon briefing.
“From our position, you always want to hedge your bet because there’s no absolute certainty.
In the meantime, China is moaning and accusing the United States of hypocrisy for criticizing other countries’ space amibitions while rejecting a treaty proposed by Russia and China. A treaty, by the way, that would be impossible to enforce, and with which Russia and China would use to cheat to gain a technological edge over the United States.
Stay tuned……….
Here is a shorter video of the actual HIT:
The USS Lake Erie launches a Standard Missile-3 at a non-functioning National Reconnaissance Office satellite as it traveled in space at more than 17,000 mph over the Pacific Ocean February 20, 2008 in this handout photo released by the U.S. Defense Department. A missile from a U.S. Navy warship hit a defunct U.S. spy satellite 133 nautical miles (247 km) above the Earth in an attempt to blow apart its tank of toxic fuel, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.
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Missile Defense Watch: United States to Target Failed Satellite Tonight?
Missile Defense Watch: Failed Satellite To Be Downed on Wednesday, February 20
Russia Says United States Has Ulterior Motive in Shooting Down Satellite
Missile Defense Watch: Failed Satellite – A Message to China
United States Speeding Up Missile Defense Plans – Russia
Missile Defense Watch: Putin Continues to Say NYET to Eastern Europe Missile Defense
Missile Defense Watch: US Proposes Joint Missile Defense with Russia
Missile Defense Watch: Operational
Missile Defense Watch: Vandenberg AFB Ground-Based Interceptor Missile Test is Successful
Missile Defense Watch: Gates – Missile Defense in Eastern Europe Continues
Technorati Tags: missiledefense, SM-3
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Missile Defense Watch: A HIT
USS Lake Erie
A defense official says a missile launched from a Navy ship in the Pacific hit the U.S. spy satellite it was targeting 130 miles above Earth’s surface. Full details are not yet available.
There was a successful intercept.
Update:
Military Says Missile Hit Spy SatelliteA missile launched from a Navy ship struck a dying U.S. spy satellite passing 130 miles over the Pacific on Wednesday, the Pentagon said.
It was not clear whether the operation succeeded in its main goal of destroying a tank aboard the satellite that carried a toxic fuel that U.S. officials said could pose a hazard to humans if it landed in a populated area.
“Confirmation that the fuel tank has been fragmented should be available within 24 hours,” the Pentagon said in a written statement.
The USS Lake Erie, armed with an SM-3 missile designed to knock down incoming missiles—not orbiting satellites—launched the attack at 10:26 p.m. EST, according to the Pentagon. It hit the satellite as the spacecraft traveled at more than 17,000 mph.
Because the satellite was orbiting at a relatively low altitude at the time it was hit by the missile, debris will begin to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere immediately, the Pentagon statement said.
“Nearly all of the debris will burn up on re-entry within 24-48 hours and the remaining debris should re-enter within 40 days,” it said.
Flap will post video and more details in the morning…..
Kudos to the United States Navy and the Missile Defense Agency.
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Missile Defense Watch: United States to Target Failed Satellite Tonight?
*****Update*****
The Pentagon says the window of opportunity is now open to shoot down failing spy satellite.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXDLcUpD1Fw[/youtube]
Successful intercept of ballistic missile target by Aegis SM-3 missile
Tonight around 7:30 PM Pacific time the United States Navy may attempt to target and shoot down a failed spy satellite using a heat-seeking Aegis SM-3 missile.
A Navy heat-seeking missile is getting its first real-world use in an attempt to demolish a crippled U.S. spy satellite before the orbiting craft falls back to Earth.
The targeting of the satellite – which could come Wednesday night – is not the mission for which this piece of the Pentagon’s missile defense network was intended, however.
The attempted shootdown, already approved by President Bush out of concern about toxic fuel on board the satellite, is seen by some as blurring the lines between defending against a weapon like a long-range missile and targeting satellites in orbit.
The three-stage Navy missile, designated the SM-3, has chalked up a high rate of success in a series of tests since 2002, in each case targeting a short- or medium-range ballistic missile, never a satellite. A hurry-up program to adapt the missile for this anti-satellite mission was completed in a matter of weeks; Navy officials say the changes will be reversed once this satellite is down.
The government issued notices to aviators and mariners to remain clear of a section of the Pacific Ocean beginning at 10:30 p.m. EST Wednesday, indicating the first window of opportunity to launch an SM-3 missile from a Navy cruiser, the USS Lake Erie, in an effort to hit the wayward satellite.
The world will be watching this display of American technological strength. The Atlantis space shuttle has just landed in Florida and now the United States will demonstrate its anti-ballistic missile program.
And, the United States, if successful tonight, will achieve a win-win. One it will silence Democrat Congressional critics of the Missile Defense Agency and send a message to China and Russia that exisiting American anti-ballistic forces can be easily modified to be used as an anti-satellite weapon in times of warfare.
Stay tuned…….
Previous:Missile Defense Watch: Failed Satellite To Be Downed on Wednesday, February 20
Russia Says United States Has Ulterior Motive in Shooting Down Satellite
Missile Defense Watch: Failed Satellite – A Message to China
United States Speeding Up Missile Defense Plans – Russia
Missile Defense Watch: Putin Continues to Say NYET to Eastern Europe Missile Defense
Missile Defense Watch: US Proposes Joint Missile Defense with Russia
Missile Defense Watch: Operational
Missile Defense Watch: Vandenberg AFB Ground-Based Interceptor Missile Test is Successful
Missile Defense Watch: Gates – Missile Defense in Eastern Europe Continues
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Missile Defense Watch: Failed Satellite To Be Downed on Wednesday, February 20
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=gXDLcUpD1Fw[/youtube]
Successful intercept of ballistic missile target by Aegis SM-3 missile
The United States Navy will make its first attempt to shoot down a failed satellite on Wednesday evening around 6:30 PM PST.
The U.S. government issued a formal notice warning ships and planes to stay clear of a large area of the Pacific Ocean west of Hawaii.
The notice says the two- and-a-half hour window begins 2:30 a.m. Thursday Greenwich Mean Time, which is 9:30 p.m. Wednesday on the East Coast, and 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in Hawaii.
The timing is also after the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to be safely on the ground.
Pentagon officials caution that the notice reflects the first opportunity to take a shot at the satellite, but it’s possible the attempt could be delayed until later.
A near miss or a direct “kill” of the satellite would mean that dangerous and toxic hydrazine fuel would burn up in the earth’s atmosphere and not be a threat to any inhabited areas below. The satellite is in a decaying orbit and if otherwise not touched would descend to earth sometime in early March.
Stay tuned……Previous:
Russia Says United States Has Ulterior Motive in Shooting Down Satellite
Missile Defense Watch: Failed Satellite – A Message to China
United States Speeding Up Missile Defense Plans – Russia
Missile Defense Watch: Putin Continues to Say NYET to Eastern Europe Missile Defense
Missile Defense Watch: US Proposes Joint Missile Defense with Russia
Missile Defense Watch: Operational
Missile Defense Watch: Vandenberg AFB Ground-Based Interceptor Missile Test is Successful
Missile Defense Watch: Gates – Missile Defense in Eastern Europe Continues