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Missile Defense Watch: Russia’s Putin Blames America for New Arms Race
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin anwers questions during a joint news conference with Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker after a meeting at the Senningen Castle in Luxembourg in this May 24, 2007 file photo. Putin said on Thursday Russia’s test firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday was in response to U.S. steps that have upset the strategic balance.
Reuters: Putin says missile test response to U.S. moves
Russia’s test firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday was in response to U.S. steps that have sparked an arms race and undermined world security, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
An RS-20 booster blasts off from the launching pad in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, in April 2007. Russia has said it has successfully tested a new-generation intercontinental ballistic missile, firing it 6,000 kilometres across the country, news agencies reported. The new RS-24 was designed to replace the RS-18 and RS-20 rockets.
The Quotes:“Our American partners have left the ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) Treaty. We have warned them then that we will come out with a response to maintain the strategic balance in the world,” Putin told a news conference.
“We conducted a test of a new strategic ballistic missile with multiple warheads, and of a new cruise missile, and will continue to improve our resources.”
“We are not the initiators of this new round of the arms race,” said Putin. “(Our partners) are stuffing eastern Europe with new weapons. A new base in Bulgaria, another in Romania, a site in Poland, radar in the Czech Republic . . . what are we supposed to do? We cannot just observe all this.”
Crocodile tears from a former, known KGB agent, now the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. The Russians were going to upgrade their aging and outdated ICBM missile force anyway. So, who is Putin trying to fool?
It sounds to me that he is taking a page out of Ahmadinejad’s media playbook.
The ICBM test proves NOTHING about United States Missile Defense. The system has been under development for over twenty years and is being deployed currently as testing continues. The system will be able to adapt to any technology the Russians devise.
However, Missile Defense does make Russia nervous. Remember the REYKJAVIK, ICELAND summit between Reagan and Gorbachev?
The Soviets wanted America to bargain away SDI, Missile Defense.
So, what does this posturing by Putin mean?
The timing is interesting, considering the G-8 meets next week in Germany.
Also, Russia has not been allied with the United States in halting Iran’s uranium enrichment program and in fact has supported their nuclear program as well as their air defense capability.
Putin announced a few weeks ago that he would step down next year and perhaps this posturing is his legacy or payback to his military and KGB supporters in the government.
But, whatever the motives and machinations of the former Soviet KGB agent, the United States foreign policy and missile defense continues to be governed by the Reagan Policy of
Peace through Strength
“I think both presidents need this summit because before their terms expire they would like to register some positive moments in the bilateral relations to lay the foundation for future contacts,” said Andrei Kortunov, president of the New Eurasia Foundation, a Moscow-based think tank.
“Both leaders are already probably thinking about how they will go down in history, including the way they built relations between the two countries.”
Look for a serious of negotiations to result.
However, the Russia election cycle will begin this Fall and the American one has already begun.
The United States will proceed with their missile defense deployment.
Previous:
Missile Defense Watch: Russia Tests New ICBM – RS-24
Missile Defense Watch: Ground-based Midcourse Defense System Test – Postponed Until Summer
Missile Defense Watch: Ground-based Midcourse Defense System To Be Tested Thursday
Missile Defense Watch: USA and Israel in $205 Million Missile Defense Deal
Missile Defense Watch: Russia and USA Clash Over European Missile Shield
Missile Defense Watch: THAAD Missile Defense Test is Successful
Missile Defense Watch: United States Missile Defense Operational Within a Year
Technorati Tags: Missile Defense Agency, Missile Defense
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Missile Defense Watch: Russia Tests New ICBM – RS-24
An RS-20 booster blasts off from the launching pad in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, in April 2007. Russia has said it has successfully tested a new-generation intercontinental ballistic missile, firing it 6,000 kilometres across the country, news agencies reported. The new RS-24 was designed to replace the RS-18 and RS-20 rockets.
Russia tests a new first strike ICBM Missile, is a known apologist in the United Nations for Iran’s nuclear weapon program and and then wants the United States to abandon portions of its missile defense shield.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has cautioned against turning Europe into a “powder keg”, referring to Washington’s plans to deploy elements of its missile defense system in Europe.
“We consider it harmful and dangerous to turn Europe into a “powder keg” and to fill it with new kinds of weapons,” Putin told a news conference after talks with the Portuguese prime minister in Moscow.
“It creates new unneeded risks for the entire system of international and European relations,” he said.
Are the Russians kidding?
Previous:
Missile Defense Watch: Ground-based Midcourse Defense System Test – Postponed Until Summer
Missile Defense Watch: Ground-based Midcourse Defense System To Be Tested Thursday
Missile Defense Watch: USA and Israel in $205 Million Missile Defense Deal
Missile Defense Watch: Russia and USA Clash Over European Missile Shield
Missile Defense Watch: THAAD Missile Defense Test is Successful
Missile Defense Watch: United States Missile Defense Operational Within a Year
China Watch: China Uses Ballistic Missile to Destroy a Satellite in Space
Missile Defense Watch: U.S. Missile Defense Agency Rolls Out the Airborne Laser (ABL) Aircraft
Missile Defense Watch: The LEFT’S Revisionist History on Missile Defense
Missile Defense Watch: Reagan’s Vision
Missile Defense Watch: Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld Tours Alaska Missile Defense Center
Missile Defense Watch: United States and Israel Collaborating on Missile Defense
Missile Defense Watch: “Concept of Operations†To Be Done by Fall
Technorati Tags: Missile Defense Agency, Missile Defense
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Missile Defense Watch: Ground-based Midcourse Defense System Test – Postponed Until Summer
In this photo, provided by the Missile Defense Agency, an old intercontinental ballistic missile is launched as a target during a missile defense test, Friday, May 25, 2007, from Kodiak Island, Alaska. The test of the nation’s long-range missile defense system was aborted when the target rocket failed and its dummy warhead fell into the Pacific Ocean before an interceptor missile could be launched from California, officials said.
The test has been rescheduled for this summer.
Previous:
Missile Defense Watch: Ground-based Midcourse Defense System To Be Tested Thursday
Missile Defense Watch: USA and Israel in $205 Million Missile Defense Deal
Missile Defense Watch: Russia and USA Clash Over European Missile Shield
Missile Defense Watch: THAAD Missile Defense Test is Successful
Missile Defense Watch: United States Missile Defense Operational Within a Year
China Watch: China Uses Ballistic Missile to Destroy a Satellite in Space
Missile Defense Watch: U.S. Missile Defense Agency Rolls Out the Airborne Laser (ABL) Aircraft
Missile Defense Watch: The LEFT’S Revisionist History on Missile Defense
Missile Defense Watch: Reagan’s Vision
Missile Defense Watch: Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld Tours Alaska Missile Defense Center
Missile Defense Watch: United States and Israel Collaborating on Missile Defense
Missile Defense Watch: “Concept of Operations†To Be Done by Fall
Technorati Tags: Missile Defense Agency, Missile Defense
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Missile Defense Watch: Ground-based Midcourse Defense System To Be Tested Thursday
Missile defense test planned for Thursday
For the second time, a missile defense interceptor is poised to fly on Thursday morning from Vandenberg Air Force Base on a mission to collide with a target launched from Alaska.
The test for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, with a price tag of about $85 million, will be similar to one last September.
Vandenberg and Fort Greely, Alaska, are home to missile defense interceptors designed to guard against limited long-range missile attacks against the United States.
Thursday’s launch window is 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Thursday. The missile from Kodiak Launch Complex, Alaska, will blast off first, with the interceptor expected to pop out of its underground silo on north Vandenberg about 20 minutes later.
Lt. Gen. Trey Obering, USAF, left, shows Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld one of the ground based interceptor missiles at the missile defense site at Ft. Greeley near Fairbanks, Alaska Sunday Aug. 27, 2006. This interceptor missile is like the one to be fired from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California on Thursday.
Somewhere hundreds of miles west of California, and 100 to 200 miles above the Pacific Ocean, the pair should meet up, according to the mission’s primary objective.
While the test’s main goal is to end with an intercept, that’s not the only objective, according to Richard Lehner, Missile Defense Agency spokesman.
“But still the overall objective of the test, like all of them, is to measure system performance so that we can make it better,†Lehner said.
Also participating are crews for a specialty radar at Beale Air Force Base near Marysville, Calif., and others in Colorado, home to the command-and-control system. In all, several hundred people at the various sites will participate, he added.
Of course, the Air Force wants to intercept and “KILL” the simulated ICBM launched from Alaska (simulating rogue state North Korea), like the successful test last September. And this test has been delayed for a few months due to software and telemetry updates to the system.
While Vandenberg has previously launched the targets, this will be the second time it launches the interceptor missile.
That’s because the geometry – speed, altitude and trajectory – make it operationally realistic to test the Vandenberg system’s response to a missile launch from North Korea, Lehner said.
If the test proceeds on Thursday, space satellites will deliver the first alert of the attacking rocket’s launch to missile defense operators based in Colorado Springs, the military’s headquarters for homeland defense, who will control the interceptor in its silo at Vandenberg.
The main engagement radar is at Beale Air Force Base, near Sacramento, but the test will allow two seaborne tracking systems – a naval radar aboard an Aegis destroyer and one, called an X-band radar, atop a mobile base the size of an oil platform – to track the attacking missile. But none of that data will be fed into the test.
The previous test, conducted last Sept. 1, was graded a success even by skeptics.
The test was designed specifically to exercise the system’s main radar – but the interceptor actually scored a kill on the attacking missile, even though such a hit was not designed to be a goal of that previous test.
The next test after this one on Thursday, weather permitting, will be in the Fall and will use the sea-platform based X-Band Radar as the primary engagement radar system.
Let’s hope for a successful test and the gaining of more knowledge for the Missile Defense Agency.
By the way, with the Democrats controlling the Congress do not be surprised that funding will be cut for the Missile Defense Agency. In fact, the House has already started to cut appropriations.
Stay tuned……
Ground-Based Interceptor Emplacement, Sea-Based X-Band Radar, In-Flight Interceptor communications sytem Data Terminal. L-R-Down.
Previous:
Missile Defense Watch: USA and Israel in $205 Million Missile Defense Deal
Missile Defense Watch: Russia and USA Clash Over European Missile Shield
Missile Defense Watch: THAAD Missile Defense Test is Successful
Missile Defense Watch: United States Missile Defense Operational Within a Year
China Watch: China Uses Ballistic Missile to Destroy a Satellite in Space
Missile Defense Watch: U.S. Missile Defense Agency Rolls Out the Airborne Laser (ABL) Aircraft
Missile Defense Watch: The LEFT’S Revisionist History on Missile Defense
Missile Defense Watch: Reagan’s Vision
Missile Defense Watch: Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld Tours Alaska Missile Defense Center
Missile Defense Watch: United States and Israel Collaborating on Missile Defense
Missile Defense Watch: “Concept of Operations†To Be Done by Fall
Technorati Tags: Missile Defense Agency, Missile Defense
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Missile Defense Watch: USA and Israel in $205 Million Missile Defense Deal
THAAD – Terminal High Altitude Area DefenseReuters: House seeks tighter U.S.-Israeli missile defenses
The U.S. House of Representatives has adopted a measure aimed at weaving closer U.S. and Israeli defenses against ballistic missiles of the type that could be fired by Iran.
Part of a $504 billion defense spending bill passed Thursday, the measure would redirect $205 million in Defense Department funds toward projects already underway in
Israel.It would provide $25 million more for Arrow missile co-production and integration, $45 million for a U.S.-Israeli short-range missile defense system dubbed “David’s Sling” and $135 million to buy a Theater High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, fire unit.
All three projects involve interceptors designed to shoot down ballistic missiles in the terminal phase of their flight paths.
As Iran blusters, missile defense capability in the Middle East continues.
A missile shield will afford Israel some civilian population solace and outright protection from a missile attack by Iran when the United States and Israel decide to end Iran’s nuclear weapon’s program. Also, combined with the Israeli nuclear capability immunize herself from missile “blackmail.”
Israel has already tested and deployed their Arrow system and the USA THAAD system has had some notable success in recent tests.
Note the House fully funded the President’s request.
Stay tuned…….
Missile Defense Watch: Russia and USA Clash Over European Missile Shield
Missile Defense Watch: THAAD Missile Defense Test is Successful
Missile Defense Watch: United States Missile Defense Operational Within a Year
China Watch: China Uses Ballistic Missile to Destroy a Satellite in Space
Missile Defense Watch: U.S. Missile Defense Agency Rolls Out the Airborne Laser (ABL) Aircraft
Missile Defense Watch: The LEFT’S Revisionist History on Missile Defense
Missile Defense Watch: Reagan’s Vision
Missile Defense Watch: Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld Tours Alaska Missile Defense Center
Missile Defense Watch: United States and Israel Collaborating on Missile Defense
Missile Defense Watch: “Concept of Operations†To Be Done by Fall
Technorati Tags: Missile Defense Agency, Missile Defense, Israel, THAAD, Arrow, David’s Sling
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Missile Defense Watch: Successful Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense “Hit to Kill” Intercept Flight Test
Aegis BMD (FTM-11) Stellar Hunters Quick ReleaseAFP: Successful intercept claimed in US missile defense test
A US Navy Aegis cruiser simultaneously intercepted a ballistic missile and a target simulating a hostile fighter aircraft in a test over the Pacific, the Pentagon said.
“The test demonstrated the USS Lake Erie’s ability to engage a ballistic missile threat and defend itself from attack at the same time,” the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency said on Thursday.
The Lake Eerie is one of a growing fleet of US warships equipped with advanced radars and high-speed missiles capable of intercepting short and medium range ballistic missiles.
In the test Thursday near Hawaii, the cruiser used a Standard Missile-3 Block IA missile to intercept a target missile launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF), Barking Sands, Kauai, Hawaii.
At the same time, a US Navy aircraft launched a target designed to mimic a high performance fighter aircraft attacking the Lake Eerie, which engaged it with an SM-2 missile.
The ballistic missile target was intercepted 100 miles (160 kilometers) above the Pacific Ocean and 250 miles (402 kilometers) northwest of Kauai, marking the system’s eighth successful intercept in 10 flight tests, the agency said.
The Missile Defense Agency’s Press Release is here.
This picture released by the US Defense Department shows a standard missile-2 being launched from the Aegis cruiser USS Lake Erie as part of a US Navy missile defense demonstration off the Hawaiian island of Kauai, May 2006. The USS Lake Erie simultaneously intercepted a ballistic missile and a target simulating a hostile fighter aircraft in a test over the Pacific, the Pentagon said.
Here are some additional videos of the test:
Remember the Leftys and Democrats who opposed and continue to oppose the program? Some are still around – Senators Carl Levin, Slow Joe Biden and John Kerry.
Now, what do they say?
Previous:
Missile Defense Watch: Russia and USA Clash Over European Missile Shield
Missile Defense Watch: THAAD Missile Defense Test is Successful
Missile Defense Watch: United States Missile Defense Operational Within a Year
China Watch: China Uses Ballistic Missile to Destroy a Satellite in Space
Missile Defense Watch: U.S. Missile Defense Agency Rolls Out the Airborne Laser (ABL) Aircraft
Missile Defense Watch: The LEFT’S Revisionist History on Missile Defense
Missile Defense Watch: Reagan’s Vision
Missile Defense Watch: Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld Tours Alaska Missile Defense Center
Missile Defense Watch: United States and Israel Collaborating on Missile Defense
Missile Defense Watch: “Concept of Operations†To Be Done by Fall
Technorati Tags: Missile Defense Agency
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Missile Defense Watch: Russia and USA Clash Over European Missile Shield
Defense Secretary Robert Gates (L) smiles during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow’s Kremlin April 23, 2007.
US, Russia clash over missile shield for Europe
Russia rebuffed Monday an attempt by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates to soften opposition to Washington’s plan for a missile defence shield in Europe, saying it threatens global security.
Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told Gates in Moscow that the planned system “is a seriously destabilizing factor that can have a significant influence on regional and global security.”
Gates, who also met with President Vladimir Putin, came to Moscow reiterating Pentagon reassurances that the anti-missile shield would not be aimed at Russia and also holding out offers of cooperation.
“In my talks with the Russian leaders we’ll reiterate that the United States is willing to explore cooperation with Russia across the full spectrum of missile defence activities,” he said.
Gates told Serdyukov that he wanted “to see how we can more positively develop our military-to-military relationship.”
However, there was little sign of progress in easing Moscow’s opposition.
“I would like to underline the point that the Russian position with respect to this issue remains unchanged,” Serdyukov said.
This will be the beginning of years of negotiations between the United States and Russia – Cold War style.
TRUST BUT VERIFY.
But, didn’t President Reagan say that America would share the missile defense technology with the Soviets so that nuclear stockpiles could be MUTUALLY reduced?
Previous:
Missile Defense Watch: THAAD Missile Defense Test is Successful
Missile Defense Watch: United States Missile Defense Operational Within a Year
China Watch: China Uses Ballistic Missile to Destroy a Satellite in Space
Missile Defense Watch: U.S. Missile Defense Agency Rolls Out the Airborne Laser (ABL) Aircraft
Missile Defense Watch: The LEFT’S Revisionist History on Missile Defense
Missile Defense Watch: Reagan’s Vision
Missile Defense Watch: Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld Tours Alaska Missile Defense Center
Missile Defense Watch: United States and Israel Collaborating on Missile Defense
Missile Defense Watch: “Concept of Operations†To Be Done by Fall
Technorati Tags: MissileDefenseAgency, Russia, VladimirPutin
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Missile Defense Watch: THAAD Missile Defense Test is Successful
Missile-Defense System Test Succeeds
The military shot down a Scud-type missile in this year’s second successful test of a new technology meant to knock down ballistic missiles in their final minute of flight, the Missile Defense Agency said Friday.
A ship off Kauai fired a target missile before 9 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time Thursday. Three minutes later, soldiers with the U.S. Army’s 6th Air Defense Artillery Brigade launched an interceptor missile from Kauai that destroyed the target over the Pacific, according to the agency.
The military says it already can shoot down missiles in their last stage of flight by using Patriot anti-missile batteries. But the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system would be able to protect larger areas than the Patriot system because it intercepts targets at a higher altitude, said agency spokeswoman Pam Rogers.
The new system had its first successful test last year at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. It had another successful test Jan. 27 at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai.
Flap wrote about the first successful test last year in New Mexico. Since last July the Missile Defense Agency has moved the test site to Hawaii due to space requirements.
The press release from the Missile Defense Agency is here.
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)
Remember what Brig. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly, deputy director of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency said in January – United States Missile Defense will be operational within the year.
Another successful test and another segment of missile defense goes online.
Flap wonders how many of these THAAD systems will be initially sold to Israel?
Flap bets many………
Here is a video of presumably the January 2007 THAAD test in Hawaii:
Previous:
Missile Defense Watch: United States Missile Defense Operational Within a Year
China Watch: China Uses Ballistic Missile to Destroy a Satellite in Space
Missile Defense Watch: U.S. Missile Defense Agency Rolls Out the Airborne Laser (ABL) Aircraft
Missile Defense Watch: The LEFT’S Revisionist History on Missile Defense
Missile Defense Watch: Reagan’s Vision
Missile Defense Watch: Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld Tours Alaska Missile Defense Center
Missile Defense Watch: United States and Israel Collaborating on Missile Defense
Missile Defense Watch: “Concept of Operations†To Be Done by Fall
Technorati Tags: MissileDefenseAgency, THAAD
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Missile Defense Watch: United States Missile Defense Operational Within a Year
Readers: Please Vote in Flap’s January 2008 GOP Presidential Poll
Reuters: U.S. missile defense maturing, latest test a success
Within a year, the U.S. missile defense system should be able to guard against enemy attacks, while testing new technologies, the deputy director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said on Monday.
The United States activated the ground-based system last summer when North Korea launched one long-range and six short-range missiles.
North Korea’s intercontinental Taepodong 2 missile fell into the Sea of Japan shortly after launch but the short-range tests appeared successful, said Brig. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly, deputy director of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency.
O’Reilly said there would be no formal announcement that the system was operational. He predicted the capability to defend against enemy missiles and to continue testing and development work would be achieved within a year.
“It’s just a matter of maturation,” he told reporters after a speech hosted by the George C. Marshall Institute, a public policy group.
O’Reilly said work by North Korea and Iran on long-range ballistic missiles underscored the need for a viable U.S. missile defense system.
February 6 marks President Ronald Reagan’s birthday – What a present to the President with the forethought to begin national missile defense.
President Reagan Addresses the Nation from the oval office on National Security (Strategic Defense Initiative speech) March 23, 1983
Remember the Leftys and Democrats who opposed and continue to oppose the program? Some are still around – Senators Carl Levin, Slow Joe Biden and John Kerry.
O’Reilly said the missile defense system, which includes sea-based and ground-based interceptors, and powerful X-Band radar systems, achieved success in 14 of 15 flight tests.
Through the end of 2007, the program will focus on protecting the United States from threats from the Middle East and North Korea, expanding coverage to U.S. allies and boosting protection against shorter-range threats.
In 2008 and beyond, there would be increased focus on countering unconventional attacks and increasing the U.S. inventory of interceptors and sensors, O’Reilly said.
Ground-Based Interceptor Emplacement, Sea-Based X-Band Radar, In-Flight Interceptor communications sytem Data Terminal. L-R-Down.
On Saturday, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), built by Lockheed Martin Corp, intercepted a target shot from a barge. It was the first test of THAAD since its move to the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii.
Two more THAAD intercept tests are planned for 2007, along with three tests of the Aegis Standard Missile-3 interceptors against short- and medium-range targets, O’Reilly said.
The agency also plans two tests of long-range ground-based interceptors in late spring and early fall.
The United States has 14 interceptors in Alaska and two in California, primarily to counter North Korea. O’Reilly said the number in Alaska would grow to 21 within eight months.
By 2011, plans call for some 40 interceptors in Alaska and four at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, he said.
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)
He said negotiations were just beginning with Poland to host up to 10 ground-based interceptors and with the Czech Republic about fielding an advanced radar station.
Asked about the concerns of Russian officials, O’Reilly said the United States was talking with Moscow and hoped to convince it that placing U.S. missile defenses in eastern Europe could also enhance Russia’s security as well.
He gave no timeline for completing negotiations with Poland and the Czechs, but said the United States was “always looking at all our options” if either country chose not to proceed.
“We’ll have to see how it unfolds,” O’Reilly said.
Reagan was certainly a visionary.
Stay tuned……
Previous:
China Watch: China Uses Ballistic Missile to Destroy a Satellite in Space
Missile Defense Watch: U.S. Missile Defense Agency Rolls Out the Airborne Laser (ABL) Aircraft
Missile Defense Watch: The LEFT’S Revisionist History on Missile Defense
Missile Defense Watch: Reagan’s Vision
Missile Defense Watch: Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld Tours Alaska Missile Defense Center
Missile Defense Watch: United States and Israel Collaborating on Missile Defense
Missile Defense Watch: “Concept of Operations†To Be Done by Fall
Technorati Tags: MissileDefenseAgency
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China Watch: China Uses Ballistic Missile to Destroy a Satellite in Space
Readers: Please Vote in Flap’s January 2008 GOP Presidential Poll
Telegraph: Chinese missile destroys satellite in space
The prospect of “Star Wars” between China and the West loomed last night after Beijing used a ballistic missile to destroy a satellite in space.
The missile, which hit a 4ft-wide obsolete Chinese weather satellite 530 miles above the Earth, is thought to have been launched from the Xichang space centre in -China’s Sichuan province.
It suggests that the Chinese have developed a major new capability that underscores the communist regime’s desire to use its military might as well as burgeoning economic power to expand its influence.
“The US believes China’s development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of co-operation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area,” said Gordon Johndroe, spokes-man for the US National Security Council, yesterday. “We and other countries have expressed our concern regarding this action to the Chinese.”
It is understood that Australia and Canada have also protested to China.
Remember last summer when China was firing lasers to interfere with United States satellites.
And what Flap said at the time:
China is an ADVERSARY. Make NO mistake about it.
China has been unwilling or unable to contain North Korea’s nuclear amibtions and ICBM program.
China has been the chief apologist for Iran developing/acquiring nuclear weapons.
China is undertaking a massive military build-up and now directly attacks United States Spy Satellites.
What can it ALL mean?
China is NOT our friend and a Bamboo Cold War which has been underway since the 1940’s is blossoming.
The United States MUST be prepared for the coming confrontation and embark on strategies to combat the “militarization of space” by the Chinese and possibly the Russians.
Since the mid-1980s, the United States has had the ability to take down satellites, but the Chinese don’t have satellites worth attacking, Pike said. The United States may have to develop alternatives to its current spy satellites — perhaps stealthy satellites or unmanned aerial vehicles, which are harder to detect than the current well-established U.S. satellite network.
Reconnaissance satellites in low-Earth orbit — “eyes in the sky” — are essential to how the United States fights wars.
“Our space assets are the first asset on the scene,” Pike said. “They are absolutely central to why we are a superpower — a signature component to America’s style of warfare.”
Stay tuned…….
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China Watch: Beijing Secretly Fires Lasers to Disable US Satellites
Technorati Tags: China