Think about how much we in the United States use, if not depend on, satellite technology.
I’m not just talking about Dish Network. There are civilian and and military applications for satellites: communication, navigation, reconnaissance, etc. Think about GPS, smart bombs, satellite phones, weather maps, etc. It’s probably safe to say that satellite technology impacts us every day.
Now read this from the latest issue of The New Atlantis:
On January 11, 2007, a missile was launched from Chinese territory. It arced upwards into space to an altitude of about 537 miles, where it slammed directly into its target, an obsolete Chinese weather satellite. The target was destroyed, reportedly producing some 900 trackable pieces of space debris in orbits from 125 miles to about 2,300 miles and resulting in an increase of 10 percent in the total amount of manmade debris in orbit.
This demonstration of an anti-satellite weapon (ASAT) was just the latest in a series of tests of China’s space weapons program, and was a warning sign the United States should take very seriously. […]
“Far more than any other country, the U.S. depends on space for national and tactical intelligence, military operations, and civil and commercial benefits,†as Robert L. Butterworth, president of the space consultancy Aries Analytics, recently put it. This “provides a clear incentive for attacking American spacecraft.†Such an attack on American satellites would not have to be very extensive to be devastating—as long as it were well-planned. “Even a small-scale anti-satellite attack in a crisis against fifty U.S. satellites (assuming a mix of targeted military reconnaissance, navigation satellites, and communication satellites) could have a catastrophic effect not only on U.S. military forces, but [on] the U.S. civilian economy,†according to a recent report by China analyst Michael Pillsbury.
Chilling, isn’t it? The U.S. is, in fact, taking the threat seriously. Just today DefenseNews.com reports:
Five months after the Chinese proved they could destroy a satellite in orbit, U.S. lawmakers are responding with a surge in spending on Pentagon space programs aimed at protecting U.S. satellites. […]
“The Chinese anti-satellite test in early 2007 highlighted the vulnerability of our space assets,†House members said in a report on the 2008 Defense Authorization Act they passed in May.
News of China’s weaponization of space gets worse. The missile that was launched in January isn’t the only anti-satellite weapon at China’s disposal. They also have ground-based lasers that can jam or blind U.S. reconnaissance satellites, and there’s evidence they may be investing in space-based anti-satellite weapons.
No one is suggesting the Chinese are planning to take over the U.S. (yet, at least), but China’s neighbors are worried. There is speculation that jamming reconnaissance satellites could be a tactic China could use in an effort to take over Taiwan (to keep other countries, notably the U.S., in the dark until the takeover is well underway or even completed), and India is a bit wary of what these new weapons tests portend for the region, too. Such technology could act as a deterrent to any international action against China should they decide to, shall we say, annex some land.
Of course, the Chinese are outspoken opponents of the weaponization of space. That’s not surprising. What was it Sun Tzu said? “All warfare is based on deception.” Aviation Week reported on May 24:
Gen. Kevin Chilton, the head of U.S. Air Force Space Command […] said Chinese calls for a new space treaty even after their ASAT test were the definition of chutzpah. “The contradictions between China’s statements and its actions raise legitimate questions about the credibility of their declaratory policies, statements and security commitments,” said Air Force Maj. Gen. James Armor Jr., director of the National Security Space Office.
Don’t kid yourself — this is no small incident. It’s surprising to me that it hasn’t been more widely reported. I found one or two references to it in the Chicago Tribune, but none in the Journal Star’s archives. This could be the start of a significant arms race, although U.S. officials would be quick to pooh-pooh that idea.
Well, I don’t know a whole lot about the military, but I do know there is a strategic advantage to holding the high ground, and there’s no higher “high ground” than space. We can’t afford to let China hold it. So, maybe some don’t want to call it an emotionally-charged term like “arms race,” but I say we call a spade a spade. We might want to start rethinking that $76 billion trade deficit with China, too, while we’re at it.
美夢. (Sweet dreams.)
The Star Wars program does not sound so bad now huh?
Awww CJ – like Billy needs any more fuel on the Commie Chinese fire?
Or, like the Pentagon needs any more money. They already dominate the budget! http://www.truemajority.org/csba/priorities.php
And it looks like the military is paying attention. They’re quoted and everything. Just because they don’t want to fuel anti-Chinese sentiment in the US doesn’t mean the govt isn’t on top of it (not that I trust it since W got his hands on it).
Rethinking the trade deficit, now that’s a good idea that should be getting more press. We can’t afford to go attacking China after Iraq and with Iran in the president’s eye!
Chinese navel ambitions in todays Financial Times:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/097b6272-1883-11dc-b736-000b5df10621.html
Attacking China? Pfft.. not going to happen. We can’t even control a small nation like Iraq let alone a billion plus Chinese.
wake up cgiselle, what do you think China is using all the money we are sending them for poisoned toothpaste and toxic seafood to buy? Hint. Weapons and corrupt politicians all over the world. China is huge, militaristic, ruthless, aggressive, and now well-financed, thanks to greedy westerners.
They intend to rule the world, and, barring a miracle, they will succeed because the fat, dumb and happy western world will not face up to the threat. We arrogantly believe our only enemies are raving nuts living in caves in Afghanistan. The butchers in Beijing will soon prove us wrong.
cgiselle — I don’t care if defense is 90% of the budget. None of those other so-called priorities (“strengthen American families and communities”) are worth squat if we can’t defend ourselves against foreign aggression. I’m not talking about attacking anybody, least of all China. I’m talking about maintaining a balance of power that will ensure our safety.
C.J., I think you’re right that this didn’t get much play in the ‘OMG they will kill our sats’ sense. It did, however, receive quite a bit of play in terms of ‘those jerks just spread tons of space-debris all over a perfectly good range of orbits’.
By the way, how much “play” did the establishment media give to the stories about poisoned pets, poisoned toothpaste; toxic seafood and all the other dangerous and deadly stuff we import from China. Might hurt sales at Walmart I suppose? WAKE UP PEOPLE. First they take our jobs, then they take our technology, then they kill us. And our politicians and media “watchdogs” turn a blind eye. You want to see environmental damage?, wait till the Chinese take over. Their environmental policies are atrocious. You want to see rascism?, wait till they take over.
As a child, my mother told me that we won WWII in stopping Hitler and lost WWII via the economic enslavement that would occur in the decades to follow.
Mouse,
they didn’t take our jobs, we gave them our jobs. Greed is behind that, nothing else. Americans want cheap goods, but also want significant wages and the wealthy want profits. We don’t think beyond the short term as a society. Hedonic Calculi (instant gratification) is our unsung motto. That is inconsistent with what we propose we want. We have more enemies within our borders than outside, I am quite convinced. This is demonstrated by our increasingly violent society. Today’s paper indicated that a man was stabbed over malt liquor. A 40oz in a public housing project. We have far greater worries than the Chinese, both in our front and back yards.
Additionally China holds a significant number of chits on our national debt. They don’t need to blow up satelites to do us in, they just need to ask us to repay the money we owe and our economy goes down in smoke.
CJ and Mouse, I have some tin foil ready for ya!
I am a pretty intelligent woman, up on politics and global news, more than most anyway. And I am mildly prone to paranoid theories, but China hasn’t hit my list yet. Because while there are a billion Chinese, it’s only a handful of wackos – the ones in power – that have delusions of world domination. All it would take to neutralize the so-called Chinese threat would be to free up their airwaves and Americanize them. And with the advent of the internet, I’m betting we’re slowly creeping inside their minds.
Plus, don’t we already have all sorts of bombs and missiles to threaten them with? And Russia is still an ally, unless W really pissed off Putie Poot. Couldn’t we just call them up and ask them to use their satallites, tell us where China’s missiles are? Or the Brits? Or Canadians? China would have to blow up bunches of satellites to shut down the entire planet’s systems – and doing this before somebody was aware seems rather unlikely. All that money the Pentagon has wasted already is not necessarily for naught.
Paul makes a lot of good points, but the threat is still there. cgiselle, you are intelligent and correct that there being only a handful of Chinese with ideas about world domination. The problem is, it is the handful that has all the power. China is a fascist totalitarian military dictatorship. They censor the internet and do not tolerate dissent. They are brutal. Remember Tiannamen Square? Many Americans have this crazy notion that you can resist totalitarian dictators. It doesn’t happen in true totalitarian dictatorships. Even the Wehrmacht couldn’t get rid of Hitler, and they tried. Nobdoy is going to refuse an order in China and live to tell about it. Not going to happen. As for Britian is not GREAT anymore. Canada has virtually no military. The U.S. defends Canada, with only a little help from Canadians. Yes, Russia is a balance of sorts, but Russia is an unstable dictatorship that has a big problem – a long undefendable border with China and tempting resources on their side. Up until recently, Russia had a nuclear deterent against China, but that deterent has been greatly weakened by the U.S. giving China high-tech know-how that enables Chinese missiles to hit targets accurately. Russia no doubt hates the U.S. for that. A few well-placed missiles could take out so much of the Russian population and economy, because it is concentrated in a few big cities. And, Russia no longer has people to spare. They have low and declining birth rates, poor health care and an outflow of educated people. Russia is in serious trouble. They feed the Chinese dragon in hopes that it will eat them last. China, of course, wouldn’t mind losing a few hundred million.
The internet doesnt do any good when its censored cgiselle12 which is exactly what the Chinese do. As for the airwaves the vast majority of those billion plus people dont have TV’s or radios.
And when you say “its only a handful of wackos, the ones that are in charge” I don’t think you really understand how large the Chinese government is and how many people have an interest in keeping it the way it is.
Your implication that this is some kind of conspiracy theory reminds me of how people thought of Hitler. Most everyone was ignorant to his true intentions until it was too late.
If you think that any military creates and launches a technology like this that they don’t plan on using at some point than you are as oblivious as the French before WWII and we all know how that turned out.
Bravo, 11Bravo! You understand.
You might have mentioned that Hitler and his henchmen were just that-“a handful of wackos”. But they got power. Those who claim the German people could have risen up and stopped him once he had control are delusional. It was impossible, even in the 1930’s. Those that tried ended up in concentration camps, by the hundreds of thousands, regardless of their money or social status, or whatever. This is why many of these new technologies and laws that allow invasion of privacy in this country are so troubling. Even the most rabid Bush-hater doesn’t really believe he is Hitler. But if a Hitler-like cabal got power (and remember, Hitler got power legally in an constitutional republic) they could use those laws and technologies on Americans. Those cameras may just (??) be ticketing speeders today, but they could be doing something a lot more sinister tomorrow.
You can call me names if you want, but you may end up doing it from behind barbed wire if you don’t pay attention.
Hey “Knight”, you need to change your name to “ostrich”.
The real source of jobs going to China: currency valuations.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/38787b24-196d-11dc-99c5-000b5df10621.html
Paul Wlkinson writes — “China holds a significant number of chits on our national debt. They don’t need to blow up satelites to do us in, they just need to ask us to repay the money we owe and our economy goes down in smoke.”
The truth is in this article below titled ‘China’s holdings of US debt pose little threat’.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/03/28/10114067.html