Well, for all the hullaballo over us "shooting down" a satellite (for anybody watching, the damn thing is still up there, we just made it into pieces parts), everybody is missing the big picture. From a small ship (a destroyer) we have missiles deployed that can destroy a satellite. Sure, it was (still is) in low Earth Orbit, but still.
Hello, is this mike on? WTF do the news media need here? Do they need some one to point it out.
New alert: Deployed anti-satellite weapons that are ship platform ready.
No more "over the rainbow" aircraft doing ballistic trajectory. No more "damn, we need a frickin' silo/gantry for these things." Nope, we launched this weapon off a destroyer. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what this story is really about.
Think you're so tough blowing up a weather satellite in deep orbit, eh China? Eat this. We don't need no stinking cosmodrome facility. We don't need a weeks worth of preparation time. We don't need no special stinkin' ship/launch platform. Yeah, this was as much about hydrazine as wearing 18mm pearls is about keeping warm. We destroy sensitive technology, and show the world just what we've got. Extra bonus, we make things go boom up in space. Welcome to the new battle front, space. Some one finally realized we are in a Cold War with China (not that I'm happy we just militarized space, in fact I'm pretty ticked about that part).
Extra bonus points to everybody who can remember where and how the first blood was taken and how that relates to the events of today (Thursday). Some things that look "spontaneous" aren't, just saying.
5 comments:
I have to admit, I was impressed. I thought it would be three missed shots and then poison gas on the ground.
They did have to wait for cloudless skies, calm seas, but still.
Looking forward to the bonus points answer.
While I'm impressed as hell about this, I'm not sure it means quite what you think it means. Without downplaying the smarts and skill that went into this shot, I'll point out that we don't know how long they've been planning the operation. I'm sure those NASA guys have known the satellite was in a deteriorating orbit for a long time.
To infer that we're now capable of shooting down some missile fired at us with, what, 90 minutes warning (?) just isn't supported by this event.
And I wanna know the bonus points answer, too.
Nathan, it's not an anti-missile device, it's a "deny the enemy assets" device. Hitting a satellite is easer than hitting a ballistic missile. Satellites are usually bigger, slower, and not trying to spoof their position (plus there is the possibility of multiple triangulations). But the ability to take out a satellite (while not really new) easily (relatively, and this is the new part) and cheaply is the story. We've just broadcast to all and sundry that their satellites are not safe or secure. We can hit them at will.
Space is now a battlefield. The Chinese may have proved the first technology, but we just said we've had it for a while, it's deployed in the field, smaller, and more cost effective.
And the bonus answer is, first (public at least) blood was taken when we bombed the Chinese Embassy in Serbia. Killed at least three people (at least that was what was reported). Of course, what wasn't reported is that the Chinese had just won the auction on the downed F117A Stealth fighter the Serbs had shot down (okay, this part is my own speculation, I have no direct knowledge, but it fits much of the events of that month).
With further exploration, the US Embassy wasn't the only one attacked yesterday after the Serbian Government Sponsored Demonstration. But I think only ours was broken into and set to fire.
I stand (well sit) corrected. :-)
No worries, Nathan. I figured out that I didn't state my proposition clearly and you mistook my comments for another system.
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