Space set to become war zone, warns U.S. General

[skinsfanjoe]

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/16/1065917535115.html

Space may become a war zone in the not-too-distant future, a senior US military officer said today, hours after China became only the third country after the US and the former Soviet Union to put a man in space.

"In my view it will not be long before space becomes a battleground," Lieutenant General Edward Anderson, deputy commander of US Northern Command, said in response to a question at a geospatial intelligence conference in New Orleans.

"Our military forces ... depend very, very heavily on space capabilities, and so that is a statement of the obvious to our potential threat, whoever that may be," he said.

"They can see that one of the ways that they can certainly diminish our capabilities will be to attack the space systems," said Anderson, who was formerly with US Space Command.

"Now how they do that and who that's going to be I can't tell you in this audience," he said at the unclassified conference.

The United States operates spy satellites in space.

Earlier in the day, Rich Haver, former special assistant for intelligence to Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, said he expected battles in space within the next two decades.

"I believe space is the place we will fight in the next 20 years," said Haver, now vice president for intelligence strategy at Northrop Grumman Mission Systems.

"There are executive orders that say we don't want to do that. There's been a long-standing US policy to try to keep space a peaceful place, but ... we have in space assets absolutely essential to the conduct of our military operations, absolutely essential to our national security. They have been there for many years," he said.

"When the true history of the Cold War is written and all the classified items are finally unclassified, I believe that historians will note that it was in space that a significant degree of this country's ability to win the Cold War was embedded," Haver said.

Responding to a question about the implications of China sending a man into space this week, Haver said: "I think the Chinese are telling us they're there, and I think if we ever wind up in a confrontation again with any one of the major powers who has a space capability we will find space is a battleground."

Chinese "taikonaut" Yang Liwei touched down in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia early on Thursday local time after a 21-hour odyssey that took him around the world 14 times.

Haver added that he was not implying that China was the next great competitor or enemy of the United States.

The ability to launch devices into space is rapidly becoming a multinational activity, Haver said.

Reuters ldj

[Riggo-toni]

I remember people making these same kinds of claims back when I was a child in the 70s. :snore: :snore:

[@DCGoldPants]

You've insulted me Riggo.

You and I.........face to face....in space!

Lightsabers at Dawn!

[Sarge]

I remember people making these same kinds of claims back when I was a child in the 70s.

And they were correct. A large part of our winning the Cold War was our space based platforms and the intelligence gleaned from them. China has already stated that we are what they consider their next advisary. They know our military is highly dependent on our space platforms for almost all command and control functions. They know that they cannot take us militarily for the next 15-20 years without a Pearl Harbor type event happening. They consider knocking out our satellites that kind of event.

[Kilmer17]

If people dont think that we already have weapons based in space, then they are naive.

[skinsfanjoe]

What kind of space weapons do we have? Just curious.

[Kilmer17]

Not space weapons, weapons based in space.

[gbear]

Heck, wouldn't a bomb guided by GPS technology count?

[skinsfanjoe]

Do we still use the Death Ray?

[codeorama]

I saw that Dubya had a red bladed lightsaber hanging from his belt. I knew he was really a Sith Lord.

[gridironmike]

This was my point in the other thread I started. Our dominance on the world military scene is due to space technology. What does China's suddenly space-worthy space program mean? It means we need to step it up and stay WAY ahead of them. Would we be tempted to take out their spy satellites? Don't tell me you don't think thats what they have an eye on.

[@DCGoldPants]

well, if the US wants to stay ahead. There is still lots of time. They are sending a single person into space to rotate earth 14 times.

I think if we dedicated ourselves to it right now, we could beat them by years to getting a lot more up there.

[TheKurp]

Just so long as no one launches missles at DirecTv's satellites during football season then I'll be okay.

[Kilmer17]

5 things we agree on.

[Sarge]

Spy in the sky

China's first manned spacecraft did more than simply showcase Beijing's efforts for civilian space flight. The Shenzhou 5, or Divine Vessel 5, spacecraft also conducted intelligence-gathering work for China's military.

Included on the top of the Long March 2F rocket, which boosted Shenzhou into orbit Tuesday, was a new Chinese military intelligence-gathering satellite. The satellite was placed in orbit successfully shortly after the Shenzhou began its 14-orbit mission. No mention of the satellite launch was made in the state-run Chinese press.

Additionally, defense officials said the single-astronaut spacecraft carried an infrared camera that conducted photographic spying. The camera was mounted outside the craft and has a resolution of 1.6 meters, meaning something as small as 5 feet wide can be distinguished.

The space spying highlights China's plans to use space for military purposes, primarily to develop missiles and sensors, and to blind or cripple U.S. communications and intelligence systems in any conflict over Taiwan.

Lt. Col. Mark Stokes, director of the Taiwan desk at the Pentagon, said in a speech Sept. 30 that China's space program is closely linked to the Chinese military.

China's "space assets will play a major role in any use of force against Taiwan and in preventing foreign intervention," Col. Stokes said. It is working to develop networks of satellites that will be used for spying and communications for the military, he said.

China also has shown "significant indications" of developing space weapons, such as satellite-killing missiles and satellites and lasers that can disable U.S. military and intelligence satellites, he said.

The Long March rocket booster also benefited from illegal U.S.-technology transfers in the 1990s, when U.S. satellite companies helped China fix electrical problems with the boosters. The booster improvements also benefited Chinese strategic missiles, which are made by the same Chinese manufacturers of the Long March rocket.

[JackC]

Originally posted by Kilmer17

If people dont think that we already have weapons based in space, then they are naive.

I'm not sure if we have them, but I bet Iraq had them!

[Riggo-toni]

[Zen-like Todd]

I remember reading quite a long time ago (late 80s), about an ASAT (basically, anti-satellite missile) that could be launched from an F-15 near its operational ceiling, and take out certain low flying satellites. I'll scrounge up a link.

Edit: Here you go

http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/asat.htm

The program was "canceled", but I'd bet my life that we've got plenty of similar weapons hanging around in case we need them.

[Ancalagon the Black]

Originally posted by Air Sarge

Spy in the sky

China's first manned spacecraft did more than simply showcase Beijing's efforts for civilian space flight. The Shenzhou 5, or Divine Vessel 5, spacecraft also conducted intelligence-gathering work for China's military.

I hear it collected the following information:

1) It's dark and cold up here.

2) My, ain't the Earth purty!

3) China is big. Long live China.

[tex]

China does not need space to kick our butts. All they need do is send several million armed men on horseback to capture and hold the Middle East’s oil fields.

If the Reds start raining nukes down on us, what do we shoot back at, peasant farmers?

[redman]

The Chinese are now what Japan was 80-90 years ago: a rapidly modernizing East Asian power with a backwards past that is seeking to expand its zone of influence and that sees the U.S. as its greatest foe in that regard.

I happen to believe that that's where the next Cold War will be . . . and let's all pray it remains cold.

[OaktonSkins/BushFan]

Originally posted by Air Sarge

.... The Long March rocket booster also benefited from illegal U.S.-technology transfers in the 1990s, when U.S. satellite companies helped China fix electrical problems with the boosters. The booster improvements also benefited Chinese strategic missiles, which are made by the same Chinese manufacturers of the Long March rocket.

Another fine legacy of the Klinton/Goreski administration. I hate that SOB Clinton. I really wish his mom would have swallowed instead - ****.

[tex]

And lets not forget Bill Clinton's decision to OK the takeover of the Panama Canal by Communist China. But thats a story for a different day.

The Federalist 4/16/99 "... The Federalist has obtained evidence that, as a matter of highly classified policy based on the now-flawed Cold War theory of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), the Clinton administration deliberately left the back door open to our most sensitive nuclear technology facilities, so China could obtain offensive nuclear weapons and delivery technology which would eventually put them on an equal footing with the U.S. In our Cold War with the USSR, our nuclear secrets were also obtained by Soviet espionage, and the resulting MAD standoff was a centerpiece of U.S. policy. But the Soviets were an entirely different adversary than the Red Chinese, who analysts estimate could become far more ´´adventurous´´ under the MAD umbrella. Evidence of Mr. Clinton´s indifference to the weapon technology transfers, in deference to his MAD policy, is apparent in the rejection of an FBI request for a wiretap on We Ho Lee, who, though suspected of being a Chinese spy, was selected by senior Clinton personnel at the Department of Energy to run a sensitive new nuclear weapons program. From 1993 to 1997, federal agents requested 2,686 wiretaps to assist various investigations. The Justice Department rejected only one -- We Ho Lee. Though both the CIA and FBI directors informed Mr. Clinton that Chinese spying was ´´widespread´´ in nuclear facilities, he told the nation just prior to Zhu´s visit that there was ´´no evidence´´ of such spying. ´´That statement was not true and Mr. Clinton and his administration know it to be not true,´´ says a well-placed CIA analyst. The Clinton sellout to China is best summarized by Sen. James Inhofe´s comments on the Senate floor. (Mr. Inhofe is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.) ´´Of all the lies this president has told, this is the most egregious of all. ... This is a story...about a President and an administration that deliberately chose to put national security at risk, while telling the people everything was fine. The President withheld information and covered up the Chinese theft of our technology.´´ ..."

[Skeletor The Invincible]

Live Long And Prosper.

[Waldo da Magnificent]

DAYUM.

Is there anything that's not Bill Clinton's fault???

I'll bet someone has pictures of him on the grass knoll and Hillary in the book depository . . .

:rotflmao: