DPA February 21, 2008
US military stands to gain by destroying satellite - Feature
Washington - Top US officials have said the main reason for shooting down a spy satellite as it slips out of orbit is to protect humans from its hazardous fuel, but the military stands to benefit in other ways by taking out the inoperable machine, analysts said. The controversial decision to hit the satellite will allow the military to learn how adaptable its sea-based missile-defence system is for destroying enemy satellites, while protecting sensitive technology and sending a clear message to the Chinese.
China sparked international criticism last year by shooting down one of its old weather satellites with a ballistic missile but has criticized the United States for planning to shoot down the spy satellite.
One motivation is "to poke the Chinese, to show the Chinese that we can do it, too," said Philip Coyle, a missile defence expert who ran the Pentagon's independent weapons testing office during the Clinton administration.
Launching the interceptor from a ship and carrying out the more difficult task of hitting the satellite in low orbit further shows Beijing that "we can do it anyplace we want," said Coyle, now an analyst at the Centre for Defence Information, who has been critical of missile defence.
The Pentagon played down speculation of ulterior motives for destroying the satellite, saying that the military wants to minimize the risk that toxic hydrazine fuel remain on the spacecraft poses a danger to humans if it survives re-entry and falls to a populated area.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said that the United States demonstrated a capability to take out satellites in the 1980s by launching missiles from fighter jets, and there was no need to test an already successful missile-defence system on the spacecraft.
"We are taking this step ... not to test our anti-satellite capabilities," Morrell said. "Been there, done that.
"This operation, rather, is designed to alleviate a threat to human beings on this planet."
The bus-sized satellite set for destruction failed hours after it was launched in 2006 but has since lumbered around space, slowly drifting back toward Earth. The satellite was operated by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), a secretive agency that oversees the spy satellite programme.
An NRO spokeswomen said that information about the satellite remains classified and refused to provide its cost or name the manufacturer. Analysts believe that because the satellite was recently built, there are worries that the latest US technology could wind up in Russian or Chinese hands if large pieces survive re-entry and land on the planet's surface.
"They want to make sure this thing doesn't wind up on Ebay," said John Pike, a national security analyst at Globalsecurity.org.
The Pentagon opened a launch window at 10:30 pm Wednesday (0330 GMT Thursday) and believes it has until the end of February to carry out a strike, but a senior defence official said the window is limited to "tens of seconds" each time the craft orbits above the Pacific Ocean.
Weather over the Pacific Ocean has caused rough waters for the naval vessel - the USS Lake Erie - which will fire a Standard Missile-3 to take out the satellite, which could jeopardize a launch on Wednesday or early Thursday, the official said.
"Each day there will be one window," the official said. "It will only exist for a matter of seconds, and so you have to be at exactly the right place, exactly the right time, and all criteria have to line up exactly right."
Pike and Coyle believe that despite the precision needed to carry out the attacks, the sea-based Aegis system has a proven record of hitting much smaller targets. It was unlikely the Pentagon would take the risk of missing the satellite and generating much more political fallout after hyping up the plans, they said.
"They wouldn't do it on the off chance it might work," Pike said.
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