Posted on 04/06/2007 9:04:19 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
China Accelerating Ballistic Missile Tests
By Craig Covault/AviationWeek.com
Secret new U. S. intelligence about China proves the Chinese are accelerating the test of new medium and long range ballistic missiles, Aviation Week & Space Technology will report in its April 9 issue.
China is also demonstrating a wide range of new tactics with those missiles, Aviation Week will report.
The new Chinese missile development could affect Taiwan and U. S. strategy toward China, especially if it were ever to attack Taiwan, the magazine reports.
The Chinese tests indicate that China is gaining a much more powerful ability to militarily deter the U. S. or attack U.S. soil or assets such as aircraft carriers at sea, the magazine reports.
Much of this information comes from several U. S. Air Force Defense Support Program (DSP) missile warning spacecraft watching China from geostationary orbit, 22,300 mi. above the Earth.
The 2.5 ton satellites are built by Northrop Grumman. They are 33 ft. long, and carry powerful infrared telescopes that watch the missile test activity. They are not "spy satellites" but rather missile warning spacecraft that also provide intelligence on missile tests around the world.
The April 9 issue of Aviation Week will carry an exclusive report about how the DSP constellation of missile warning satellites monitors not only China, but also Iran, North Korea and other countries.
The same spacecraft are also seeing a similar acceleration of Iranian ballistic missile test activity, the magazine will report.
"Both the Chinese and Iranians have very vigorous test programs. The number of (ballistic missile launch) events we are seeing with DSP are increasing," says Dr. Edward Tagliaferri, a long time independent consultant to the Air Force and Northrop Grumman on use of the spacecraft. "DSPs are not just seeing new missiles, but also new tactics and all kinds of new capabilities," the Aviation Week article says.
"China's missile testing is surpassing anything since the Soviet Union's missile buildup of the 1960s," John Pike director of Globalsecurity.org. says in the Aviation Week report.
"It is as if China was in near war-time production of missiles ... in what amounts to the largest missile production and test rate seen since the Cold War with the Soviet Union," he says.
While recent news media focus has been on Iranian missiles, "there is much more going on inside the Chinese missile programs than is generally known to the public," says another analyst at Globalsecurity.org. China's January anti-satellite weapons test was only the most spectacular manifestation of this new Chinese strategic push, he said.
And with major new Chinese and Iranian flight test activity to monitor, the DSP program has major initiatives underway to extract more intelligence out of the infrared data stream from each of the satellites," says USAF Lt. Col. Joe Coniligio, DSP program director at the Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB., CA.
Although the specifics are classified "we are still gleaning capabilities out of this older DSP system today that it was never intended to perform," he says. "Even though DSP it is an older system it is a phenomenal system. And we are still finding new ways to exploit the capabilities the system offers," he told Aviation Week. Early versions of the DSP were launched starting in 1970. But the spacecraft have steadily advanced over the last 35 years.
Several current models watch over China, Iran, Russia and other countries. But the final $400 million DSP spacecraft will be launched from Cape Canaveral this summer, Aviation Week says.
That $400 million satellite, DSP-23 will help bridge the older DSP system to the new Space Based Infrared (Sbirs) missile warning system that has suffered delays and cost overruns.
The launch of DSP 23 was originally planned for April 1 on board a huge United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy booster, but had to be postponed when cracks appeared in the launch pad. Those cracks are now being repaired.
With an eye on the future, this final DSP is also carrying a special Los Alamos National Laboratory payload designed specifically to detect even extremely small nuclear tests that might be done in space, the kind that could be attempted covertly by Iran or North Korea.
The new payload was mandated by a secret 1993 White House/National Security Council directive, Aviation Week will report in the April 9 issue.
“Secret”? Guess not.
BTW, thanks Slick.
/s
> BTW, thanks Slick.
Yes, thank you Billy Jeff for selling our security in the form of ballistic technology to the ChiComs for a $300K campaign contribution.
Oh, and thank the Goron for being the pickup boy at the Bhuddist temple.
By the way, Goron, you ain’t seen global warming yet till you’ve seen a 10,000,000 deg. F thermonuclear fireball about 4 miles wide detonated at about 10,000 feet.
Thanks to the little exchange you and Billy made with the ChiComs, you might get to see that over an American city in your lifetime.
Of course, there was “no controlling legal authority” (your words, Goron) to arrest you for making that treasonous, treacherous exchange, so you can sleep at night in spite of knowing that millions of your fellow citizens are being targetted for instantaneous evaporation by your buddies in China.
They will have their way with Taiwan in about 10 years....no doubts.
Thanks Bill Clinton, for making it all possible...
“Let me just say this, pointing out my faults never fed a starving child.”
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