Lake Erie Crew Describes Satellite Shot (USS Lake Erie)

American Forces Press Service ^ | Jim Garamone

[SandRat]

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii, Feb. 24, 2008 – The crewmembers of the USS Lake Erie were calm as they fired the latest shot heard round the world. The Aegis-class cruiser fired the missile that destroyed a dead spy satellite that posed a threat to humans Feb. 21.

Navy Capt. Randall M. Hendrickson, the Lake Erie’s commanding officer, spoke to reporters today aboard the ship, which has just returned from the mission. The visiting reporters are traveling with Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who visited the ship.

The captain said the crew worked intensively for a month and a half before the shootdown. “We kept working up with a team of government experts and technicians, as well as industry partners,” Hendrickson said.

The group worked to gather information and modify the Standard Missile 3 and the Aegis weapon system, he said. They started tracking the satellite at different times to get radar cross-section data, which helped build the program software, Hendrickson said.

“Obviously there was a lot of anticipation building up each time we practiced, each time we tracked,” he said.

The ship’s weapons systems officer, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Drew Bates, said the rehearsals really helped when push came to shove. “By the time we did this, we had seen it a hundred times,” he said. “We were practicing what to do in case things go wrong. Fortunately nothing went wrong. This went just the way it was designed to happen, and hats off to the industry team for giving the nation a system that was able to have the excess capability to do this.”

The satellite was unlike any target the system was designed to go after, the captain said. The satellite was in orbit rather than on a ballistic trajectory. Also, the satellite was traveling at incredible speeds.

The Lake Erie left here the day officials announced President Bush’s decision to try to shoot down the satellite. Hendrickson said the ship was in position when the shuttle Atlantis returned from its mission.

The ship received the order that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates had OK’d the mission at mid-morning on Feb. 21. “From that point on, the ship was very calm,” Hendrickson said. “Obviously, the closer we got, there was a lot of anticipation. The firing team was very calm when we did it and, with the exception of the ‘whoosh’ when it went out of the launcher, it was just as scripted.”

He said that when the missile’s seeker opened its eyes it had the satellite “right dead center.”

When the missile hit the satellite, “there was a lot of cheering” aboard the ship, he said.

The crew knew from the kinetic warhead imagery in the nose of the missile that it was a good hit, the captain said.

“The radar scope went wild,” he said. “At that point, there was a lot of debris, a lot of pieces and, at that point, we thought we had a pretty good impact. Then that was confirmed by the aircraft that were airborne, the radars ashore and some other sensors that it was pretty much obliterated. Over the next three to four hours, a lot of it was burning up as it was coming down, which was the whole point of it.”

Civilian experts from the Navy facility in Dahlgren, Va., and contractors from Lockheed Martin and from Raytheon Co. helped the crew prepare for the shot. But Navy sailors manned the consoles for the mission.

Everyone on the USS Lake Erie contributed, the captain said. “Whatever the task is, there’s no small task on a ship,” he said.

The reaction of the crew is unbelievable, said Command Master Chief Petty Officer Mack Ellis, the highest-ranking enlisted sailor on the Lake Erie. “Even the youngest sailor who didn’t understand it at first, every time they walk somewhere and people know they are from Lake Erie, they say congratulations. It puts a smile of their face and makes their day.”

Related Sites:
USS Lake Erie

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[ex-snook]

Really great story. Underplayed in press.

[Oldexpat]

Enjoy it while we can. Osbama will probably shut down our missile defense and investment as being to “provocative”..
Hillery would sell it to the Chicoms.

[Steely Tom]

Really great story. Underplayed in press.

Your damn right.

If it hadn't worked perfectly, can you imagine the carrying on we would have heard. But it went well, so into the memory hole it goes.

[FlingWingFlyer]

This was one heck of an accomplishment. Although the morons in the “media” gave all the headlines to Hillary and the Magical Nose Blower, the Red Chinese and the Russkis know what it means and they are shakin’ in their boots.

[SandRat]

The Chia Pet and Aww-DimWitted-Job know what it means too.

[LiberConservative]

Thank you Ronald Reagan.

[Wolfstar]

Really great story. Underplayed in press.

Here we are in 2008, 20 years removed from President Reagan's last year in office, and all Americans have just benefitted from his vision of a missile defense system. We should never forget that the Left widely derided and mocked his vision as "Star Wars." We also should never forget what the Left's constant hostility to all that makes the United States great means for us today.

[ncalburt]

Oh course, the Dem media and the Dem party have been openly mocking this program for 22 years.
They can not report something that discredits them any further.Its always been the dem media strategy , good news for the Repub is ignored , bad news gets the front page for days.

[Chode]

Bravo Zulu!!!

[ChiMark]

It would have received big press if this were a democrat
idea.

I’m going to visit Dixon, Il. sometime this coming week.

[Count of Monte Logan]

Fantastic! This is the story of the US this century.

We need everyone in the US to take hold of our legacy and defend freedom. Those who refuse need to be counseled and really should pay fines and penalties.

[the lone wolf]

"“The radar scope went wild,” he said. “At that point, there was a lot of debris, a lot of pieces and, at that point, we thought we had a pretty good impact. Then that was confirmed by the aircraft that were airborne, the radars ashore and some other sensors that it was pretty much obliterated. "

Their radar showed it. Airborne radar showed it. Radars ashore showed it. And some other sensors showed it. Classified spaceborne systems?

[gaijin]

[mad_as_he$$]

There are and have been “heat detection” platforms in space. I know a guy who was in NORAD when Chernobyl went up and a sat picked it up. Caused some confusion when the bird said hot spot indicating a luanch.

[Southack]

"Then that was confirmed by the aircraft that were airborne, the radars ashore and some other sensors that it was pretty much obliterated."

Good catch. Yes, apparently we have *other* systems protecting us...monitoring many things.

[xone]

‘We need everyone in the US to take hold of our legacy and defend freedom. Those who refuse need to be counseled and really should pay fines and penalties.’

Counseled, fined, penalized? No thanks comrade. I am not interested in those who must be forced. They are unreliable.

‘This is the story of the US this century.’

It’s pretty cool, but not in the same league with things our military has already done in the last 5 yrs. I hope it isn’t the end of the story for the US for the next 92 years. If it is, we’re hosed.

[Squantos]

Referred to as defense in depth........:o)

[dbacks]

[Really great story. Underplayed in press.]

Don’t you understand, this was an aggressive, war threatening move by our military.

[steveyp]

My favorite picture of the best Presdient of my lifetime. Thanks.

[2111USMC]

Nah, he just misspoke. We don’t have stuff like that.

:)

[Diogenesis]

[A.A. Cunningham]

080220-N-XXXXX-036 PACIFIC OCEAN (Feb 20, 2008) At a single modified tactical Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) launches from the U.S. Navy AEGIS cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70), successfully impacting a non-functioning National Reconnaissance Office satellite approximately 247 kilometers (133 nautical miles) over the Pacific Ocean, as it traveled in space at more than 17,000 mph. President George W. Bush decided to bring down the satellite because of the likelihood that the satellite could release hydrazine fuel upon impact, possibly in populated areas. U.S. Navy photo (Released)

080220-N-XXXXX-025 PACIFIC OCEAN (Feb 20, 2008) At a single modified tactical Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) launches from the U.S. Navy AEGIS cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70), successfully impacting a non-functioning National Reconnaissance Office satellite approximately 247 kilometers (133 nautical miles) over the Pacific Ocean, as it traveled in space at more than 17,000 mph. President George W. Bush decided to bring down the satellite because of the likelihood that the satellite could release hydrazine fuel upon impact, possibly in populated areas. U.S. Navy photo (Released)

080220-N-5476H-168 PACIFIC OCEAN (Feb. 20, 2008) Fire Controlman 2nd Class Andrew Jackson, a native of Raytown, Mo., initiates launch sequence on a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) from the Combat Information Center aboard the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70). Lake Erie fired a single modified tactical Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) and successfully impacted a non-functioning National Reconnaissance Office satellite approximately 247 kilometers (133 nautical miles) over the Pacific Ocean, as it traveled in space at more than 17,000 mph. U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Michael Hight (Released)