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Space experts have confirmed a report that China successfully tested a new anti-satellite weapon last week, firing the weapon to destroy one of its own old satellites. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.The report of a new Chinese space weapon first appeared in the publication Aviation Week and Space Technology. And on Tuesday the director of the private Center for Defense Information, space security expert Theresa Hitchens, said she and other specialists have been able to confirm it. "There has been some confirmation through the tracking data of the satellite that's been released by the U.S. Air Force. And...

The prospect of "Star Wars" between China and the West loomed last night after Beijing used a ballistic missile to destroy a satellite in space. The missile, which hit a 4ft-wide obsolete Chinese weather satellite 530 miles above the Earth, is thought to have been launched from the Xichang space centre in -China's Sichuan province.

The US criticised China today for conducting an anti-satellite weapons test in which an old Chinese weather satellite was destroyed by a ballistic missile. “The US believes China’s development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of cooperation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area,” National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. “We and other countries have expressed our concern to the Chinese.” US intelligence agencies believe China conducted the test on January 11.

US condemns China 'space weapon'The United States, Australia and Canada have criticised China over a weapons test it is said to have carried out in space last week. The Americans say the Chinese sent up a ballistic missile to destroy an ageing weather satellite. They say the test went against the spirit of co-operation both countries aspire to in the area of civil space. Reports say Britain, South Korea and Japan were expected to express their concerns to China soon. Earlier, a report in the American Aviation Week magazine said that US spy agencies had concluded that China conducted a...

If China has succeeded in developing the technology to shoot down satellites, it will have achieved technical superiority over the US, which is still struggling to develop its interceptor missile technology.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States, Australia and Canada have voiced concerns to China over a test in space of a satellite-killing weapon last week, the White House said on Thursday. "The U.S. believes China's development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of cooperation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area," National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. "We and other countries have expressed our concern regarding this action to the Chinese." Using a ground-based medium-range ballistic missile, the test knocked out an aging Chinese weather satellite about 537 miles above the earth...

The Bush administration is seeking to develop a powerful ground-based laser weapon that would use beams of concentrated light to destroy enemy satellites in orbit. The largely secret project, parts of which have been made public through Air Force budget documents submitted to Congress in February, is part of a wide-ranging effort to develop space weapons, both defensive and offensive. No treaty or law forbids such work. The laser research was described by federal officials who would speak only on the condition of anonymity because of the topic's political sensitivity. The White House has recently sought to play down the...

Beijing announced plans last week to build a high-frequency radar on the South Pole. Analysts say the radar could be used to disrupt U.S. intelligence satellites. China's Zhongshan Station in Antarctica on Jan. 24. AP Photo /Xinhua, Zhang Zongtang The radar will be built at China’s Zhongshan Station, where Beijing has set up of a space environment lab. National security analysts say the South Pole site, because of its remoteness, could be used by China to develop anti-satellite lasers capable of blinding or disrupting U.S. reconnaissance satellites, most of which pass over the pole. The station will consist of 20...

The US Air Force has launched a micro-satellite that could lead to an autonomous robotic mechanic that fixes satellites in orbit. The launch is the first of two such technology-demonstration satellites to lift off this week. The 138-kilogram XSS-11 - which stands for Experimental Spacecraft Systems 11 - blasted off at 0635 PDT (1435 GMT) on Monday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, US, aboard a Minotaur rocket. “Nobody’s ever done anything like this in space,” says Vernon Baker, XSS-11 programme manager at the Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, US. He says developing an...

China appears to be sharpening its war fighting space skills, from creating anti-satellite weaponry, building new classes of heavy-lift and small boosters, as well as improving an array of military space systems. That judgment comes courtesy of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) which earlier this week released its annual report to Congress: The Military Power of the People's Republic of China. The report focuses on the current and probable future course of that country's growing military-technological prowess, including the use of space to assure military advantage. Anti-satellite laser workFlagged in the report is China's work in electronic warfare. In...

The winds of change are not always obvious. Analysts at the RAND Corporation lay out 10 international-security developments that aren't getting the attention they deserve in this month's issue of The Atlantic magazine: 1. The West Bank Wall 2. A Shrinking Russia 3. The Hindu-Muslim Divide 4. AIDS and African Armies 5. The Tehran-New Delhi Axis 6. Anti-Satellite Attack 7. Defense-Industry Goliaths 8. The Aircraft Carrier Shortage 9. The Indus Water Fight 10. Urban Warfare ...to which we add: 11. China's Race Into the Oil Market; and 12. Europe's looming pension crisis That's an even dozen via our blog post....