China tests ASAT

dioditto said:

As for filing a diplomatic protest over the incident, I have never heard of US filing such protest when Russians are testing theirs, or US testing their own.

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Yes, but the US did voluntarily suspend their own program in respect of international treaty not to militarize space.

Finn McCool said:

We still have a a few ASAT missles lying around. There's not many, and they have been out of production for years. But that production could start up quickly again.

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The missiles would have been 20 years old by now and may have expired. Also, the engineering and production know how would have been dusty and rusty. You might as well relaunch the Apollo program. The thing is, when skills are not used, they atrophy. Engineers retire, departments close, companies close, subcontractors close, etc,.

Some people are saying so what? The Chinese have finally done what the US did over 20 years ago. True, but there is a difference. Not only was the missile ground launched, which means it had to go through the dense atmosphere, but it made a kinetic kill at 865km. The Vought made ASAT launched by an F-15 made its kill at 555km. That's a quite difference in height. This kill is simply the highest ever made by anything that is man made by over 300km.

There is all sorts of technological fall out from this. One is the accuracy of the navigation and seeker systems. That's a dead on CEP zero kill at 865km against a moving object. The Soviet Union wasn't able to do an ASAT because their navigation and guidance systems are not up to par.

Frankly I dont know what China is trying to pull. Its like one provocative message after another. You got the J-10 and J-11B being shown, and previously, just two months ago, we got PGMs being shown and a sub surfacing near a US carrier.

crobato said:

Frankly I dont know what China is trying to pull. Its like one provocative message after another. You got the J-10 and J-11B being shown, and previously, just two months ago, we got PGMs being shown and a sub surfacing near a US carrier.

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Or perhaps, China wanted to do something about bad weather forcasts.

Re: Chinese Successful Anti-Satelite Test

crobato said:

Frankly I dont know what China is trying to pull. Its like one provocative message after another. You got the J-10 and J-11B being shown, and previously, just two months ago, we got PGMs being shown and a sub surfacing near a US carrier.

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I think this is at least one of the best ways to be in the news. Probably not the best ones, but some people might start to say "China becomes an important factor, better ask them for their oppinion".
And it shows great technical steps forward, though in a problematic way.

Re: Chinese Successful Anti-Satelite Test

Scratch said:

Probably not the best ones, but some people might start to say "China becomes an important factor, better ask them for their oppinion".

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Or maybe people will say, "China is more important than we thought - we'd better focus our attention on then and increase our own counter-measures."

Re: Chinese destroy sattelite with missle

peterc said:

I don't how difficult it is to do this, but the west is expressing concerns. Can anyone tell me what would it take (how difficult) to track a satellite in space and destroy it? Is this a new missle type?

TIA

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Hi, PeterC

This is no news as there have been two threads regards this matter in the forum.
http://www.sinodefenceforum.com/showthread.php?t=2824

http://www.sinodefenceforum.com/showthread.php?t=2821


The threads are now combined.

bd popeye super moderator

Re: Chinese Successful Anti-Satelite Test

FuManChu said:

Or maybe people will say, "China is more important than we thought - we'd better focus our attention on then and increase our own counter-measures."

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As time goes on people will most likely say both.

actually us is never really stopped its own ASAT program, they just changed from missile to laser



some people are saying that Chinese might intend to bring US to talk about de-weaponize space, at least stop the development of such program.

I am getting that the DoD is very concerned about this test. If they can hit satellites then what else can they hit. IE ships at sea or land targets with a CEP of 10M. That is what concerns people on top of knocking out our GPS which would be devastating. Many thought the PRC was 3-8 years away from doing this and a counter system could be deployed by then...that has now changed....cheers ute.

Re: Chinese Successful Anti-Satelite Test

crobato said:

Yes, but the US did voluntarily suspend their own program in respect of international treaty not to militarize space.

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(Crobato, I don't mean to be offensive, just trying to discuss logically.) So all other countries should thank US for not militarizing space then? How about rephrase with 'A-bomb test' or 'H-bomb test' in your above sentence. Does it sound logic? Don't forget US have had anti-satellite technology since then. Maybe one of the reasons why US stoped the program was because no other country could match US in anti-satellite technology and they didn't have to waste money to pursue more advanced technology. At late 1980s, CIS had already showed its weakness in competing with US militarily because of economic failure.

Secondly, 'militarizing space?' Isn't using spy satellites to probe other countries a kind of military action? If you don't have the intention of attacking others, why bother?

For the coming February (Jan. 29th to Feb. 8th), another US-Japan joint wargame is going to be held. http://news.chinatimes.com/2007Cti/2007Cti-News/2007Cti-News-Content/0,4521,130501+132007011901072,00.html (Sorry it is in traditional Chinese, because I can not find related information in Japan sources. I believe it is reliable because the news is from Central News Agency, an official news agency in Taiwan.) This time both countries include future tensions in the Taiwan Strait within excercise scenarios.

It is really unusual that China continually annouced its weaponry developments within the couple of weeks, from Mr. Hu's request for a strong navy, announcement of national defence white paper, J10, testing of anti-satellite missile, current circulation of H-9 and J14. It did not match conventional image of China in its dealing of internal military affairs. It certainly does not match China's leader Mr. Hu's style. 'Who's Hu' was the headline for most newspaper before his first official visit to the United States. There must be something beneath the curtain.

Oh maybe China shot down the old satellite just because it did not forcast the bad weather in Califonia so that China military authority failed to long FCOJ in New York Board of Trade. :roll:

I have been told and also believe this is a major accomplishment for ANY nation to be able to shoot down a satellite. From what I have been told is the ability to Find, Target and successfully shoot down a small object hundreds of miles above the earth is absolutely incredible.

I am very concerned about this from a military standpoint IF any conflict were to happen between out two great nations. Any removal of the GPS system would take away the U.S ability to use many weapon systems. The JDAM for use on the B-2 which is the U.S main first strike system would be out of action and the U.S would have to hit targets with laser guided bombs at much closer range....cheers ute

So, the US doesn't want to be poked in the eye when they peek into someone else's bedroom? Well, I guess they have to stop sending these spy satelites over China. Wake you and smell the coffee, "you don't own the planet."

Even though this might consider behind-the-west technologies, it is a leap forward for the Chinese technical abilities team. Good job China.

So far I only see this move by the Chinese as a defensive measure, and I don't think this is consider as "weaponizing space". :nutkick: