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| US plans new space weapons against China |
| 2007-11-14 |
| The Pentagon is spending billions of dollars on new forms of space warfare to counter the growing risk of missile attack from rogue states and the "satellite killer" capabilities of China. Congress has allocated funds to develop futuristic weapons and intelligence systems that operate beyond the Earth's atmosphere as America looks past Iraq and Afghanistan to the wars of the future. The most ambitious project in a new $459 billion (£221.5 billion) defence spending Bill is the Falcon, a reusable "hypersonic vehicle" that could fly at six times the speed of sound and deliver 12,000lb of bombs anywhere in the world within minutes. The bombs' destructive power would be multiplied by the Earth's gravitational pull as they travelled at up to 25 times the speed of sound towards their target. The cost of the vehicle has not been revealed, but a spokesman for the Pentagon's Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) said a first test flight was scheduled for next year. Loren Thompson, a leading defence analyst in Washington, said the focus of the project was attacking "time sensitive targets" in states such as North Korea and Iran, which have either developed nuclear weapons without international approval or are suspected of doing so. "If we received intelligence that a strike was about to happen on South Korea, or on Israel, we would want to destroy that within minutes and not hours. But from most current US bases that is not feasible. "With a hyper-sonic vehicle launching from the Middle East or Asia you could be over hostile territory within minutes," he said. "It's not just a question of can we destroy North Korean weapons, but can we get there quickly enough in the event of an imminent launch?" Darpa is also developing a small unmanned launch vehicle that would provide "responsive and affordable" access to space, for less than $5 million per launch. The first test flight was made in March. It would be capable of re-launching satellites that had been attacked, or acting as a fast-moving replacement for a damaged satellite with intelligence sensors of its own that could identify enemy installations. In its 621-page report on the Defence Appropriations Bill, Congressmen from both Republican and Democratic parties said: "Enhancing these capabilities is crucial, particularly following the Chinese anti-satellite weapons demonstration last January." In China's first successful test of an anti-satellite system, a ground-based missile fired into space shattered a weather satellite in low earth orbit. The Pentagon has also given warning that China is making greater efforts to hack into its defence computers. Congress awarded $150 million for the Falcon project and its associated "prompt global strike" programme. A defence industry source said it was likely that hundreds of millions more were being spent on space warfare "away from the public view". The "global strike" platform would give America the "forward presence" it requires around the world without the need for bases outside the US. Attempts to base missile defence shields in Poland and Czechoslovakia have provoked a fierce row with Russia, while Uzbekistan, which neighbours Afghanistan, evicted the US from an air base two years ago. • The economic cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are estimated at $1.6 trillion (£772 billion) - roughly double what the White House has requested thus far, according to a report by Congress' Joint Economic Committee. For the Iraq war only, total economic costs were estimated at $1.3 trillion (£627 billion) from 2002 to 2008. The first flight is next year? More specifics on the Falcon are at the link. |
| Posted by:mrp |
| #16 JPOST > USA MOVES CLOSER TO SPACE COMBAT. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-11-14 21:22 |
| #15 "in 100 years, no need for rocket ships or starcrafts to get to the Moon becuz humans will be able to naturally float " *sigh* Magnetism isn't gravity. |
| Posted by: flash91 2007-11-14 17:14 |
| #14 Der Lies alle Lies! Deth to Gorb! |
| Posted by: Carl Zeiss 2007-11-14 16:54 |
| #13 Millenium Falcon? |
| Posted by: Knuckles Thralet8040 2007-11-14 15:31 |
| #12 Upcoming optical improvements may make this possible in a few years. I remember an article a year or so back in which some guy figured out how to store the image data in such a way that most of the data was unnecessary in much the same way a soduku puzzle works. If I remember right, a side-effect of the technology was that you could use a crappy lens and get killer images because of the ability of the math to reverse-engineer the light's path through the lens. This would be great for cell phones obviously. And you could get real-time imagery streamed from the satellite to wherever because the volume of data would be much lower. That would help with the bandwidth problems the military is having. It would be more likely that the military would just want more images though, and would push things right back to the bandwidths we are having to deal with today! :-) Anybody know where that article is? |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-11-14 15:20 |
| #11 gromky hit the nail on the head. We don't need 4-5 $3 billion dollar satellites. We need an array of 3000 1 million dollar satellites that provide a single capacity (Comm/Relay, ELINT, SIGINT, IR, Radar Imaging, and Electroptical) and work in a mesh. Keep the processing on the ground, network them up there via a mesh with comm and relay satellites, and transmit the data realtime via the mesh to the ground stations for processing, and then back up to a set of geostationary distribution comm sats. Launch them from cheaper commercial boosters instead of the big-assed lifters we need now. If you limit the weight and size, you could even put them in low earth orbit from a B-52 on short notice (works for eliminating the effectiveness for any asat effort). And the orbits? Use the 66 low earth orbits that Iridium uses. thats roughtly 45 satellites per orbital slot. Call it 36, with one of each type in an orbital slot as a "cool" spare on-orbit. Mandate a common vehicle for the sensor in terms of power, bus and basic satellite C&C configuration as a const savings - and to increase the ability to automate flying the birtsd, as well as tasking them coherently. The capacity of such a constellation would be amazing. Given the iridium orbits, this woudl mean at any given time for any target, we woudl ahve at least 3 infrared sensors, 3 satellites taking picuters, 3 radars imaging a target area, 3 ELINT birds picking up emissions, and 3 SIGINT birds intercepting communications, with 3 different birds for them to talk to, in order to relay the data back to a ground station in the US in real-time. No need to wait until we have a satellite over the target, no need to wait for a good pass angle. Its all there, all the time, always looking. Heck, up the satellite cost (including launch) to 10 million. THats 30 billion for a complete overhaul of our orbital assets. And one other thing this offers that the traditional big satellites do not: upgradability. Just start plugging in new less expensive satellites, and eventually you can replace the constellation as technology advances. The current methodology only gets us new satellites every 10 years or so. The "swarm-sat" methodology that I propose would allow us to upgrade as soon as the new tech is applicable. Plus the risk is lower - we are talking about at most a $10 million mistake, versus a $3 billion mistake if you screw up a satellite from the current methodology. Lots smarter, lots better. Only problem is that its not the One Big Bird model that the contractors and space/intel agencies still want due to bureacratic inertia. And yes I have proposed this but nobody was listening because Lockheed/Northrop/Boing/Raytheon make money off the cuirrent system and would have to retool. So would certain other government agencies. Shame of it is we have the technology to start this now, with little delay. Just put the inital 66 up there, thats 11 of each type. THat alone woudl jump our ability to provide continuous global coverage of any place we want with at least a pair of sensors directly observing any point on earth at any time. What sucks is nobody is willing to even consider it, yet it could solve a whole host of problems that are present in our aging and increasingly condensed (and thus vulnerable) satellite fleet now. Get outside the box dammit! |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-11-14 09:41 |
| #10 Joe et al. This article is from a NYT story from 2004 that covers the effects of a magnetic field reversal. It has happened before playing havoc with the earths magnetic field, animals internal compasses, crops, satellites, earth's radiation level and ozone layer; but not neccessarily catastrophic. Will Compasses Point South? |
| Posted by: Delphi 2007-11-14 09:29 |
| #9 Our plans to build High Altitude, High Mach Aircraft have been in the works for a long time.. sure the extra hype about China's killer Sat test will pry more $$$ out of Congress but the Tail in this instance is not wagging the dog IMO. Does anyone think that China has been poking us to get us to "invest" money on unneeded Military Projects? |
| Posted by: Red Dawg 2007-11-14 09:02 |
| #8 Sounds like a scale model materials and aerodynamics flight test. It will be many years before one is operational. I think the X-43 Scramjet tests launched from a B-52 and accelerated to Scramjet ignition speed on a Pegasus rocket booster. |
| Posted by: ed 2007-11-14 08:36 |
| #7 Austrian scientist claims EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD IS GETTING WEAKER. "Tis 10% weaker than 150 yarns ago and getting weaker - in 100 years, no need for rocket ships or starcrafts to get to the Moon becuz humans will be able to naturally float there widout any external assistance/mechanology. IOW, "THE RAPTURE" IS IN 100 YEARS. Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-11-14 01:24 that settles it JOE, ima gonna be leaving this commie planet..for good! it floats my boat ..by gawd! |
| Posted by: Red Dawg 2007-11-14 08:04 |
| #6 Ah, test shells start soon, FAS sez: The DARPA/Air Force vision for FALCON is to develop, by 2025, a reusable hypersonic cruise vehicle that could take off from a conventional military runway and strike targets 9,000 nautical miles away in less than two hours. Flying at speeds up to eight times the speed of sound (Mach 8), the hypersonic cruise vehicle would carry a 12,000-pound payload comprising several unpowered, maneuverable, hypersonic glide vehicles called common aero vehicles; cruise missiles; small diameter bombs or other munitions. Each common aero vehicle would carry approximately 1,000 pounds in munitions. |
| Posted by: Thomas Woof 2007-11-14 07:38 |
| #5 a first test flight was scheduled for next year. ? Somethings fishy here. That would be a epochal aircraft and it's testing next year? |
| Posted by: Thomas Woof 2007-11-14 07:34 |
| #4 What we need is a cloud of cheap, replacable reconnaisance satellites. But, we won't get this because the agencies are in love with the hi-res capabilities of the big sats. Big sat : Chinese ASAT = Biplane bomber : Battleship |
| Posted by: gromky 2007-11-14 04:23 |
| #3 In non-mil space news, PHYSICSORG.com > starting in 2008, some [but not all] scientists believe new SOLAR MAXIMUM may result in up to 40% new solar activity = SOLAR BRIGHTENING/IRRADIANCE. IOW, GONNA GET HOTTER - THE SUN SHE IS GONNA BLOW-W-W [DARE AT SAME TIME AS THREE GORGES DAM?]. *DIGG > Austrian scientist claims EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD IS GETTING WEAKER. "Tis 10% weaker than 150 yarns ago and getting weaker - in 100 years, no need for rocket ships or starcrafts to get to the Moon becuz humans will be able to naturally float there widout any external assistance/mechanology. IOW, "THE RAPTURE" IS IN 100 YEARS. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-11-14 01:24 |
| #2 Must mean GLOBAL PROMPT STRIKE + SPACE STRIKE. ION, RUSSIA [RIAN] > MISSLES MUST STAY INSIDE NATIONAL BORDERS [INF/START/SORT treaties]; + WILL RUSSIA BUILD THE WORLD'S SECOND-LARGEST SURFACE NAVY? Russ Carrier ambitions + plans for six carrier strike groups by Year 2020 + basing/construx probs for Russ industry, Northern/Pacific Fleets; + RUSSIA IS NOT OBLIGED TO SAVE WORLD FROM USA. Not that they won't, only that they're not obliged to. Russ = Byzantium wants to feel the love from Amerikan Rome/Roma, AGAIN??? *SPACEWAR > A PASSION FOR SUBMARINES. As for FALCON, in the near term my recomm back in the late 1980's was for the US to contruct a combination/hybrid "land catapult" including wid long, high-energy cascading launch tubes similar in concept to [Saddam's]LR super-artillery. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-11-14 01:09 |
| #1 How do you kill an ASAT? With something thats faster and can intercept it. Something like a High Energy Laser from the surface, or a good power laser from space. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-11-14 00:32 |