BF2S Forums Crippled Spy Satellite Taken out.

RoosterCantrell wrote:

I wonder, could this be a lie, and the U.S. instead conducted thier first trial run of destroying ENEMY spy satellites?  When China had begun researching the same Idea, it raised a few eyebrows.

RoosterCantrell wrote:

Now, with the U.S. not in great standing militarily speaking, could this have been a quiet way of testing another war tactic, slightely under the radar?

Kmarion wrote:

A little better.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2 … hoot7a.cnn

Check out this high def photo of the launch.

They needed steady seas, had a time window of only a few seconds to shoot, and were aiming at something no bigger than a bus, and they still got it. Man, did they ever:

[Marine Gen. James Cartwright] estimated there was an 80-90 percent chance that the missile struck the most important target on the satellite — its fuel tank, containing 1,000 pounds of hydrazine, which Pentagon officials say could have posed a health hazard to humans if it had landed in a populated area…

    The size of the debris is smaller than the Pentagon had forecast and most of the satellite’s intelligence value was likely destroyed, Cartwright said. Though the Pentagon has played down that aspect of the shootdown, analysts had said one of the reasons for the operation was that officials worried that without it, larger chunks of the satellite could fall and be recovered, opening the possibility of secret technology falling into the hands of the Chinese or others.

steelie34 wrote:

they have the nerve to call us hypocrites after they just fucking test their own anti-sat weapon.

Unlike Beijing, which gave no notice before using a missile to pulverize a disabled weather satellite in January 2007, Washington discussed its plans at length and insisted it was not a test.

Subsequent requests by U.S. officials for more information were ignored and none of Beijing's recent statements mentioned China's own satellite shootdown.

China's anti-satellite test was also criticized for being more dangerous. The targeted satellite was located about 500 miles above the earth and the resulting debris threatened communication satellites and other orbiting space vehicles. Foreign space experts and governments labeled China a space litterbug.

Still, the distinction between the two actions may be lost for many, said Denny Roy, an expert on the Chinese military at the East-West Center in Honolulu.

"What the Americans (have done) greatly undercuts the condemnation heaped on China last year," Roy said. While the circumstances are different, that is "a fine point that is easily overlooked," he said.

FEOS wrote:

I think you mean politically speaking.

RoosterCantrell wrote:

After reading these posts, I am getting MORE suspicious that it wasn't to protect against a hydrazine spill, but in fact a inetnitonal test run.