Thanks for the info guys…
However just today the US Navy used a “modified SM-3” missile to destroy “rouge” satellite. The reasoning behind the missile shoot is the lamest i have heard, using an ABM against a satellite because of “hydrazine” fuel crashing on poor joe citizens house sounds like an excuse if ever there was on to test the missiles capabilities?
HONOLULU, Hawaii (AFP) – A US Navy cruiser hit a defunct US spy satellite with a single missile late Wednesday in a successful interception 133 nautical miles in space over the Pacific, the US Defense Department said.
A network of radars and satellites designed for the US missile defense system confirmed that the interception occurred at approximately 10:26 pm eastern standard time (0326 GMT Thursday).
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates was informed in a conference call with senior military officials “that the mission was a success, that the missile had intercepted the decaying satellite,” Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.
“The secretary was obviously very pleased to learn that, and he congratulated General (James) Cartwright and General (Kevin) Chilton as well as their teams on a job well done,” he said.
A senior Pentagon official later said the missile appeared to have struck a tank on the satellite containing a hazardous fuel, hydrazine, that the Pentagon said could threaten humans if the tank survived re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.
“All indications are that the mission was a complete success. The missile appears to have destroyed the fuel tank. We will need some time to confirm the extent of destruction, but it looks good,” the official said.
Gates had given the generals the go-ahead for the shoot down several hours earlier as he flew from Washington to Honolulu, a base for the three Aegis warships involved in the intercept attempt.
Morrell said Cartwright, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Chilton, the head of the US Strategic Command, told Gates “the conditions were ripe for an attempt.”
Seas were initially believed to be too rough but they calmed down later in the day as a six hour window opened for the attempt.
The USS Lake Erie, a guided missile cruiser, fired a single modified tactical SM-3 missile, “hitting the satellite approximately 247 kilometers (133 nautical miles) over the Pacific Ocean as it traveled in space at more than 7,000 miles (11,265 kilometers) per hour,” the Pentagon said.
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