Communist China Moving Toward Placing Nuclear Weapons in Space to Attack
U.S.

China has gained and tested array of space weapons
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
March 30, 2007

China is developing an "impressive" array of space weapons, including
missiles and jammers, and is moving toward placing nuclear weapons in space
to attack U.S. satellites, the commander of U.S. strategic forces told the
Senate yesterday.

The Chinese military has "undertaken what we would call a very disciplined
and comprehensive continuum of capability against ... our space
capabilities," Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright yesterday told the Senate
Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee.

Their capabilities go "all the way from temporary and reversible effects --
[Global Positioning System] jamming, things like that, [communications]
jamming, all the way through direct ascent ASAT," he said, referring to
anti-satellite weapons. "Eventually, they'll probably be looking at
co-orbital" weapons -- missiles that orbit near a satellite and then
explode.

"Then, the one that you really worry about is introducing weapons of mass
destruction into space on a missile," he said.

The testimony provided the first details from the Bush administration about
China's space-weapons program.

Subcommittee Chairman Bill Nelson, Florida Democrat, said that China is
expected to have enough ASAT weapons by 2010 to "basically knock out most of
our satellites in low-earth orbit."

Gen. Cartwright said countering that threat will require the military to
develop "prompt global strike" weapons -- missiles and bombers that can hit
targets around the world very rapidly.

China's across-the-board program of ground-based jamming and ground-launched
missiles shows the arms program is sophisticated in terms of science and
technology, he said. China's Jan. 11 ASAT test, when a missile destroyed a
weather satellite in orbit, was not a surprise and was Beijing's third
attempt to destroy an orbiting satellite with a missile.

"What was for us impressive was that in three attempts, they made
significant changes each time and were able to, in three attempts, come to a
successful intercept -- on their third attempt," he said.

Additionally, China already has deployed weapons at the lower end of the
anti-satellite scale -- weapons that jam or disrupt satellites.

In his testimony, Gen. Cartwright questioned whether the Chinese space-arms
program should lead the United States to develop similar weapons.

"We have the technical capability," he said. "My belief right now is knowing
what we believe we know about this threat after the demonstrations that it
is premature to start thinking about an arms race in space. ...We do not
have to have a space response to that threat."

However, the four-star general said it would be "prudent" to improve the
U.S. space-defense posture and improve surveillance and intelligence on
space threats. Also, U.S. national security satellites should be hardened
with "passive-type defenses," such as lens shutters or turn-off systems, he
said.

Gen. Cartwright's comments yesterday contrast with his remarks in October,
when he said reports China had fired a laser at a U.S. satellite in an
apparent ASAT test were "uncertain." Gen. Cartwright, who is in charge of
U.S. nuclear-warfighting forces, also suggested the United States might
choose to use nuclear missiles to stop a country such as China from using
missiles fired from hard-to-reach interior bases to destroy U.S. satellites.

"If there are many targets that are out of the reach of our bombers,
conventional forces ... in large countries, the question would be, as an
example, how many satellites would we be willing to lose before we went to a
nuclear alternative, because the only thing we have to reach those targets
is nuclear," he said.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/natio...4710-9929r.htm

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