February 1, 2008: The U.S. Air Force is
asking Congress for more money to defend U.S. military satellites from
potential attack. This is largely in response to the Chinese test of an
anti-satellite satellite last year. The air force wants more money for
additional ground and space based sensors (radar, telescopes and electronic
monitoring) to keep track of what's up there. This helps spot future launches
of anti-satellite satellites. In addition, the air force wants to do more
research on anti-jamming (of signals between ground stations and satellites),
and installing additional anti-jamming technology. Finally, the air force wants to expand work
on small replacement satellites. These can be launched via ICBMs, including
those carried on navy nuclear subs.
No precise price has been put forward,
mainly because getting all they want would cost over a hundred billion dollars.
The air force is getting ready for some serious negotiations with Congress over
what it will take to keep American satellites operational in wartime.
