| http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070814/pl_afp/usmilitarychinaspace_070814230029
US military sees looming China threat to satellites
China may be just three years away from being able to disrupt US military satellites in a regional conflict, a senior US military leader said Tuesday, citing a recent anti-satellite test and other advances.
The warning came amid calls at a conference in Huntsville, Alabama for intensified efforts to ensure US "space superiority" in the wake of China's shoot-down January 11 of one of its own satellites with a ballistic missile.
"It is not inconceivable that within about three years we can be challenged at a near peer level in a region," said Lieutenant General Kevin Campbell, head of the US Army's Space and Missile Defense Command.
"That means taking out a number of communications capabilities over a theater of war," he added in a speech to defense contractors.
Campbell later told reporters that while a number of countries have some capabilities to interfere with satellite communications, China is the one he is most worried about.
He said its anti-satellite test in January was a clear demonstration of its ability to destroy an orbiting satellite.
But China also is developing satellite jamming capabilities and has made advances in computer network attack skills that point to a comprehensive approach to denying the US military access to space in a conflict, he said.
"It starts to add up that they'll have multi-dimensional capabilities to attack various systems that are in orbit today," he said.
"A lot of countries have pieces of what I've described, but I would say I'm more concerned about China than any of them," he said. |
