Report: China Secretly Fires Lasers To Disable U.S. Satellites
Report: China Secretly Fires Lasers To Disable U.S. Satellites
September 29, 2006 5:33 p.m. EST
Julie Farby - All Headline News Staff Writer
Beijing, China (AHN) - China has secretly fired powerful laser weapons designed to disable American spy satellites by "blinding" their sensitive surveillance devices.
The previously unreported attacks have been kept secret by the Bush administration for fear that it would damage attempts to co-opt China in diplomatic offensives against North Korea and Iran.
The military affairs publication Defense News reports that there had been a fierce internal battle within Washington over whether to make the attacks public. In the end, the Pentagon's annual assessment of the growing Chinese military build-up barely mentioned the threat.
"After a contentious debate, the White House directed the Pentagon to limit its concern to one line," Defense News said.
The document said that China could blind American satellites with a ground-based laser firing a beam of light to prevent spy photography as they pass over China.
Although the Chinese tests do not aim to destroy American satellites, the laser attacks could make them useless over Chinese territory. And there has been increasing alarm in parts of the American military establishment over China's growing military ambitions.
Military experts have already noted that Chinese military expenditure is increasingly designed to challenge American military pre-eminence by investing in weaponry that can attack key systems such as aircraft carriers and satellites.
At the same time, China is engaged in a large-scale espionage effort against American high-tech firms working on projects such as the multi-billion-pound DD(X) destroyer program.
Copyright © AHN Media Corp - All rights reserved.
Redistribution, republication. syndication, rewriting or broadcast is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AHN.
© 2007 by AHN Media Corp.
All rights reserved
September 29, 2006 5:33 p.m. EST
Julie Farby - All Headline News Staff Writer
Beijing, China (AHN) - China has secretly fired powerful laser weapons designed to disable American spy satellites by "blinding" their sensitive surveillance devices.
The previously unreported attacks have been kept secret by the Bush administration for fear that it would damage attempts to co-opt China in diplomatic offensives against North Korea and Iran.
The military affairs publication Defense News reports that there had been a fierce internal battle within Washington over whether to make the attacks public. In the end, the Pentagon's annual assessment of the growing Chinese military build-up barely mentioned the threat.
"After a contentious debate, the White House directed the Pentagon to limit its concern to one line," Defense News said.
The document said that China could blind American satellites with a ground-based laser firing a beam of light to prevent spy photography as they pass over China.
Although the Chinese tests do not aim to destroy American satellites, the laser attacks could make them useless over Chinese territory. And there has been increasing alarm in parts of the American military establishment over China's growing military ambitions.
Military experts have already noted that Chinese military expenditure is increasingly designed to challenge American military pre-eminence by investing in weaponry that can attack key systems such as aircraft carriers and satellites.
At the same time, China is engaged in a large-scale espionage effort against American high-tech firms working on projects such as the multi-billion-pound DD(X) destroyer program.
Copyright © AHN Media Corp - All rights reserved.
Redistribution, republication. syndication, rewriting or broadcast is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AHN.
© 2007 by AHN Media Corp.
All rights reserved
posted by Walking Contradiction at 7/01/2007 10:04:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home