US Worries Russia Put a 'Satellite Killer' in Space

[rangerrebew]

US Worries Russia Put a 'Satellite Killer' in Space

Tracking object as experts raise concerns about possible military use
 
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff


Posted Nov 18, 2014 10:40 AM CST
 
 (Newser)  – The US military is among those tracking an object Russia recently sent into space. Object 2014-28E, which has been moving toward other Russian space objects, was at first thought to be simply debris, the Financial Times reports. It could be intended to repair satellites already in space, or it could be a sort of vacuum cleaner to get rid of space junk. Or it could have a military purpose, expert Patricia Lewis tells the paper, noting the possibility of "kinetic pellets which shoot out at another satellite" or involvement in "satellite-to-satellite cyber attack or jamming." The object entered orbit when Russia launched a rocket in May to add communications satellites to military gear already in space.

After the Iron Curtain fell, the country shelved a military program known as Istrebitel Sputnikov, or "satellite killer," and Moscow has previously sought a treaty against sending weapons into space. But military officials have suggested in the past that if relations with the US were to become strained, new research into space weaponry would be a possibility, the FT notes. "There should be no war in space, but we are military people and should be ready," Russia's space commander said in 2010, as per the Washington Post. "Trust me, we would be able to respond quickly and adequately." Lewis offers a disturbing scenario to the Post: "Imagine if you were having a Katrina episode and all of your satellites suddenly got jammed."

http://www.newser.com/story/198814/us-worries-russia-put-a-satellite-killer-in-space.html

[SPQR]

The next war will be in space. Look at the mini-shuttle we have developed

[rangerrebew]

Reagan was decades ahead of the Ruskies but the democrats shot down "star wars," so to speak.

[SPQR]

Reagan was decades ahead of the Ruskies but the democrats shot down "star wars," so to speak.

There is still the technology such as the Airborne Laser(ABL) which is Star Wars by product and the Ground Based interceptors

[Oceander]

Reagan was decades ahead of the Ruskies but the democrats shot down "star wars," so to speak.

I think Reagan pulled the mother of all poker bluffs with SDI.  The concepts were way ahead of available technology and even then I think it would have been apparent to those "in the know" that SDI wasn't likely to actually produce everything it was being sold as.  But in the context of the Cold War, I think the main aim of SDI was to scare the Soviets and goad them into ever more wasteful spending on their military budgets to try and meet/counter American threats that didn't really exist.  I doubt if we'll ever know for sure, at least not in my lifetime, but I suspect that was a large part of Reagan's motive for SDI.  Certainly whatever SDI actually produced would be great, but it would be icing on the cake, not the cake itself.  And, quite frankly, it worked.  The Soviet Union collapsed because it spent itself into bankruptcy.

[SPQR]

.  I doubt if we'll ever know for sure, at least not in my lifetime, but I suspect that was a large part of Reagan's motive for SDI.  Certainly whatever SDI actually produced would be great, but it would be icing on the cake, not the cake itself.  And, quite frankly, it worked. 

It has produced work like THEL and HELLADS . The US Navy is starting to include lasers on their ships such as Laser Weapon System (LaWS), .

http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=80172

[rangerrebew]

I think Reagan pulled the mother of all poker bluffs with SDI. 

Perhaps.  But I know this much about the military, when the CIC wasn't an America and military hater, you and I would have no earthly way of knowing what technology they possess.  Stealth technology is a good example of something that was in service for years before anyone knew about it outside the military.