[MilCom] Missile Defense Agency Aircraft / Satellite Intercept

[Roger Strohmeyer]

Looks like the shoot down was successful too:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8UUG8100&show_article=1

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Navy missile soaring 130 miles above the Pacific smashed
a dying and potentially deadly U.S. spy satellite Wednesday and probably
destroyed a tank carrying 1,000 pounds of toxic fuel, officials said.

Officials had expressed cautious optimism that the missile would hit the
satellite, which was the size of a school bus. But they were less certain of
hitting the smaller, more problematic fuel tank, whose contents posed what
Bush administration officials deemed a potential health hazard to humans if
it landed intact.

In a statement announcing that the Navy missile struck the satellite, the
Pentagon said, "Confirmation that the fuel tank has been fragmented should
be available within 24 hours." It made no mention of early indications, but
a defense official close to the situation said later that officials
monitoring the collision saw what appeared to be an explosion, indicating
that the fuel tank was hit.

The USS Lake Erie, armed with an SM-3 missile designed to knock down
incoming missiles—not orbiting satellites—launched the attack at 10:26 p.m.
EST, according to the Pentagon. It hit the satellite about three minutes
later as the spacecraft traveled in polar orbit at more than 17,000 mph.

Because the satellite was orbiting at a relatively low altitude at the time
it was hit by the missile, debris will begin to re-enter the Earth's
atmosphere immediately, the Pentagon statement said.

"Nearly all of the debris will burn up on re-entry within 24-48 hours and
the remaining debris should re-enter within 40 days," it said.

The use of the Navy missile amounted to an unprecedented use of components
of the Pentagon's missile defense system, designed to shoot down hostile
ballistic missiles in flight—not kill satellites.

The operation was so extraordinary, with such intense international
publicity and political ramifications, that Defense Secretary Robert
Gates—not a military commander—was to make the final decision to pull the
trigger.

The government organized hazardous materials teams, under the code name
"Burnt Frost," to be flown to the site of any dangerous or otherwise
sensitive debris that might land in the United States or elsewhere.

Also, six federal response groups that are positioned across the country by
the Federal Emergency Management Agency have been alerted but not activated,
FEMA spokesman James McIntyre said. "These are purely precautionary and
preparedness actions only," he said.




On 2/20/08, Keith Stein <kstein at erols.com> wrote:
>
> N74A (Gulfstream II) and N178B (Gulfstream II) are both at Honolulu Intl
> Airport, Hawaii, for the satellite intercept. These are Missile Defense
> Agency aircraft.
>
> N74A arrived on Feb. 12.
>
> N178B arrived on Feb. 11.
>
> Keith
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