The successful U.S. missile strike against a failing spy satellite 133 miles above Earth on Wednesday bolstered the credibility of America’s long-troubled missile-defense system, according to military experts.
U.S. military officials have sought to play down the strategic value of the operation, saying that it was solely intended to take out a malfunctioning satellite with a tank of toxic rocket fuel.
But the power and precision of the strike also provided a demonstration for North Korea and other potential adversaries that the United States has deployed a sea-based missile-defense system that can be adapted to multiple targets.
“This is the latest indication among several that we’ve made a lot of progress on interception of simple ballistic objects,” said Loren Thompson, a military expert at the Lexington Institute, a think tank in Virginia. “What this shows is that the United States has a modest capability to destroy large satellites in very low orbits.”
Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters Thursday that he was prepared to share some details of the operation with China to alleviate its concerns that the debris still may prove dangerous.
Addressing the diplomatic concerns, senior officials dismissed questions raised by the Chinese and Russians, and echoed by some arms-control analysts, about whether the episode was really a test of space weaponry. They pointed out that the missile used in the operation was designed to counter a limited ballistic missile attack and had to be completely reprogrammed for this unexpected task.
Hours after the missile was fired from the U.S. Navy cruiser Lake Erie positioned in the Pacific Ocean, officials at the Pentagon showed footage of a fireball created when the missile struck the satellite and expressed “high confidence” that the fuel tank was destroyed.
Gen. James E. Cartwright of the Marines, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it could take up to two days for final confirmation, but he noted that imagery of the collision showed that the missile struck the satellite “right in the area of the tank.”
Officials said they could not yet rule out the possibility of fragments striking populated areas but noted that the force of the explosion left little but a wake of debris.
“Right now we’re seeing nothing bigger than a football,” Cartwright said. “So, by all indications, we’re on a positive path that this was a successful intercept.”
