Chinese ASAT test prompts US rethink

China's test of an anti-satellite weapon in January was a "strategically dislocating" event as significant as the Russian launch of Sputnik in 1957, US Air Force (USAF) Chief of Staff General Michael Moseley said on 24 April.

Gen Moseley said it had spurred the USAF to evaluate its defensive options in outer space and added that the strategic stakes are higher than ever in outer space.

The vulnerability of commercial and military satellites of the US and its allies is now on display after China destroyed an old Chinese weather satellite in January using an anti-satellite weapon, said the general.

Gen Moseley highlighted the potential magnitude of the threat, saying that an attack on another nation's satellite would provide a legitimate casus belli. "I would say killing another nation's satellite is an act of war; it's no different than sinking a ship or killing an airplane," he said.

Of particular concern to Gen Moseley was that China's recent anti-satellite weapon test - which was preceded by three earlier failed attempts - was a direct ascent shot fired from a land-based mobile system. Such systems are a concern because they are difficult for other nations to target.

1196 of 583 words