China tests weapon that kills satellites

NEW DELHI: China has broken a week-long silence to admit that it has destroyed one of its ageing weather satellites in space. In doing so it successfully tested an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon ushering in a new era in the star wars and causing global concern. The test is believed to have been conducted on January 11.
Admitting China had carried out the test, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in Beijing that it was ���committed to peaceful development of outer space���.The ageing Chinese weather satellite was hit by a kinetic kill vehicle launched from a ballistic missile.
���The Chinese ASAT programme is not new and has been in news for at least 10 years. There are several ASAT programmes going on simultaneously, including a piggyback satellite, microsats of the Qinghua University in Beijing and the latest satellite killer���, says Srikanth Kondapalli, Associate Professor in Chinese Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, and a leading expert on East Asian affairs.
The last of these is interesting, says Kondapalli. ���The Dong Feng 21 missile is considered to be configured to kill satellites much as the Pentagon tried to do in the 1960s with its Pershing class missiles. The DF-21 must have been used last week, though there is no confirmation.���
���The Chinese ASAT test falls in the realm of ���technology demonstrative���. This is like finding a needle in a haystack and destroying it. Apart from propulsion systems and other technologies involved, the test is also demonstrative of terminal homing so that you get close to the target so the fragments will destroy it���, says K.Santhanam, nuclear scientist and project director of Pokhran-II and currently president of the Central Asia Forum (ICAF).
He adds: ���Along with USA and Russia, China is party to the Outer Space Treaty. One of its articles states that no country will interfere with the other���s satellites. By destroying their own satellite they have not violated the treaty.���
So what triggered the Chinese test?
Kondapalli says, ���A few years ago some Chinese satellites suddenly went out of orbit and they suspected that it was the handiwork of US agencies, though there was no confirmation on this. Secondly and crucially, the US is planning to set up a ballistic missile defence (BMD) system in East Asia to restrain North Korea and possibly China.���
BMD is heavily dependent on space-based systems including satellites. Additionally, the US is planning to set up space-based troops by 2015 to have supreme command over space-based assets, the JNU professor adds. ���China���, he says, ���has smelt a rat and has been preparing to counter the US pursuit and hence the latest space overture in this direction.���
���The Chinese have the technology and the US has to take note of it. Importantly, China has a strong command over laser technology and it adds to their strength���, says M.V. Rappai, a China watcher and expert on Chinese affairs.
America has certainly taken note of it and will politely make enquiries, says Santhanam. If the Chinese enter into a deployment stage, the US will react strongly and who knows, even Russia will, he adds.
Rappai says ���The ASAT test has brought to fore the idea of the assassin���s mace, which is akin to Kerala���s Kalaripayattu where the warrior uses his urumi��a paper-thin sword, wrapped around his waist as a last resort either to escape or shred the enemy into pieces.���
The assassin���s mace is a translation of shashoujian, where the assassin incapacitates his enemy suddenly and totally, rather than fighting according to rules. It is not clear whether the test is to equip the Chinese for an eventuality of a shashou jian, but it certainly has all the clandestineness of the Cold War, where secrecy and silence were cardinal.
Exploring other possible reasons for the Chinese ASAT test, Kondapalli says a few years ago, the Taiwanese are suspected to have jammed Chinese telecasts for a few seconds. ���This also alarmed Beijing. But Beijing says that Taiwan is its internal matter and it cannot join the US-led BMD system.���
Santhanam says Taiwan did resort to electronic jamming of Chinese ships. But it is not clear whether Chinese designs were jam-resistant or Taiwan simply has better technology
Ironically, US firms have helped the Chinese ASAT programme. American aerospace giant Loral Space & Communications and Hughes Electronics, along with Boeing Satellite Systems, were accused by the US State Department of committing 123 violations of US export laws in connection with the transfer of satellite and rocket data to China in 2003. Boeing and Hughes never admitted to any violation, but Loral paid a fine of $20 million, though not admitting to any wrongdoing.
China has been busy, and not just with the ASAT test. It brought the year to a close last month by flying the J-10, an advanced jet fighter. The J-10 is suspected to be based on the Lavi project that includes F-16 technologies. The J-10 is considered to be top-of-the-line among fighter aircraft.
���The main problem for the Chinese, like the Indians, is the development of turbofan engine. It appears that the Chinese engine is not up to the mark and may have been a modification of earlier engines. The J-10 has more than 1600 km of combat radius with air-refuelling capacities and the capability to strike in the deep interior. Say Bangalore from Chengdu and Kunming airfields���, says Kondapalli.
For India, however, there is less cause for concern over the ASAT test. ���There is no immediate cause for alarm. India will wait and watch and observe the trends on Chinese deployability,��� says Santhanam.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is already busy in recovery operations of a capsule that splashed down on Monday on to the Bay of Bengal. The capsule was launched along with India���s home-built remote sensing satellite CARTOSAT-2 which was put into orbit on January 11, the same day that the Chinese successfully tested their ASAT.
The former ISRO chief, Kasturi Rangan says: ���I have not studied these issues and it will be only right that an appropriate organization like DRDO comment on it.���
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) officials were not available for comment. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior scientist says, ���India���s priorities are different such as in the areas of long-range cruise missile systems, submarine-launched ballistic missile systems and a medium-range sea to air missile systems.��� DRDO is working with ISRO to build a military satellite for the armed forces.
Officially, China opposes militarisation of space, as does India. Beijing has criticised space-based weapons in US conferences. Thus, the latest move would tantamount to double-speak.
By destroying its satellite in space, China might not have violated any treaty but has demonstrated that if need be it can strike at will and, importantly, can have supreme command in space beating the US. By launching a missile into space it has only vindicated the global fear that China is modernising not just its military but getting ready for star wars. All toys that are made in China need not necessarily be for child���s play.