Tuesday
Feb192008
The Pentagon PM Report
Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 5:09PM
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell spoke to the press corps this afternoon in anticipation of the military’s window of opportunity to shoot down a defunct spy satellite that has malfunctioned and carries with it a threat of unspent rocket fuel as it falls back to earth. The window officially opens within minutes of the space shuttle Atlantis’ return to earth just after 9 a.m. on Wednesday. Morrell said that the press would be notified within an hour of the event taking place, though it could take up to a day to determine if the target of the satellite’s fuel tank has been successfully hit.
Morrell said that this operation first became an issue for the Pentagon in January. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will be embarking on a trip around the world, beginning the first stage in Hawaii Wednesday evening. Morrell said that Gates has been empowered by the president to make the call on taking the shot at the failed satellite. That order will continue down the chain of command to General Chilton of Strategic Command and out to the USS Lake Erie where the missile will be fired. Morrell repeated that this is not in any way a test of the U.S. missile defense system, which he says has already been proven through missile testing.
The Navy also briefed the Pentagon press corps on the specifics of the Standard 3 Missile that will be used to shoot the defunct spy satellite. It is essentially a four-stage missile with three rocked stages that propel the missile of the edge of earth’s atmosphere and a fourth, called a kinetic kill vehicle which uses communications with a weapons system and infrared to hone in on the target, in this case the defunct reconnaissance satellite.
One official familiar with missile tests said that this is not business as usual. Navy officials said that this event is this significant in terms of the technical requirements, specifically that this target is going faster than previously tested engagements and the target is a “cold” target, though it is expected to pass the heat threshold needed to be seen by the infrared of the kinetic kill vehicle. The target’s temperature, increased by the sun, is being taken into consideration, meaning that the shot will most likely be taken at a time when it is day in the Pacific region west of Hawaii. The Navy officials said that in previous missile tests the time of flight can be anywhere between 80 and 25 seconds.
The missile travels at six times the speed of sound and the approximate distance it will go in terms of altitude is 110- 120 nautical miles. The Navy has changed the directional and location software on three of these Standard three surface-to-air missiles over the last six weeks to complete this mission. The missiles not used will be sent back and reverted to their original purpose of missile defense. The closing velocity of the two objects, missile and satellite, is somewhere just over 10 kilometers a second (or about six miles a second) Navy officials said it would be obvious whether or not the principal target, the fuel tank, has been hit. The three ships taking place in the operation will be the USS Lake Erie, the USS Decatur, and the USS Russell all of which are stationed in Pacific Command. The cost has been estimated by Pentagon officials between $30 and $60 million.
Morrell said that this operation first became an issue for the Pentagon in January. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will be embarking on a trip around the world, beginning the first stage in Hawaii Wednesday evening. Morrell said that Gates has been empowered by the president to make the call on taking the shot at the failed satellite. That order will continue down the chain of command to General Chilton of Strategic Command and out to the USS Lake Erie where the missile will be fired. Morrell repeated that this is not in any way a test of the U.S. missile defense system, which he says has already been proven through missile testing.
The Navy also briefed the Pentagon press corps on the specifics of the Standard 3 Missile that will be used to shoot the defunct spy satellite. It is essentially a four-stage missile with three rocked stages that propel the missile of the edge of earth’s atmosphere and a fourth, called a kinetic kill vehicle which uses communications with a weapons system and infrared to hone in on the target, in this case the defunct reconnaissance satellite.
One official familiar with missile tests said that this is not business as usual. Navy officials said that this event is this significant in terms of the technical requirements, specifically that this target is going faster than previously tested engagements and the target is a “cold” target, though it is expected to pass the heat threshold needed to be seen by the infrared of the kinetic kill vehicle. The target’s temperature, increased by the sun, is being taken into consideration, meaning that the shot will most likely be taken at a time when it is day in the Pacific region west of Hawaii. The Navy officials said that in previous missile tests the time of flight can be anywhere between 80 and 25 seconds.
The missile travels at six times the speed of sound and the approximate distance it will go in terms of altitude is 110- 120 nautical miles. The Navy has changed the directional and location software on three of these Standard three surface-to-air missiles over the last six weeks to complete this mission. The missiles not used will be sent back and reverted to their original purpose of missile defense. The closing velocity of the two objects, missile and satellite, is somewhere just over 10 kilometers a second (or about six miles a second) Navy officials said it would be obvious whether or not the principal target, the fuel tank, has been hit. The three ships taking place in the operation will be the USS Lake Erie, the USS Decatur, and the USS Russell all of which are stationed in Pacific Command. The cost has been estimated by Pentagon officials between $30 and $60 million.
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