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U.S. AIR FORCE: SPACE 'PEARL HARBOR' NEXT?
Henk Ruyssenaars - Foreign correspondent - 22.04.2010 16:34

"As usual with this type of thing, there is plenty of speculation about what the military will do with the X-37B. Christian Science Monitor believes the X-37B rollout may signal the start of war in space, quoting arms control advocates who say it's clearly the beginning of the "weaponisation of space."


U.S. CLAIMS THE WHOLE UNIVERSE

April 22nd 2010 - For writer Todd Halvarson of Florida Today, what's happening on Cape Canaveral apparently is an enigma: "Next-generation spaceship, X-37B, set for first launch. Now nestled in the protective nosecone of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, the Air Force X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle is scheduled to blast off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 41. The planned liftoff time is 7:52 p.m. and the launch window will extend through 8:01 p.m."*

And the 'Christian Science Monitor' published concerning the Weaponization of Space this: "But whether the X-37 space plane is merely showing off nearly two decades of research and development or is actually a precursor to militarizing the final frontier, is far from clear since the vehicle’s payload is classified. An Air Force official won’t even say when it will return to California or where it will land. But it can “loiter” over the globe for more than nine months.

Arms control advocates say it is pretty clearly the beginning of a “weaponization of space” – precursor to a precision global strike capability that would allow the US to hover for months at a time over anywhere it chose with little anyone could do about it." - [end excerpt]*

THE TOP 10 SPACE WEAPONS

To better understand all this, one might want to have a look at what they say is - officially - possible now, with the Top 10 Space Weapons. - Url.:  http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/top10_space_weapons.html

At IPS, the U.S. Institute for Policy Studies, they wrote about the militarization of space too, and it wasn't a pretty picture. The so-called 'Rumsfeld Space Commission' they wrote: "is perhaps most well known for suggesting that unless the United States took threats of space attack seriously, it could not avoid a "Space Pearl Harbor."*

BUSH SIGNED CLAIM TO THE WHOLE UNIVERSE

Hardly any of those writers - like most people on earth - know, that when they are watching the sun, the moon* or the universe for instance, they are looking at what the United States claims is its property. Because, after signing away more human rights and laws than ever in history, former US 'emperor' George Bush signed another unbelievable law. On October 18, 2006, 'front man' George Bush for his bosses by law officially was claiming space. The whole universe for the U.S. and its ruling criminal cartel.*

This science-fiction claim - violating all treaties concerning space, like the 'Outer Space Treaty of 1967 - was, as Bush said, "to be enforced by a new military service, the U.S. Space Forces." And again US 'gunboat diplomacy' is to order other nations to support the inhuman US policy, or...

And so the moon was bombed.* It will take some time to know what else they have been up to, and what those criminals have done to space this far. But that the universe is used and abused for more power and profit for the criminal cartel is quite clear.

This move again fits the malignant global picture, and represents another disturbing step towards total world subjugation by the US' cartel managers. A mentally sick cabal, only motivated by imperialism and global US military expansionism. Dominance of as big a chunk of the world and its population, by fear and through genocides by the cartel's war machine. And they just go on with their arms race in space, as I wrote at that time. And the secret cargo the X-37B has aboard, may be what was earlier described, in August 17, 2005.

The source for this 'Mene Tekel' article, is 'Power and Interest News Report' (PINR), which - according to my experience - is an unwashed mouthpiece for the nefarious Pentagon and malignant Washington criminal cartel.*

That actually makes the article a 'must read', because it - again - clearly indicates why 'they' and theur sold and bribed Dr. Strangeloves must be stopped at any price, before they kill us all. The serial killings and war crimes by this group, the absolutely inhuman infanticides and global slaughter, resulting in spreading genocides during the past decades should by now have convinced even the most ignorant. Nobody needs a Space Pearl Harbor. - HR & infanticides etc. - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/2dkr4ff

All major media are owned by - and therefore support - the mass murderers.* Who also nearly have killed all honest reporting the world over. The people working for those war criminals share the overwhelming shame and blame. They are guilty by association, and fomenting the neocon's present wave of global deception and terror.

"THE PENTAGON'S BID TO MILITARIZE SPACE"

Giuseppe Anzera wrote this on August 17 - 2005: A series of Pentagon initiatives aimed at space militarization and at the creation of new types of armament - capable of precisely striking small targets in every corner of the world and to neutralize most of today's anti-aircraft defenses - will likely result in a new power battlefield in the near future.

While the implementation of space weapons is likely to increase the capability gap between Washington and other powers at first, a broader vision reveals dangers involved in the move that could affect U.S. interests, for it will likely trigger off determined reactions by its competitors. Competitor states could successfully deploy a small number of low cost orbital weapons, thus forcing the U.S. to design an extremely expensive space defense system.

At the moment, a space weaponization policy may generate more troubles than advantages for Washington.

WASHINGTON'S TURN TOWARD SPACE MILITARIZATION

The Pentagon's plans to militarize space have definitely emerged. In mid-May 2005, the U.S. Air Force formally asked President George W. Bush to issue a presidential directive that allows Washington to deploy defensive and offensive weapons into orbit. Formally, the new directive is necessary to replace a precedent decree (PDD-NSC-49 - National Space Policy) issued by the Clinton administration which forbids the indiscriminate militarization of space. While the decree has not yet been issued, speculations over the Pentagon's move already hit the news.

After the 2002 unilateral U.S. withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, worries were raised about Washington's possible start of such a program, for it could transform space into a new battlefield. The U.S. Air Force request, coupled with the April 2005 launch of the XSS-11 orbital micro-satellite, increased the concerns of observers and world powers. XSS-11 is in fact specifically designed to disturb other states' military/reconnaissance or communication satellites.

A discontinuance of U.S. traditional policy about the restricted (e.g. peaceful) use of space could engender a new arms race - which appears economically and technologically challenging and way beyond many states' reach.

GLOBAL STRIKE AND RODS FROM GOD

On the technological level, the Pentagon's planning is in the advanced stage: some projects - aimed at space weaponization - have already been in place for some time. Among the (partially known) Pentagon's new plans, the two most interesting projects are the "Global Strike" program and the "Rods from God" program. Global Strike involves the employment of military space planes capable of carrying about 500 kg (1100 lbs) of high-precision weapons (with a circular error probability less than 3 meters) with the primary use of striking enemy military bases and command and control facilities in any point of the world.

The main strength of military space planes is the ability to reach any spot on the globe within 45 minutes. This is a short period of time that could provide U.S. forces with a formidable quick reaction capability, as opposed to the enemy's subsequent inability to organize any effective defense. Such a weapon's primary target would be the enemy's strategic forces and - according to U.S. Air Force sources widely quoted in the press - the Pentagon is inclined to give priority to this project. One of the main reasons, these sources say, is that the Pentagon itself - after spending over US$100 billion - has finally admitted its failure to create an infallible earth-based anti-missile system to protect the American soil from ballistic strikes.

The U.S. Air Force often underscores the space plane's wide operational spectrum. In fact, its utilization encompasses that of a strategic weapon as well as that of its defensive uses of neutralizing nuclear missiles; it would have the ability to target and eliminate militant and terrorist leaders. The space plane could also be employed to suppress long-range air defenses, thanks to its high mobility, hyper-fast deployment and its immunity from the defenses of its opponents. Other uses could be envisaged in the Integrated Air Defense System, as well as surveillance tasks. Moreover, space planes could be easily deployed to support the U.S. Army's rapid reaction force and units of Marines during power projection operations and redeployment phases.

RODS FROM GOD

"Rods from God" is the evolution of a 1980s program. Basically, it consists of orbiting platforms stocked with metal tungsten rods around 6.1 meters long (20 feet) and 30 cm (one foot) in diameter that could be satellite-guided to targets anywhere on the earth within minutes, for the rods would move at over 11,000 km/hr (6,835 mph).

This weapon exploits kinetic energy to cause an explosion the same magnitude of that of an earth-penetrating nuclear weapon, but with no radioactive fall-out. The system would function due to two satellites, one of which would work as a communications platform, while the other would contain an arsenal of tungsten rods. Each of the satellites would be seven meters long (23 feet) and its diameter would be approximately 30 cm (one foot).

However, serious problems would arise if the Pentagon begins the operational phase - especially from a financial perspective. Some studies maintain that Rods from God could be fully operational in ten years. The targets of the rods would be much more restricted than those of Global Strike. Their main targets remains ballistic missiles stockpiled in hardened sites, or orbital devices and satellite systems deployed by other powers - according to the counter-space operation doctrine. Rods from God can, however, be employed to strike targets in desert areas - be they hardened sites or concentrated hostile forces.

Its devastating striking power does not allow such a weapon to be used for other missions, if unsustainable collateral damage is to be avoided.

Other projects - which often look like a revisited version of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative's (S.D.I.) programs - could also be undertaken, such as space mirrors satellites redirecting laser beams from earth against any orbit or surface target and satellites that send out radio waves with a high range in power and breadth.

PROBLEMS

The White House will face several problems if it wants to pursue the ambitious project of space militarization consisting of both offensive and defensive weapons.

The first point is the political issue. International reactions to U.S. plans have already appeared: Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov recently evoked an immediate reaction from Moscow, and serious consequences were threatened should an orbital weapon deployment be performed by Washington. Such a reaction could consist of a modified version of the SS-18 intercontinental ballistic missile, capable of putting into orbit a remarkable quantity of space vehicles - which could even carry military nukes, thus making the U.S. planned intercepting effort much more difficult.

It is easy to imagine that space weaponization - once in place - could be employed as well by U.S. rivals at any occasion, as these latter will develop mutual strategic ties just like China and Russia are doing in Central Asia.

The second problem is economic. Orbital weapons - as the Strategic Defense Initiative showed in the 1980s - are extremely expensive. It has been estimated that a space defense system against weak ballistic missile strikes could cost between US$220 billion and US$1 trillion. A laser-based system to be used against ballistic missiles would cost about US$100 million for each target.

For instance, the Future Imagery Architecture - a project aimed at the implementation of new spy satellites which are vital to identify targets for space weapons - has already reached a cost of US$25 billion. It is a legitimate question, therefore, of whether Washington really needs to finance such projects in today's geostrategic context. Moreover, would these tools be cost-effective in relation of their real operational capability? The first question raises doubts and the second one remains, at the moment, without answer. Henceforth, such initiatives resemble more and more Reagan's S.D.I.

THE THIRD FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM IS OF STRATEGIC NATURE.

The implications of space militarization are enormous, and its consequences can't be predicted. It is certain that - in the short term - U.S. financial and technological superiority would increase the already prominent gap in military power between Washington and the rest of the world. In addition, some of the new weapons could give the White House new effective tools to fight against symmetrical (states) and asymmetrical (terror networks) threats. However, in the long run, a military colonization of outer space could very well be started by other powers - which would hardly tolerate Washington's quasi-private use of space.

THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION DECIDED TO TAKE THE OPPOSITE ROUTE AND AVOIDED INTERNATIONAL SPACE MILITARIZATION, AS IT CONSIDERED A NEW FRONT USELESS BECAUSE OF THE U.S. MILITARY'S OVERWHELMING DOMINANCE ON LAND, SEA AND AIR.

Moreover, the orbital deployment of offensive weapons - even though unequivocally non-nuclear - can be perilous for various reasons. First of all, the U.S. is currently obligated not to deploy atomic or W.M.D. space weapons, as it signed the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. Even if Rods of God is not a nuclear weapon, its impact power is near the magnitude of a nuke. Hence, it is not certain that the international community will consider it a conventional weapon, and a violation of the treaty could, therefore, be claimed. As a consequence, an indiscriminate race to space weaponization could begin - involving the orbital deployment of W.M.D. and nuclear weapons. This latter scenario could result in a problem for the United States, a problem that its decision-makers in the 1960s strived to avoid at any cost.

Second, political consequences of a quasi-nuclear weapon should not be overlooked. If Rods of God will be used and other powers will perceive it as the equivalent of a nuclear strike, many states could change their perception of W.M.D. and nuclear weapons standards. A stark decrease in the traditional refrain from using nuclear bombs could then occur, thus changing the current strategy behind nuclear weapons: that of deterrence tools.

CONCLUSION

The road to space weaponization is hazardous. The current U.S. administration appears confident that it can handle the issue successfully. As usual, when a new category of weapons sees the light, it is not clear whether newcomers will suffer from perpetual disadvantage.

If other powers succeed in implementing low-cost orbital instruments that could endanger Washington's sophisticated space weapons, the U.S. could rapidly find itself in need of financing hyper-expensive programs designed to protect the country - a situation which could make the Pentagon regret having opened the space front to begin with."

[end article] - Url.:  http://globalsecuritynews.com/showArticle3.cfm?article_id=11818

SECRET SPACE WARPLANE & SPACE DRONES

In Iran, commentators seem to be convinved that not only something is rotten in the State of Denmark, but also in space, as Iranian PressTV writes: "US to launch secret 'space warplane' - Monday 19 Apr 2010 - The United States Air Force has announced that it will launch a secret space plane that has sparked speculation about the militarization of space.

The Pentagon has set April 21 as the date for the launch of the robotic space plane known as the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), which is a reusable unmanned plane capable of long outer space missions at low orbits.

Since the nature of the project is shrouded in mystery, defense analysts allege that the US military is building the first generation of US 'space Predator drones' that will build up the United States' space armada, the Christian Science Monitor wrote in a recent article.

Military experts argue that the US Department of Defense would not have saved NASA's costly X-37B project, which had been scrapped, if it did not have a military application.

They say the US wants to maintain a leading role in space via the development of the new 'space weapon' at a time when other countries like China are expanding their space programs."*

And people looking at this, are totally right of course. May I suggest that you study the links too. And make up your own mind?

You'll at least know more than ever, when the Space Pearl Harbor hits.


Henk Ruyssenaars

RELATED:

* Christian Science Monitor - "Air Force to launch X-37 space plane: Precursor to war in orbit?" - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/y4fa7o2

* Rumsfeld Space Commission - 'Space Pearl Harbor' - Url.:  http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Rumsfeld_Space_Commission

* Defense Magazine - "U.S. Air Force to Test X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle" - Url.:  http://defense-update.com/features/2010/april/x37b_21042010.html

* BUSH SIGNS AGAIN: 'US' NOW ALSO MEANS 'USURPING SPACE' - Url.:  http://www.apfn.net/Messageboard/10-20-06/discussion.cgi.35.html

* The so called 'Free Press' is Big Money. And we all understand that having 96% of the propaganda media, one controls the political landscape, as well as space-info. - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/dafucd

* Florida Today - April 22, 2010 - "Next-generation spaceship, X-37B, set for first launch." - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/2euxobf

* Kill-switch: Pulling the electronical plug on former 'allies' - Many programs which are used in computer systems in weapons, ships, planes, tanks, satellites etc. lately all get a build-in 'emergency brake'. Via GPS satellites in space, the command can be transmitted to anywhere on earth, to stop. And the computer systems just go 'dead'. - Url.:  http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/10/367206.shtml

* US MILITARIZES SPACE: GLOBAL STRIKE & MORE 'RODS FROM GOD' - Url.:  http://www.apfn.net/messageboard/08-19-05/discussion.cgi.70.html

* PressTV - Iran - US to launch secret 'space warplane' - US violates Outer Space Treaty 1967 - Url.:  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=123813§ionid=3510203

* Google search: Web Results for HR + "criminal cartel"- Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/24kvjz2

* Google search: Web Results 1 - 10 of about 3,500 for "NASA loses original videotape of first moon landing" - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/2crjr27

* NASA Moon Bombing Is Cause For Worry - By Ted Twietmeyer - Url.:  http://www.rense.com/general86/moonbomb.htm

* MOON ROCK AT MUSEUM IS A LUMP OF WOOD - The moon rock was said to be from the Apollo landing - August 28,2009 - MOON landings have always been questioned by conspiracy theorists. - Now an exhibit at the Rijksmuseum in Holland is adding fuel to the doubters’ argument." - More via Daily Express (UK) Google search at Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/28a5lhy

* FPF-COPYRIGHT NOTICE - In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107 - any copyrighted work in this message is distributed by the Foreign Press Foundation under fair use, without profit or payment, to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the information. Url.:  http://liimirror.warwick.ac.uk/uscode/17/107.html

* HR - Blog LiveJournal - Url.:  http://forpressfound.livejournal.com/

FOREIGN PRESS FOUNDATION
Editor : Henk Ruyssenaars
 http://tinyurl.com/amn3q
The Netherlands
 FPF@Chello.nl

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Tags: X-37B, U.S. Air Force, Cape Canaveral, space weapons, U.S. claims space


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