Admiral James Ellis calls it: "a blow below the belt" - a quote from his words is translated by the site of science - further on in the news
Do the American satellites placed in the sky need protection against targeted attacks? The commander of the strategic forces of the United States, Admiral James Ellis, believes that it certainly is. This is what Dr. Noah Brosh reveals, at his station in Maariv.
At a conference on space issues held about a month ago in the United States, the admiral expressed grave concern about attempts by hostile forces to damage American satellites. According to him, it is time to "do something" to protect the sensitive celestial equipment. Ellis is apparently not completely paranoid: in his lecture he revealed that during the war in Iraq an attempt was made to block the satellite transmissions of the GPS system used to navigate smart bombs, which the Americans used a lot. In the age of modern wars, in which "smart weapons" are widely used, any damage to such a sophisticated system will significantly disrupt main moves.
Ellis warned about the satellite operators' inability to know if a spacecraft system is under attack or if the disruption in its operation is caused naturally. Apart from electronic jamming and jamming of the GPS system, Ellis described the possibility of "jamming" the operation of intelligence photography satellites. By the way, even during the Cold War there was talk of the Russian attempt to "blind" American spy satellites using a laser.
The admiral refrained from mentioning another type of attack, using "space interceptors". This is not science fiction - such a system was included in the "Star Wars" project of the Reagan administration. This is an aircraft that approaches the satellite and is able to hit it or blow it up from afar. It is estimated that the Americans already have robotic spacecraft that are able to approach satellites, photograph them closely or drop parts from them. This technology may also be used to save the Hubble Space Telescope, which urgently needs an "overall".
Admiral James Ellis's remarks in his speech before a special committee of the Sen
After reading this article by Dr. Brosh, we looked for and found the speech of James Ellis, shortly before he retired from office, to a special committee of the Senate. We have brought here one chapter from the document dealing with space from a strategic-military point of view.
Below is a quote from the official document:
“For official use only until released by the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The speech of Admiral James Ellis, JAMES O. ELLIS Commander of the US Strategic Forces before the Committee on National Security, Space Programs and Management as requested by the Department of Defense for the 2005 budget year."
March 25, 2004
Chapter number 5 - Space operations
At the Ministry of Defense, space is both a place where many tasks are combined and also enables the global operation of our forces. Our space assets collect and disseminate real-time data about nearly every point on Earth, as well as provide vital command and control capability to forces anywhere on the planet.
This is the reason why the strategic command decided to integrate space applications throughout the organization instead of treating them as a specific mission area.
The US's dependence on space and its potential vulnerability requires that our interests in the field of space defense be at the top of national security priorities.
Our focus includes:
1. Improving the American launch capability - new capabilities are required to enable the expansion, replacement or repair of satellites that are lost due to component failures or intentional sabotage by the enemy. The US Strategic Command is turning to the Air Force, NASA and our partners in the defense industry to provide more efficient launch systems - of the next generation.
2. Solving the problem of vulnerability in space - our campaign in Iraq demonstrated that the enemies are challenging and will try to challenge our ability to use space assets. The attempt to mask the Global Positioning System (GPS) and thereby reduce the accuracy of the guided weapon, would be a blow below the belt. The Ministry of Defense must have the ability to monitor the 'health' of essential systems, improve our awareness of everything that is happening in space, and react accordingly to preserve our capabilities in orbit. Under the leadership of the Department of Defense's Senior Agent for Space Affairs, Peter Teets, the Strategic Defense Command is fully engaged in evaluating and strengthening all components of our space systems.
3. Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) - infrared systems in space. The potential that exists in the development of SBIRS systems will be a major contributor to our ability in areas where there are regional or global missile threats, missile defense, technological intelligence and characterizations of the space war scene to support real-time war operations. As designed, the SBIRS systems will expand our ability to detect short-range missiles through systems designed for both tactical and strategic requirements. Once operational, the SBIRS systems will serve not only as a primary source of initial warning but also as the first link in a long chain of integrated missile warning systems. Adding a capability like SBIRS is essential to replacing legacy systems, at least some of which are still operational even though their intended lifespan has long passed.
4. Satellite Communications - Military satellite communications will remain our primary means of providing secure command and control capabilities for all our military operations around the world. During the past year, we launched the last satellite to complete the Military Communications Satellite System (DSCS), Milster as well as a constellation of satellites operating at extremely high frequencies. These systems have served us for decades and many of them have lived beyond their expected lifespan. As a result of the extension of the active life of the satellites, a massive replacement of modern satellites with a higher capability is now required in these programs that will maintain and even improve the launch capability of the next generation satellite systems, starting with the first broadband Gapfiller satellite to be launched in 2005 and continuing with the launch of the following Advanced Extremely satellites High Frequency (AEHF) and Mobile User Objective System (MUOS). The Gapfiller program includes five high-capacity satellites that will be launched between 2005 and 2010 and that will replace the DSCS and Global Broadcast Service systems and provide the Department of Defense with a higher capacity of wide range services movie.
