Czech Poland Radar Missile? BULL! Space War! SECRET Weapons!!

The Clinton administration offered financial assistance in completing the Mishelevka facility in exchange for amending the ABM treaty to allow US deployment of a national missile defense system www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/mishelevka.htm

Putin and his military strategists have been nursing a major grudge against the Bush administration for the way it announced, without any prior consultation with Moscow, the installation of anti-ballistic defenses coupled with over-the-horizon radar in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Those who comment without knowing the true nature of the US's over the horizon radar system, are commenting blissfully ignorant of the situation.

I'm not going to describe how it works or the frequencies the 2nd antenna can produce because most of you would discard me out of hand. But the Russian know and they are very upset, more with the radar system than the interceptors.

I will tell you a couple of things though.
1.- It has terrestrial offensive capabilities.
2.- The directing antenna apart from using the ionosphere as the mirror with additional power can be used as an anti satellite device by pushing large parts of the ionosphere higher to cause friction with low orbiting spy satellites.
3.- The additional power required can be sourced remotely.

Weapons development didn't stop in the 50's -- wake up.

Ray Bay, Glennallen Alaska, USA

(Ray, please tell us more details.. give us web-links!, post a comment, RIGHT HERE (comments to THIS VERY article here)

The US-led effort to expand the military BMEWS (ballistic missile early warning radar system) to Poland and the Czech Republic provoke Russian military strategists. Putin has proposed using their already operative radar base in Azerbajian (See “Azeri radar eyed for US shield”, BBC) in exchange for information from the US system. The US/NATO proposed TMD (theater missile defense) will also integrate early warning systems for short-range missiles in southern Europe. Is the race for space awareness and the weaponization of space inevitable?

The justification for the missile shield is the potential threat of long range missiles from Iran and North Korea (See “N-Korea test fires missile”, BBC). Military experts predict that with the current progress of nuclear research and missile technology available to Iran they will pose a threat to the US in 2015. NATO and Russia co-operate in certain military matters through the Russia-Nato Council but has increasingly been in conflict over the Iranian nuclear program and the European missile shield. (See “Russia-NATO: A marriage of convenience”, RIA Novosti). Russia has also demonstrated the ineffectiveness of the missile shield by launching their RS-24 multiple missile system carrying 10 warheads (See “RS-24 Missiles to replace old systems within next few years”, Interfax).

Terrestrial radars need to be complemented by satellites to keep track of missile launches across the planet (so called “boost phase interceptors”, see “Missile defense, satellites and politics“, The Space Review) to ensure complete space awareness. The Chinese Space Agency tested an anti-satellite missile earlier this year (See “Pentagon says China’s anti-satellite test posed a threat to nations”, AP). The move towards a hot space war could be imminent. The official press release was the only information given from Chinese authorities. The secrecy surrounding space capabilities was recently challenged by French authorities when they discovered 20-30 unregistered US surveillance satellites. (See “French says ‘non’ to U.S. Disclosure of Secret Satellites”, Space.com).

The race for the control of space is threatening to destabilize established military power structures. Secrecy is not the way of solving imbalances in international relations. Space is a part of the “commons” and should be dealt with accordingly. I propose an open source approach to the space awareness problematique. There are several approaches to distributed space awareness, e.g. launching private satellites for surveillance and distribution of real-time satellite imagery in order to counter a military space race. The alternative is a UN led control organization like the IAEA.

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BROYE-LES-PESMES, France - A French space-surveillance radar has detected 20-30 satellites in low Earth orbit that do not figure in the U.S. Defense Department's published catalogue, a discovery that French officials say they will use to pressure U.S. authorities to stop publishing the whereabouts of French reconnaissance and military communications satellites.

After 16 months of operations of their Graves radar system, which can locate satellites in orbits up to 1,000 kilometers in altitude and even higher in certain cases, the French Defense Ministry says it has gathered just about enough information to negotiate an agreement with the United States.

The U.S. Defense Department's Space Surveillance Network is the world's gold standard for cataloguing satellites and debris in both low Earth orbit and the higher geostationary orbit at 36,000 kilometers in altitude, where telecommunications satellites operate.

Data from the U.S. network of ground-based sensors is regularly published and used worldwide by those tracking satellite and space-debris trajectories. The published U.S. information excludes sensitive U.S. defense satellites, but regularly publishes data on the orbits of other nations' military hardware.

In a series of presentations here at the site of the French Graves radar facility, French defense officials said they are gathering data on classified satellites in low Earth orbit as part of a future European space-surveillance program that European Space Agency governments will be asked to approve in 2008. This program, with a cost of some 300 million euros ($405 million), would feature higher-performance radars to track space debris in low orbit and in geostationary orbit.

This new space surveillance program may or may not be approved by European governments. But the Graves radar, and a complementary system operated by the German government, together already are enough to pinpoint the location, size, orbit and transmissions frequencies of satellites that the United States would prefer not be broadcast worldwide, French officials said.

"We have discussed the Graves results with our American colleagues and highlighted the discrepancies between what we have found and what is published by the U.S. Space Surveillance Network," said one French defense official responsible for the Graves operation. "They told us, 'If we have not published it in our catalogue, then it does not exist.' So I guess we have been tracking objects that do not exist. I can tell you that some of these non-existent objects have solar arrays."

Col. Yves Blin, deputy head of the space division at the French joint defense staff, said France would wait until it had acquired, with the help of the German radar, further information about the 20 to 30 secret satellites in question before beginning serious negotiations with the United States on a common approach for publishing satellite orbit information.

"Right now we do not have enough cards in our hand to begin negotiatons," Blin said here at the Graves radar transmitter site June 7. "We need more time to be sure of what we are seeing. At that point we can tell our American friends, 'We have seen some things that you might wish to keep out of the public domain. We will agree to do this if you agree to stop publishing the location of our sensitive satellites."

Azeri radar eyed for US shield

By Matthew Collin BBC News, Qabala, Azerbaijan

The new role would require a big revamp at Qabala

Standing beneath the dramatic Caucasus mountain range in northern Azerbaijan, the Qabala radar station is a stark concrete block which dominates the rural landscape.

This former Soviet installation is now at the centre of discussions between Moscow and Washington.

Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested it could be used for a joint missile defence project as an alternative to the United States' plan to build a missile shield in Europe to guard against attacks from what it describes as "rogue states". The US sees Iran - bordering on Azerbaijan - as a potential threat.

Qabala is an integral part of Russia's defence system, leased from the Azeri government and used since the 1980s for monitoring missile launches, with an estimated range of 6,000 kilometres (3,720 miles).

It provides work for hundreds of Azeris, as well as the many Russians who are based here. It remains top-secret, and is protected by checkpoints and electrified fences.

Health fears

Some people in nearby villages were wary of discussing the radar station openly. But others expressed fears that it was emitting harmful radiation.

"This station is very dangerous, it badly affects people's health," Sabir, a retired farmer, told the BBC.

"Plants are dying, vegetables do not grow, and lots of women and children have health problems."

There was also scepticism about any possible US involvement in the radar station, which once tracked American military activity.

"I do not think the Americans will bring anything good here," said Mustafa, a local teacher. "They haven't ever done anything for Azerbaijan and they only act in their own interests."

President Putin's proposal came as a surprise in Azerbaijan, as it did in the West. But Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev responded positively, saying it would serve the country's "long-term strategic interests".

Technical doubts

Azerbaijan is an oil-rich former Soviet republic which has grown in importance since it began supplying energy to Western markets through new trans-Caucasus pipelines.

How defence system works

President Bush has described Mr Putin's idea as 'interesting", and it will be discussed when the two leaders meet in July.

But the Russian military analyst Alexander Goltz suspects that Mr Putin's offer was simply a political ploy to upset US plans, and questions whether using the Azeri installation would be technically viable.

"If you take this seriously, Qabala at least needs to be modernised because it has a totally different purpose at the moment. It cannot guide interceptor missiles," Mr Goltz told the BBC.

"The question is whether the US will agree to use Qabala to show it has a close partnership with Russia. It's about political strategy, not military strategy."

Concerns have also been raised that the proposed missile defence project could damage Azerbaijan's relations with neighbouring Iran. The US believes Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons.

An Iranian foreign ministry spokesman has warned that US involvement at Qabala could cause "instability and insecurity" in the region.