posted
Though a post that isn't filled with some sort of political axe-grinding is unheard of and unwelcome, I know, I think it should be pointed out that the U.S. already has a vehicle whose design specifications included its possible use as a thing to blow other things up with.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Ah, but the Commies almost sort have one too. And they're probably selling the plans to Iran, so, hey, we need the bombs.
Registered: Oct 1999
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posted
Yes! Now I need to do is be the top dog at my Marine Flight school and get transfered over to NASA! hehehehehe... Protecting the friendly skys world wide!
-------------------- "That's the problem with nature. Something is always stinging you or oozing mucous on you. lets go watch tv." - Calvin & Hobbes
Registered: Nov 2001
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Richard Fisher, a senior Fellow with the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, D.C., said that China's unmanned satellite program is "accelerating in an upward direction, rather quickly."
That acceleration, Fisher said, has ominous portent.
"They are preparing for a post-2005 conflict time frame. I think by 2005, or soon thereafter, an initial photo and radar satellite constellation will be in place. It will be sophisticated and large, and sufficient for Chinese needs to support a military campaign over Taiwan," he said.
Fisher said that China's piloted Shenzhou can be expected to contribute imaging or other reconnaissance data to the country's People's Liberation Army (PLA) in some form. "It will not be a purely science for science-sake undertaking," he said.
"Their manned space program is, first and foremost, a political exercise for the communist leadership," said "It is an exercise designed to prove the continuing worth of the communist government to the Chinese people," he said.
American reliance on space continues to grow, a fact not missed by China, Fisher said. In the PLA there is a very clear realization that space control, in the American sense, is something that they require as well, he said.
"China needs to be able to deny to the United States access and use of space, as they themselves exploit space to support their own forces," Fisher said.
To this end, Fisher said that researchers in China are busy at work on high-energy lasers to dazzle U.S. satellites. Another part of that nation's space arsenal are nanosatellites, tiny craft that can be used as anti-satellite weaponry. Furthermore, the Chinese have a small aircraft-shaped space shuttle, a vehicle easily modified to carry missiles sufficient for satellite interception, he said.
And before someone tells you that the Jamestown Foundation is one of those 'right wing wacko groups,' here's their page on China, so you can check for yourself: http://china.jamestown.org/pub-brief.htm
[ May 15, 2002, 17:54: Message edited by: First of Two ]
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
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The fact that they'll hit the USSR circa 1965 in 5 years time is hardly cause for alarm.
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote: "Their manned space program is, first and foremost, a political exercise for the communist leadership," said "It is an exercise designed to prove the continuing worth of the communist government to the Chinese people," he said.
Wasn't the American space programme first and foremost a political exercise for the capitalist leadership, it was an excercise designed to prove the continuing worth of the capitalist government to the American people?
quote:To this end, Fisher said that researchers in China are busy at work on high-energy lasers to dazzle U.S. satellites.
Yes and we all know how well this concept worked for the US what is it 20 years and you still don't have a working unit.
quote:Fisher said that China's piloted Shenzhou can be expected to contribute imaging or other reconnaissance data to the country's People's Liberation Army (PLA) in some form. "It will not be a purely science for science-sake undertaking," he said.
Oh no they are going to watch you like you watch them.
quote:"They are preparing for a post-2005 conflict time frame. I think by 2005, or soon thereafter, an initial photo and radar satellite constellation will be in place. It will be sophisticated and large, and sufficient for Chinese needs to support a military campaign over Taiwan," he said.
They need a satellite to see a country 270 km away? Why don't they just get black market US gps sytems?
I can only conclude that you need a space bomber thingy to take care of this.
[ May 15, 2002, 18:32: Message edited by: Grokca ]
-------------------- "and none of your usual boobery." M. Burns
Registered: Oct 2001
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quote: Space War III began on September 11 with a direct assault on the Pentagon. That tactic made sense; with the ominous exception of Saddam Hussein's Scud missiles, terrorism is the only thing that seems to dent the US military. Terror bombs have killed more American soldiers than has combat in Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan combined. It's not that terror bombs make good weapons. They don't. It's just that space-based communication, surveillance warning, navigation, and weather watching make every other mode of attack obsolete. The rest of the world suffers a massive satellite gap with the US, and it's widening every day.
posted
Wasn't Space War III a crappy game on the SNES?
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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-------------------- "I am an almost extinct breed, an old-fashioned gentleman, which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-bitch when it suits me." --Jubal Harshaw
Registered: Feb 2002
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quote:And there's also the accusations that the USSR did cause 'artificial' famines. For instance, it is said that during the Ukranian famine, the USSR was exporting grain while around 7 million of its own people starved.
So. . . you hold up the USSR's history as the reason why no government should ever intervene to feed its people, then brush aside counter-claims that they weren't actually, physically, able to, by stating that in fact the USSR didn't actually try to stop its citizens from starving? Back to square one then.
posted
Honing my diversionary skills... When speaking of the Yellow Threat, Wraith mentioned the Chinese don't have any carriers. From a point of view, they do. They have been in the business of buying carriers for a long time - beginning with the old HMAS Melbourne, then moving on to the Minsk and now the Varyag (or whatever he was last named before being stricken from Ukrainan naval strength). They even tried buying the Clemenceau from the French.
Admittedly, all these ships have been bought as scrap, and in practice aren't operational. But they are nice study material if you want to learn how to build an operational carrier.
Which reminds me of my favorite naval tall tale: the Indian carrier Vikrant, which was actually two ships. First purchased as the ex-HMS Hercules, the ship was rumoredly clandestinely swapped at sea with the ex-HMCS Bonaventure when the latter was sent to Japan for scrapping. It seems the Vikrant was the ship that actually ended up being scrapped, while the somewhat more modern Bonaventure went to active service in the Indian navy under the name Vikrant... All official documentation denies this, but the ship that was cut to pieces in Japan did look more like the Hercules than the Bonaventure.
If you can smuggle a friggin' *aircraft carrier* without anybody noticing this for years, I guess it's pretty hopeless to try and ban any military technology of smaller dimensions... For all we know, China could have a huge ex-Russian SSBN fleet or something.
posted
Actually, I did mention the old Soviet one, but your point stands. I think the Russians might notice if their SSBNs went missing though. What am I talking about? Of course they wouldn't.
-------------------- "I am an almost extinct breed, an old-fashioned gentleman, which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-bitch when it suits me." --Jubal Harshaw
Registered: Feb 2002
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quote:So. . . you hold up the USSR's history as the reason why no government should ever intervene to feed its people, then brush aside counter-claims that they weren't actually, physically, able to, by stating that in fact the USSR didn't actually try to stop its citizens from starving? Back to square one then.
Not exactly. I hold up the USSR's history to show that a government with the power to do such things may not necessarily CARE to do such things, and that if the government has all that power for themselves, there is little other recourse for the people who MIGHT do such things.
Man, If _I_ control all the means of production, transportation, and distribution, and I say 'ah, hell, I don't care, let Voggy starve...' you're dead, dude.
All the power should never be in the hands of a single organization... even if it's a Conservative one.
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
That implies you've stopped running for Supreme Dictator.
Right?
[ May 28, 2002, 15:39: Message edited by: Cartman ]
-------------------- ".mirrorS arE morE fuN thaN televisioN" - TEH PNIK FLAMIGNO
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
I'm not an organization (as anybody whose seen my apartment could tell you, organization and I are incompatible), I'm a person. And a vastly superior one, at that.
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
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