The U.S. accused the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of testing anti-satellite weapons in late February, after the CCP conducted its fifth land-based midcourse anti-flying missile test on the evening of Feb. 4 this year, which was in fact a demonstration of its anti-satellite weapon power. Although the Chinese Ministry of Defense claimed that the purpose of the test was to defensively test the interception of ballistic missiles and not to target any country, the test was not aimed at any country. However, this interceptor missile system has been determined by the U.S. to be equally capable of being used as an anti-satellite weapon.
Capable of destroying low-orbiting satellites
The term “land-based midcourse anti-fleet” means launching an interceptor from land to destroy an enemy ballistic missile mid-flight (generally outside the atmosphere). The advantage is that the defender has a long response and warning Time; the disadvantage is that the mid-range is the highest altitude and fastest segment of the ballistic missile flight, so it requires the interceptor to be equipped with a high thrust launch vehicle system. This also means that ballistic missile interceptors also have the ability to destroy low-orbiting satellites.
The line between mid-range ballistic missile interceptors and ASATs is therefore very narrow. The United States believes that the Chinese Communist Party’s ballistic missile defense system tests to date have in fact been a cover for ASAT testing. The land-based midcourse interceptor test is likely itself an extension of its Kinetic Energy series of ASAT tests, which themselves use boosters from the Dongfeng series of ballistic missiles, including the Dongfeng-11.
The Chinese military has publicly announced that China has conducted land-based anti-flying missile technology tests five times, four times on Jan. 11, 2010, Jan. 27, 2013, July 23, 2014 and Feb. 6, 2018. China’s self-developed Red Flag-19 anti-aircraft missile system was allegedly involved in the second and third anti-missile tests in 2013 and 2014. The U.S. State Department has accused China of conducting a mid-range anti-missile test in 2014, which was in fact an “anti-satellite test” and produced a large amount of dangerous satellite debris in space.
The “Red Flag-19” is known in U.S. intelligence circles as “CH-AB-X-02,” where the X indicates that the weapon is still being evaluated experimentally and is not operational. However, this naming convention also hints at the existence of another anti-fleet interceptor: CH-AB-01 or CH-AB-X-01, possibly the Shuangcheng-19 (SC-19) anti-satellite missile based on the Dongfeng-21 ballistic missile booster, which China first tested in 2007. The SC-19 was the first anti-satellite missile to be tested in 2007, when it destroyed the defunct meteorological satellite Fengyun-1C, which was located at an orbital altitude of 865 kilometers and weighed 750 kilograms.
Testing the secret service Red Flag-19
The U.S. Department of Defense believes that the fourth mid-range anti-missile test in 2018 used a “Kinetic Energy-3” type kinetic interceptor, which has both mid-range anti-missile and anti-satellite capabilities; and the fifth anti-missile test in early February this year, the U.S. and Chinese officials have not disclosed the type of munitions tested, but many experts believe that This time, the test was the “Red Flag-19” which has been officially and secretly put into service.
Recent Comments