It was a technological tour-de-force of the Ronald Reagan Administration when it was tested back in 1985, but did you know that the anti-satellite missile or ASAT is now 30 years old?
By: Ringo Bones
Back in 1985, a heavily modified F-15 Strike Eagle capable
of reaching over 100,000 feet successfully tested the ASM-135 anti-satellite
(ASAT) missile. It managed to destroy a P78-1 Solar Observatory Satellite in a
345-mile (555-Km.) orbit through sheer kinetic energy strike. The F-15 was
piloted by US Air Force Major Wilbert D. “Dough” Pearson. The successful test
of this Reagan Administration era technological tour-de-force inspired the
techno-thriller author Tom Clancy to write Red Storm Rising which featured a
similar anti-satellite weapons system. Thanks to the popularity of Tom Clancy’s
Red Storm Rising that through the rest of the 1980s, many Tom Clancy fans in
America and the rest of the world got the perception that the U.S. Air Force
pilot that tested the ASAT was a woman – in the name of Major Amelia “Buns”
Nakamura – as opposed to USAF Major Pearson.
Even though the program was officially terminated in 1988,
it took more than 20 years for another country beside the United States to
successfully test an anti-satellite or ASAT weapons system. Back in 2007,
Mainland China managed to develop a comparable high-altitude plane launched
anti-satellite weapons system by successfully downing one of its retired
satellites in orbit around the Earth. During Operation Desert Storm, there were
concerns by the pentagon that Saddam Hussein could use a modified Scud missile
capable of downing several of the United States’ Department of Defense’s Global
Positioning System satellites that could jeopardize the accuracy of hand-held
GPS units used by American forces poised to liberate Kuwait after the January
17, 1991 deadline. Given that so far, Mainland China is the only military power
that had developed its own ASAT weapons system, is the technology behind how it
works still out of reach of other world military powers?
It was back in September 13, 1985 that the F-15 Eagle - a highly modified version dubbed as the "Celestial Eagle" - piloted by U.S. Air Force Major Wilbert "Dough" Pearson successfully managed to shoot down the "retired" Solwind P78-1 satellite while the plane reached a cruising height of 38,100 feet. It was only in later tests that the ASM-135 anti satellite missile was launched from the Celestial Eagle while flying above 100,000 feet.
ReplyDeleteGiven that the ASM 135 Anti-Satellite Missile was successfully tested in 1985, it would be a no brainer if rising techno-thriller author Tom Clancy would not use it in his 1986 opus called Red Storm Rising.
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