China has taken another step towards challenging US supremacy in the space race after successfully testing a “non-destructive” anti-satellite missile on July 23, reports the Chinese-language website of the Voice of Russia, the Russian government’s international radio broadcasting service.
According to China’s official Xinhua news agency, the country’s Ministry of National Defense announced a successful missile intercept test that “achieved the preset goal,” which sources from the US State Department confirmed with “high confidence” was an anti-satellite missile that aims to destroy targets through impact and does not cause an explosion.
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Since taking office last year, Chinese president Xi Jinping has reportedly asked his nation’s air force to hasten its integration of air and space capabilities. During a visit to PLA Air Force headquarters in April, Xi promised the development of a “new-type combat force” that can deal with air and space emergencies “swiftly and effectively.”
Last week’s anti-satellite missile test was the second in Xi’s term, having already launched a Chinese rocket as part of a test of an anti-satellite system in May last year. In January 2007, China deliberately destroyed one of its defunct weather satellites using a ground-based, medium-range ballistic missile, an act that was widely condemned by the international community as it left a cloud of potentially hazardous debris in a heavily used belt of Earth’s orbit.
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China is developing various weapons that can destroy or blind satellites in a variety of ways, including micro-satellites, satellites that can surround enemy satellites, Evseev said, adding that Beijing appears to be preparing for a space war with multiple possibilities.
Full article: Beijing tests anti-satellite missile: Voice of Russia (Want China Times)
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