Pentagon: Chinese Military Units Training With ASAT missiles

 

China, Russia militarizing space to challenge U.S.

Chinese military forces have deployed multiple units armed with anti-satellite (ASAT) missiles that can destroy scores of American satellites, according to a Pentagon intelligence report.

The new report by the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, known as NASIC, revealed that People’s Liberation Army units have begun training with the satellite-killing missiles.

The report warns that China, along with Russia, has developed an array of space arms designed to challenge U.S. space superiority. The report was made public last month.

The Soviet Union fought the Cold War in Nicaragua. Now Putin’s Russia is back.

A view from the outside of the new Russian satellite station above a volcanic crater in Managua. Built alongside Laguna de Nejapa, on a hillside facing the U.S. Embassy, the base is intended to be a tracking site for GLONASS, Russia’s version of a GPS satellite navigation system. Some suspect the site could also be used for spying activities. (Joshua Partlow/The Washington Post)

 

MANAGUA, NICARAGUA — On the rim of a volcano with a clear view of the U.S. Embassy, landscapers are applying the final touches to a mysterious new Russian compound.

Behind the concrete walls and barbed wire, a visitor can see red-and-blue buildings, manicured lawns, antennas and globe-shaped devices. The Nicaraguan government says it’s simply a tracking site of the Russian version of a GPS satellite system. But is it also an intelligence base intended to surveil the Americans?

“I have no idea,” said a woman who works for the Nicaraguan telecom agency stationed at the site. “They are Russian, and they speak Russian, and they carry around Russian apparatuses.”

Europe’s Newly Launched Satellite Navigation System is Precise down to a few Centimeters

A major part of the European Army’s military infrastructure is now up and running, and is maybe already being tested by spying on Israeli settlements.

For further information, see the following previous posts:

The EU’s Covert Military Satellite Program

Europe Launches Key Galileo Satellites

 

We tend to use “GPS” the way we use “Kleenex” or “Band-Aid”—as a brand name substitute for the generic “satellite navigation system.” But the Global Positioning System is actually quite specific: It’s a constellation of 27 satellites and a global network of control facilities on the ground developed and operated by the Defense Department.

There are other sat-nav systems, though, and since 2011, most sat-nav consumer devices, including Apple’s and Samsung’s, have receivers for both the U.S. GPS and Russia’s Global Navigation Satellite System, or GLONASS—a 24-satellite network operated by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. (There are other regional systems, like the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System and China’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System; but GPS and GLONASS are the only fully global networks.)

Moscow Building Spy Site in Nicaragua

If you think a Russian presence in Nicaragua is new, you might be in store for a shock. The Soviet-Nicaraguan runs decades long, even before the Cold War.

The Russians actually have built and kept airfields there maintained. They’re large enough to support heavy strategic bombers. These are also decades old, but were built with future use in mind. They also wanted (and likely still want) to build a deep water port there. Nicaragua will be used as a staging ground for a Soviet invasion from an almost undefended Southern United States. This is a strategic spot not only for bombings from America’s south, but also a means to control the strategic sea gate(s) in Panama.

This is likely more than a spy station that they want now, as a spy station is unsettling, but less unsettling than announcing plans for a strategic attack launching area in the open. Either way, it just shows you that Nicaragua was communist and still remains communist, and that the decade old plans for both against the West never died.

Here are three sources on this, one of which is from a Ronald Reagan address to the nation:

Address to the Nation on the Situation in Nicaragua – March 16, 1986

Russia reality check: Red invasion from Nicaragua

Red Dawn Alert: Russia, Nicaragua to reactivate Punta Huete; Soviets built strategic bomber-capable runway in 1987, MiG-21s expected but never arrived

 

Signals intelligence facility part of deal for 50 Russian tanks

The Russian government is building an electronic intelligence-gathering facility in Nicaragua as part of Moscow’s efforts to increase military and intelligence activities in the Western Hemisphere.

The signals intelligence site is part of a recent deal between Moscow and Managua involving the sale of 50 T-72 Russian tanks, said defense officials familiar with reports of the arrangement.

There’s No Backup System if GPS Fails

This should be troubling to anyone paying attention to anything else other than their favorite sports team. Reason being: The GPS infrastructure is already out-dated and crumbling as we speak. The system used to to guide troop movements, assist with logistics support and situational awareness, guide missiles and bombs, and synchronize communications networks is due to collapse by 2020 if nothing is done about it. Without it, America would face a choice: Be crippled for years until a backup system takes place, or become dependent on Russia’s GLONASS system, or even China’s BeiDou navigation satellite system. If this seems far fetched, ask those in NASA who have to hitch rides on Russian rockets to reach space nowadays at a very high cost — or those in the satellite launching industry who rely on Russian rockets because America doesn’t supply them anymore.

 

In only took 13 millionths of a second to cause a whole lot of problems.

Last January, as the U.S. Air Force was taking one satellite in the country’s constellation of GPS satellites offline, an incorrect time was accidentally uploaded to several others, making them out of sync by less time than it takes for the sound of a gunshot to leave the chamber.

The minute error disrupted GPS-dependent timing equipment around the world for more than 12 hours. While the problem went unnoticed by many people thanks to short-term backup systems, panicked engineers in Europe called equipment makers to help resolve things before global telecommunications networks began to fail. In parts of the U.S and Canada, police, fire and EMS radio equipment stopped functioning. BBC digital radio was out for two days in many areas, and the anomaly was even detected in electrical power grids.

Russia, China develop navigation system draft for SCO, BRICS

Russia kicked GPS out of its country back in June of 2014, while BeiDou was first introduced in late 2012. Meanwhile, the aging U.S. GPS is on the verge of collapse.

A new world without the U.S. continues to form.

 

Russian and Chinese experts have developed a draft project to create a global international navigation system based on China’s BeiDou and Russia’s GLONASS satellite navigation for the member states of BRICS group and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Russian Space Systems company said in a statement on Tuesday.

Glonass system can fully switch to domestic electronics in 2 years

The Russian Glonass global navigation system will fully switch to domestically-produced electronic components in the next two years, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Thursday.

The Urgency of Modernizing Satellite Control Infrastructure

Moreover, the GPS system that the American military and society in the United States relies upon, is also nearing its expiration date and risks complete collapse. Meanwhile, China and Russia are deploying their own advanced GPS-like systems, BeiDou Navigation Satellite System and GLONASS, respectively. America’s GPS infrastructure was banned from Russian territory on June 1st of 2014. Europe has also created its own GPS-like system, Galileo, which like the previous has both commercial and military use.

If you haven’t noticed yet, there is a new inevitable chapter in world history that is post-America being opened up — and it is right around the corner. We’re talking from months (maybe even weeks) to two or three years away. Whether America itself as we know it will survive the transition to see it remains to be seen. For the most part, at this moment, its adversaries and so-called allies are making moves that want a world without America.

 

The satellite infrastructure that the DoD relies on for operational awareness is inefficient and is badly in need of modernization. The status quo isn’t acceptable, and changes must begin now.

Those aren’t my words, although I agree with them strongly. It’s the message contained in a memorandum dated July 29th sent by General John Hyten, Commander of the U.S. Air Force Space Command, to senior subordinates. As reported in this recent story from Space News, emerging threats from other powers and budget constraints are prompting the DoD to leverage commercial efficiencies and to adopt a common ground infrastructure.

Stealth Ability Neutralized! Russia’s T-50 Jetfighter to Rule the Skies

 

An active defense system developed for Russia’s fifth-generation T-50 jetfighter is also able to neutralize enemy planes’ stealth capability, RIA Novosti reported Friday, citing the press service of the Himalaya system’s designers, the Radioelectronic Technologies Concern [KRET].

The Sukhoi PAK FA fighter jet, also known as T-50, is ready to go into production next year, and boasts innovative technology which renders the pilot one part of the plane’s control system.

“The PAK FA is already to some degree a flying robot, where the aviator fulfils the function not only of pilot, but is actually one of the constituent parts of the flying apparatus,” explained Vladimir Mikheyev, deputy head of KRET, which is a unit of Rostech Corporation.

China-Russia team challenges US-Japan militarization of space

President Xi Jinping of China said in April that China is capable of responding to the militarization of space by the United States and other countries. In the meantime, Xi is committed to allocating more budget so that the military has the power to counter threats posed by various space deployments.

…

Russia and China have signed a memorandum of understanding to work together in the area of satellite navigation. The countries plan to build the GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System) and Beidou Navigation Satellite System in each other’s territory.

Russia to ‘restrict’ US-run GPS satellites

Not only are they going to kick the US satellite system out, they will build their own on American soil.

Russian authorities have “implemented measures” to restrict the use of satellite bases in its territories that serve the US-owned GPS network.

The country’s space agency said it would rule out “any military use” of the ground-based stations.

The move comes amid Russian attempts to build a US base for its GPS rival, the navigation system Glonass, which have been blocked by the US government.

No more US GPS stations in Russia from June 1 – Russian vice premier

Russia will suspend the work carrid [sic] out by US GPS stations sited within its borders if no agreement is reached to set up GLONASS ground stations in the US, said Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin to the press.

“We are suspending the work of these stations on Russian territory starting from June 1,” he said as reported by Interfax. Rogozin said that American stations were deployed in Russia in line with agreements signed in 1993 and 2011.

“In accordance with these agreements, eleven GPS stations are located in ten Russian regions,” he said.

Russia to ban US from using Space Station over Ukraine sanctions

What was once an ill-conceived plan to save money via budget reductions had left America reliant upon the Soviets, and now the true cost is being paid.

Russia is to deny the US future use of the International Space Station beyond 2020 and will also bar its rocket engines from launching US military satellites as it hits back at American sanctions imposed over Ukraine crisis.

Russia’s deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin announced a series of punitive measures on Tuesday against the US in response to sanctions imposed after Russia annexed Crimea.

U.S. Considers Russian Request to Install Satellite Monitoring Stations

The only thing more alarming than Russia wanting to install monitoring stations within the United States itself is that the U.S. government is actually allowing for it to be considered.

If history has told us anything during the Obama administration’s second term in regards to big changes, is that this has a good chance of being allowed via executive order, effectively bypassing congress and the constitution itself. They’re letting the lion into the sheep den.

The Obama administration continues to review Russian proposals to install up to six monitoring stations on U.S. territory for its satellite navigation system, despite strong opposition in Congress.

In May 2012, Russia made a formal request to install base stations in the United States to monitor its Global Navigation Satellite System, or GLONASS.  Kenneth D. Hodgkins, director of the State Department’s  Office of Space and Advanced Technology, told a space navigation and timing advisory board meeting last Thursday that “U.S. officials have requested more information through discussions led by State in coordination with executive branch departments and agencies.”

Indian advance in space

Everybody is advancing, just not the United States.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013 – On July 1, 2013 Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS) received another boost by the launch of a geostationary satellite. Though the rocket has a presumable reach of 6000 km but this apparently peaceful advancement in space has military potential. For instance, it is a step towards India’s gradually building anti-ballistic missile defense shield and enhancement of its reconnaissance potential. One wonders if this potential militarization of space will ultimately lead to weaponisation and compel New Delhi’s current and future adversaries to respond in letter and in spirit.

These satellites carry peaceful payloads and can also carry weapons of mass destruction. For instance, satellites delivery systems help place in the outer space navigation solutions like the American Global Positioning System, Russian GLONASS and Chinese Beidou. Likewise, if nuclear weapon warhead is emplaced on the rocket, it can take the living daylights out of the civilizations.