China's space hit spurs missile-defense debate

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China's use of a ground-based missile to destroy a satellite last month should spur debate about putting U.S. interceptor missiles in space, the head of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency said Monday.

"We think it's prudent ... especially in light of the Chinese (anti-satellite) activities ... to inform that debate" starting now, Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry Obering said in an interview with Reuters.

Obering discounted critics' fears about possible use of space-based interceptors to thwart a warhead fired at the United States. He said debris would be a lesser concern than defending against a nuclear-tipped missile.

"I think there's a lot of weeping and gnashing of the teeth about weaponization of space," he said.

President George W. Bush sent Congress a fiscal 2008 budget on Monday seeking an initial $10 million for studies on what could be the first space-based interceptor missiles despite opposition from China, Russia and many others.

If approved, it would mark Bush's first outlay for potential multibillion-dollar missile-defense capabilities in space other than for tracking and surveillance.

It also would be a step toward the bulwark proposed in 1983 by then-President Ronald Reagan when he called for a "strategic defense initiative" commonly known as "Star Wars."

Obering, head of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, said the United States would be investing in a "good experimental foundation" designed to answer questions about adding a space-based leg to the existing anti-missile defenses based at sea and on the ground.

Another concern was any Chinese transfer of anti-satellite know-how, he said.

Obering brushed off critics' suggestion that China, in using a ground-based ballistic missile to destroy one of its aging weather satellites on January 11, was reacting to U.S. missile-defense moves.

"I don't buy that," he said. "This is something that they've had in work for longer than we've been deploying missile defense capabilities."

The Chinese satellite knockout was the first successful demonstration of an anti-satellite weapon since the United States destroyed a satellite of its own using a missile launched

from an F-15A fighter in 1985.

The $10 million request for fiscal 2008, which begins on October 1, was slashed from $45 million that had been projected last year because of budget constraints, Obering said. It would grow to $15 million in 2009, he said, mostly for analysis, models, simulation and preparations that could lead to bids from defense contractors.

Work on a so-called "testbed" for space-based interceptors likely would go largely to contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing Co., Northrop Grumman Corp. and Raytheon Co.

Obering said the fledgling U.S. anti-missile defense could be adjusted if necessary to cope with a rising China.

Overall, Bush asked Congress for $8.9 billion in fiscal 2008 for the Missile Defense Agency, down $500 million from last year, because of belt-tightening. In addition, the U.S. Army is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on Lockheed/Raytheon Patriot Advanced Capability PAC-3 antimissile batteries.