Free TECHNOIR by John Lasker Page A

high-ranking CEO saying missile defense is an “embedded core element of the US military” and is here to stay.
                On the flipside, peace activists such as Bruce Gagnon say if US missile defense continues as is, war in and from Earth’s orbits is on (and above) the horizon. Want more evidence the US will someday weaponize the heavens? The Obama administration has called for a “new missile defense architecture” – one that calls for a greater emphasis on “space-engagement intercept layer.” As they say, promises are meant to be broken.
     
                Here are several major missile defense programs some arms analysts and peace activists say could someday be “dual use” and thus space weapons. The following is used with permission from the Center for Defense Information and The World Policy Institute-Arms Trade Resource Center .
     
    •            The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) is a mobile-unit – an oversized truck actually – with launchers on its back end.  THAAD fires “interceptors” into space that can destroy ballistic missiles, as well as atmospheric targets such as SCUDs. The interceptor has no munitions, and simply strikes a target with kinetic energy. The interceptor is roughly 6-meters long and about 8-inches wide and weighs over 1,200 pounds. Its rocket booster is 4-meters long and it’s “kill vehicle” – at the top of interceptor – is about 2-meters long. At the tip of the kill vehicle is an infrared sensor and within its shell is a navigational system. The THAAD’s kill vehicle could be described as a huge spike that can fly at 15,000 mph, with a range of 200 km and height of 150 km. In essence, kinetic energy that is most lethal. Lockheed Martin is THAAD’s main civilian contractor and it is scheduled for deployment in 2009.
    •            For the Navy and the Missile Defense Agency, the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system is their sea-based missile defense. Some space weapons experts call the Aegis-equipped USS Lake Eris mankind’s first space battleship. The Aegis, as described by MissileThreat.com: “At the heart of Aegis is the AN/SPY-1 radar system. AN/SPY-1 sends out beams of electromagnetic energy in all directions, thus allowing Aegis ships to track up to 100 targets simultaneously, while still retaining the ability to counter other air, surface, and submarine threats. AN/SPY-1 will be able to detect ballistic missiles as they rise above the horizon.” Like THAAD, the Aegis fires an interceptor, but from a launch pad system, not a silo system. The Aegis interceptor – the SM-3 – is also different in that it has a three-stage booster with its kill vehicle. GlobalSecurity.org states the SM-3 has produced an impact during testing calculated at 125 megajoules. “Equivalent to the force released when a ten ton truck traveling at 600 miles per hour hits a wall.”
    •          The Air Force and the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) are close to developing “microsatellites”. Two of these have already been tested in space. There’s the XSS-11 , which is no larger than the fridge in your kitchen. The Air Force claims it can dock with malfunctioning US satellites and make repairs. How about approaching enemy satellites and sabotaging them? DARPA is currently developing a robotic arm for the XSS-11, called the FREND, or the Front-end Robotics Enabling Near-term Demonstration. Theoretically, the FREND could blind enemy satellites by applying some type of eye-patch on cameras. The FREND also might someday pick a satellite apart and let it drift like a jigsaw puzzle forever and ever. The other well-known microsatellite is the NFIRE , which is also run by the MDA. The NFIRE is said to be able to track a ballistic missile by the heat of its rocket’s plume and was designed to be “fitted” with a missile-like kill vehicle. NFIRE was launched into space in 2007 – but without the planned kill