China could soon test a new anti-satellite weapon that could pose a threat to Taiwan’s defense capabilities, a US media report said.
According to US intelligence sources, the Dong Ning-2 anti-satellite missile — potentially able to destroy satellites in high-Earth or geosynchronous orbit — will be ready for testing next month.
If it proves successful, the missile could knock out the US satellites that would provide early warning of an attack on Taiwan and other satellites used to conduct defense operations.
The Washington Free Beacon, a politically conservative Web site, reported on Tuesday that tests were being delayed “to avoid upsetting” US President Barack Obama’s re-election bid.
“China’s delay in conducting the test until after the Nov. 6 election is a sign Beijing wants to help Obama’s re-election campaign — it means they’d rather have him re-elected,” a US official familiar with the intelligence reports was quoted as saying.
Intelligence and military sources reached by the Taipei Times on Tuesday refused to confirm or deny the reported anti-satellite development.
“The missile is described by intelligence agencies as a high-earth orbit interceptor designed to destroy satellites by ramming them at high speeds,” the report said.
China has been building an anti-satellite capability for more than 10 years, but testing a high-earth orbit anti-satellite missile would represent a “major advance.”
Military communication and navigation satellites fly at high-earth orbits of 19,300km to 35,410km from Earth.
It is not known how the test will be conducted.
“Defense officials have said that with as few as 24 anti-satellite missiles, China could severely weaken US military operations by disrupting global communications and military logistics as well as by limiting celestial navigation systems used by high-technology weapons,” the report said.
A Department of State-Pentagon report to Congress earlier this year said that Chinese anti-satellite weapons had “significant implications” for anti-access and area-denial efforts against the US in Taiwan Strait contingencies.
It said the weapons were being developed to force the US military out of Asian waters and make it more difficult for US forces to get into the region to defend Taiwan.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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