[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 5, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E300]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        MISSILES AND SATELLITES

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                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 5, 2008

  Mr. POE. Madam Speaker, starting in WWII the Army recognized a need 
for defense against the German's A4, the world's first ballistic 
missile. In that time the allies' only defense against the A4 was to 
destroy or occupy its launch site. Some accounts state that if the war 
lasted another year, the German Army would have had the technology to 
develop a ballistic missile that could reach New York City. During the 
war, General Sir Fredrick Pile, Chief of Britain's Anti-Aircraft 
command, developed a system using 12,000 rounds of anti-aircraft 
artillery with only 3 percent accuracy. We have since come a long way 
in missile defense.
  During the Cold War spurred on by a continued threat to our soil, 
Ronald Reagan called ``upon the scientific community, those who gave us 
nuclear weapons, to turn their great talents to the cause of mankind 
and world peace to give our country the means of rendering these 
nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete.''
  Our Nation was able to use this technology once again, as Reagan had 
intended to keep safe the citizens of not just the United States, but 
this time an unknown country that could have come in direct contact 
with a disabled spy satellite and its dangerous 1,000 pound tank full 
of hydrazine fuel.
  This mission was to be precisely executed with a direct hit to bus 
sized satellite's heart, a fuel tank. Hydrazine fuel could be compared 
to ammonia and would be dangerous should the intact satellite land 
anywhere in the world near a populated area. The U.S. military did not 
take this mission lightly, taking every precaution to protect the 
unfortunate country that would have fallen victim to this freefalling 
piece of space junk. A Standard Missile 3, or SM-3, costs $10 million 
and with another $20 million spent on missile reconfiguration for this 
specific task, the project cost around $30 million.
  A broken down satellite does not float lazily 130 miles above the 
Pacific Ocean; it rockets through space at 17,000 miles per hour. The 
precision and timing have to be perfect to strike an object at such a 
great distance and speed. The SM-3 missile travels at around 6,000 
miles per hour and was launched from the USS Lake Erie in the North 
Pacific. When the missile was fired at 10:26 p.m. Eastern Time, only 3 
minutes elapsed until it hit its intended above atmosphere target. 
Approximately 10 minutes after the missile was launched it was 
confirmed ``highly likely'' that impact was made on the satellite's 
fuel tank. When the missile struck the satellite at a combined speed of 
22,000 miles per hour there was a great burst. Marine General James 
Cartwright, vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, took this burst 
as an 80-90 percent chance that the missile hit its intended target, 
the fuel tank, because the missile was not armed with a warhead.
  This giant piece of metal and gas would have done major environmental 
and physical damage when it eventually found a landing pad on earth. 
However due to accurate military technology, and exact execution 
scientists are now monitoring 3,000 pieces of satellite, none larger 
than a football, that are all expected to burn up in the earth's 
atmosphere before they reach the earth's surface.
  The U.S. military's innovation and ingenuity is unmatched in the 
world. This launch was an unprecedented real world test of the United 
States' missile defense system so extraordinary that defense secretary 
Robert Gates, not a lower ranking military official had to give the 
launch order. Secretary Gates said in response to the direct hit ``I 
think the questions over whether this (missile defense system) 
capability works has been settled.''
  And that's just the way it is.

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