PENTAGON CONFIRMS THAT CHINA SHOT DOWN WARHEAD IN SPACE

by Theresa , Wednesday, January 13, 2010, 01:09

US asks for more details on missile intercept test
Pentagon confirms that China shot down warhead in space

Cary Huang in Beijing
Jan 13, 2010
South China Morning Post

Washington asked Beijing yesterday for more information about Monday's rocket test, in which a missile destroyed an incoming warhead while it was still in space. The US said it wanted China to clarify its intentions and plans to develop such technologies.
The US Defence Department confirmed it had detected a so-called mid-course test and said Beijing had not given it advance notice.
"We detected two geographically separated missile launch events with an exo-atmospheric collision also being observed by space-based sensors," Major Maureen Schumann, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said. It was the first independent confirmation of China's missile interception test on Monday, which appears to have been a success as Beijing claimed. China became only the second nation, after the United States, to successfully test a mid-course anti-missile system.

The Pentagon said the United States did not consider the test was related to its arms sales to Taiwan - as suggested by many mainland newspapers and military observers.

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