[FPSPACE] FW: Lake Erie Crew Describes Satellite Shot

[LARRY KLAES]

>From: American Forces Press Service <afps at subscriptions.dod.mil>
>To: ljk4 at msn.com
>Subject: Lake Erie Crew Describes Satellite Shot
>Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:08:48 -0600 (CST)
>
>Lake Erie Crew Describes Satellite Shot [ 
>http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=49058 ]
>"Sun, 24 Feb 2008 09:36:00 -0600"
>
>American Forces Press Service
>
>Lake Erie Crew Describes Satellite Shot
>By Jim Garamone
>American Forces Press Service
>
>PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii, Feb. 24, 2008 - The crewmembers of the USS Lake Erie 
>were calm as they fired the latest shot heard round the world. The 
>Aegis-class cruiser fired the missile that destroyed a dead spy satellite 
>that posed a threat to humans Feb. 21.
>
>Navy Capt. Randall M. Hendrickson, the Lake Erie's commanding officer, 
>spoke to reporters today aboard the ship, which has just returned from the 
>mission. The visiting reporters are traveling with Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, 
>the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who visited the ship.
>
>The captain said the crew worked intensively for a month and a half before 
>the shootdown. "We kept working up with a team of government experts and 
>technicians, as well as industry partners," Hendrickson said.
>
>The group worked to gather information and modify the Standard Missile 3 
>and the Aegis weapon system, he said. They started tracking the satellite 
>at different times to get radar cross-section data, which helped build the 
>program software, Hendrickson said.
>
>"Obviously there was a lot of anticipation building up each time we 
>practiced, each time we tracked," he said.
>
>The ship's weapons systems officer, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Drew Bates, said the 
>rehearsals really helped when push came to shove. "By the time we did this, 
>we had seen it a hundred times," he said. "We were practicing what to do in 
>case things go wrong. Fortunately nothing went wrong. This went just the 
>way it was designed to happen, and hats off to the industry team for giving 
>the nation a system that was able to have the excess capability to do 
>this."
>
>The satellite was unlike any target the system was designed to go after, 
>the captain said. The satellite was in orbit rather than on a ballistic 
>trajectory. Also, the satellite was traveling at incredible speeds.
>
>The Lake Erie left here the day officials announced President Bush's 
>decision to try to shoot down the satellite. Hendrickson said the ship was 
>in position when the shuttle Atlantis returned from its mission.
>
>The ship received the order that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates had OK'd 
>the mission at mid-morning on Feb. 21. "From that point on, the ship was 
>very calm," Hendrickson said. "Obviously, the closer we got, there was a 
>lot of anticipation. The firing team was very calm when we did it and, with 
>the exception of the 'whoosh' when it went out of the launcher, it was just 
>as scripted."
>
>He said that when the missile's seeker opened its eyes it had the satellite 
>"right dead center."
>
>When the missile hit the satellite, "there was a lot of cheering" aboard 
>the ship, he said.
>
>The crew knew from the kinetic warhead imagery in the nose of the missile 
>that it was a good hit, the captain said.
>
>"The radar scope went wild," he said. "At that point, there was a lot of 
>debris, a lot of pieces and, at that point, we thought we had a pretty good 
>impact. Then that was confirmed by the aircraft that were airborne, the 
>radars ashore and some other sensors that it was pretty much obliterated. 
>Over the next three to four hours, a lot of it was burning up as it was 
>coming down, which was the whole point of it."
>
>Civilian experts from the Navy facility in Dahlgren, Va., and contractors 
>from Lockheed Martin and from Raytheon Co. helped the crew prepare for the 
>shot. But Navy sailors manned the consoles for the mission.
>
>Everyone on the USS Lake Erie contributed, the captain said. "Whatever the 
>task is, there's no small task on a ship," he said.
>
>The reaction of the crew is unbelievable, said Command Master Chief Petty 
>Officer Mack Ellis, the highest-ranking enlisted sailor on the Lake Erie. 
>"Even the youngest sailor who didn't understand it at first, every time 
>they walk somewhere and people know they are from Lake Erie, they say 
>congratulations. It puts a smile of their face and makes their day."
>
>*Related Sites:*
>USS Lake Erie  [ http://www.lake-erie.navy.mil/ ]
>
>*Related Articles:*
>Missile Defense System Works, Gates Says  [ 
>http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=49040 ]
>Gates Tours Backup Ship for Satellite Shot  [ 
>http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=49039 ]
>Gates Pleased by Mission's Success  [ 
>http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=49025 ]
>Transparency of Satellite Shootdown Offers Model  [ 
>http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=49035 ]
>Navy Missile Likely Hit Fuel Tank on Disabled Satellite  [ 
>http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=49030 ]
>
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