US missile hits dying satellite, destroys fuel tank

OBLITERATED: A Standard Missile-3 is launched from a guided-missile cruiser in an image courtesy of US Navy. *FILE*

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Washington: A missile launched from a US Navy cruiser soared 130 miles (210 kilometers) above the Pacific and smashed a dying and potentially deadly US spy satellite, the Pentagon said. Two defence officials said it apparently achieved the main aim of destroying an onboard tank of toxic fuel.

Officials had expressed cautious optimism that the missile would hit the satellite, which was the size of a school bus.

But they were less certain of hitting the smaller, more worrisome fuel tank, whose contents posed what Bush administration officials deemed a potential health hazard to humans if it landed intact.

In a statement late on Wednesday announcing that the attack on the satellite, the Pentagon said, "Confirmation that the fuel tank has been fragmented should be available within 24 hours."

It made no mention of early indications, but two defence officials close to the situation said later that it appeared the fuel tank was hit. One said observers saw what appeared to be an explosion, indicating that the tank was hit.

Because the satellite was orbiting at a relatively low altitude at the time it was hit by the missile, debris will begin to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere immediately, the Pentagon statement said.

"Nearly all of the debris will burn up on re-entry within 24-48 hours and the remaining debris should re-enter within 40 days," it said.

The USS Lake Erie, armed with an SM-3 missile designed to knock down incoming missiles - not orbiting satellites - launched the attack at 2226 p.m. EST Wednesday (0326 GMT Thursday), according to the Pentagon.

It hit the satellite about three minutes later as the spacecraft traveled in polar orbit at more than 17,000 mph (27,000 kilometers per hour).

The Lake Erie and two other Navy warships, as well as the SM-3 missile and other components, were modified in a hurry-up project headed by the Navy in January.

The missile alone cost nearly $10 million, and officials estimated that the total cost of the project was at least $30 million.

The launch of the Navy missile amounted to an unprecedented use of components of the Pentagon's missile defence system, designed to shoot down hostile ballistic missiles in flight - not kill satellites.

The operation was so extraordinary, with such intense international publicity and political ramifications, that Defence Secretary Robert Gates - not a military commander - made the decision to pull the trigger.