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from the Stealth bomber's lone casualty in the 1999 Kosovo war. Images of Russian scientist pouring over the pride of the US military was both an embarrassment and a strategic loss. They weren't going to risk sensitive secrets surviving re-entry and being sold to the highest clandestine bidder.

3. To TEST our satellite-hunting ability.
Officially, the US doesn't have a satellite-hunting program. Indeed, the US government was noticeable peeved when China tested its satellite seek-and-destroy technology by obliterating a defunct weather satellite.

In reality, the US military could probably blow up anything it wants to. But it's kinda hard to be sure unless you actually have a good reason to. This was a perfect opportunity. The Chinese blew up a satellite in a much higher and stable orbit, creating a debris field that will perillize space travel for years. But here was an opportunity to blast a satellite that was coming down anyway. Whatever debris is created would actually be less harmful - not more - to aviation as a result.

They'll never admit it, but the military has had this technology in their back pocket for years, just itching for a chance to prove it.

4. To DEMONSTRATE our satellite-hunting ability.
We "test" things to prove to ourselves. We "demonstrate" things to prove to others. This is the signal to the world: the US can seek-and-destroy whatever you send our way. So don't even think about it.

The government could never really say that, of course. But with video of a fireball a hundred miles in the air as a result of a 22,000 mph collision of a US Navy SM-3 missile and a bus-sized piece of space-junk with toxic frozen fuel and our country's most precious military technology, who needs to "say" it?

Of course, they got just the video they needed. On the evening of February 21, 2008, the USS Lake Erie fired one missile from the Pacific Ocean, just west of Hawaii. They didn't need the two spare missiles they had standing by. USA 193 never knew what hit it; it didn't have time to duck.

Officially, the US government "saved and reduced injury to human life".

Unofficially, we notified the world that we're a force to be dealt with.

And there's no shame in that.

Learn more about this author, Joe DeShon.
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