WASHINGTON — The successful U.S. missile strike against a failing spy satellite 133 miles above the Earth on Wednesday bolstered the credibility of America's long-troubled missile defense system, according to military experts.
U.S. military officials have sought to play down the strategic value of the operation, saying that it was solely intended to take out a malfunctioning satellite hurtling toward Earth with a tank of toxic rocket fuel.
But the power and precision of the strike also provided a demonstration for North Korea and other potential adversaries that the United States has deployed a sea-based missile defense system that can be adapted to multiple targets with relative ease.
"This is the latest indication among several that we've made a lot of progress on interception of simple ballistic objects," said Loren B. Thompson, a military expert at the Lexington Institute, a think tank in Virginia. "What this shows is that the United States has a modest capability to destroy large satellites in very low orbits."
Hours after the missile was fired from the Navy cruiser Lake Erie in the Pacific Ocean, Pentagon officials showed footage of a fireball created when the missile struck the satellite, and expressed "high confidence" that the fuel tank was destroyed.
Marine Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Pentagon was "80, 90% sure that the tank was breached."
He said it could take up to two days for final confirmation, but noted that imagery of the collision showed that the missile struck the satellite "right in the area of the tank" and that an ensuing vapor cloud was probably caused by the release of the satellite's hydrazine fuel.
The 5,000-pound satellite -- operated by one of the nation's largest spy agencies, the National Reconnaissance Office -- failed shortly after its launch in December 2006. Since then, it has been drifting down toward the atmosphere.
Officials said they could not yet rule out the possibility of fragments of the satellite falling on populated areas, but noted that the force of the missile strike left little but debris.
"Right now we're seeing nothing bigger than a football," Cartwright said. "So by all indications, we're on a positive path that this was a successful intercept."
