A top U.S. Air Force official has ordered a review of all current military satellites to determine if they are vulnerable to attack.
Air Force Gen. T. Michael "Buzz" Moseley ordered the wide-ranging review in March after China detonated one of its weather satellites, prompting concern that the Asian nation may be creating anti-satellite weaponry, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.
China never officially explained the military action and a large field of debris remains in orbit because of the satellite's destruction.
"What I'm looking for is just a better way to think through the challenge, now that other people have a capability to kill a satellite," Moseley said of the review. "It is a contested domain now. I've asked a bit of an open-ended question."
The Times said Moseley has asked for initial results by June and has said changes would become a necessity if the study's findings are troubling.
"You have a choice: You can either defend the machines or you build something that flies higher and faster," he said of the nation's satellites.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International
