Response to David Wright's Commentary

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Notes

¹David Wright, ‘Response to “Space China's Tactical Frontier” by Eric Hagt and Matthew Durnin’, Journal of Strategic Studies 34/5 (Oct. 2011), 763–773.

²For instance, see: <http://jlrbszb.chinajilin.com.cn/html/2011-07/03/content_742556. htm>; <www.ciomp.ac.cn/xwdt/zhxw/200912/t20091230_2720010.html>; and <http://news.sciencenet.cn/sbhtmlnews/2011/6/245847.html>.

³See <www.cast.cn/CastEn/Show.asp?ArticleID=39338> and Shenzhou Institute of CAST, which has a department dedicated to SAR, <www.sicast.cn/Index.asp>.

⁴Astronomers also use this formula to calculate the increased amount of atmosphere a telescope encounters as it is pointed toward the horizon; however, this calculation is poorly suited to satellites at high altitude because it assumes the earth's surface to be flat and thus is increasingly invalid as the elevation angle decreases.

⁵For instance see, [Tan Shoulin, Zhang Daqiao and Diao Guoxiu] (of the Second Artillery Engineering College and PLA Unit 96311), ‘’ [Determination and Evaluation of Effective Range for Terminal Guidance Ballistic Missile Attacking Aircraft Carrier], [Command Control and Simulation] 28/4 (Aug. 2006) and [Chen Haidong et al.], ‘ ’ [Study for the Guidance Scheme of Reentry Vehicles Attacking Slowly Moving Targets], [Missiles and Space Vehicles], No. 6 (2000).

⁶General Armaments Department Deputy Minister Niu Hongguang, ‘The Need to Make Haiyang-2 Satellites Easy to Use, Effective, and Durable' (), China Ocean News (), 17 Aug. 2011, <http://tech.oceanol.com/?optionid=800&auto_id=14248>.

⁷Roger Cliff, Chad J. R. Ohlandt and David Yang, Ready for Takeoff: China's Advancing Aerospace Industry (Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation 2011), 99.

⁸USA-129 (almost 15 years in orbit) is likely approaching the end of its life cycle. The mean altitude of its orbit has decreased somewhat and its current and future operational role and functionality are not clear. The orbit and operational behavior of USA-144, a stealthy satellite yet to be spotted by hobbyists, are unknown.

⁹We thank veteran satellite tracker Ted Molczan for this point.