Article 14108 of rec.aviation.military:
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From: jfb@usgp1.ih.att.com (Joe Baugher)
Subject: New Fighter Series--McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle (16 of 26)
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Summary: F-15 ASAT
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Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 02:49:54 GMT
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In the late 1970s, even before the advent of the Strategic Defense 
Initiative (SDI), an anti-satellite (ASAT) mission evolved for the 
F-15 Eagle.  

The goal of ASAT weapons is the neutralization of enemy military 
satellites in the event of war, particularly low-orbiting 
reconnaissance, ELINT, and ocean surveillance satellites.  The Soviets 
had their own antisatellite program in which a killer satellite would 
rendezvous with the target satellite and explode.  The American 
equivalent involved the arming of an F-15 Eagle with a missile which 
would be launched against an orbiting satellite from a zoom climb at 
an altitude of 80,000 feet.  

In 1979, a contract was issued to Vought for an air-launched low 
Earth-orbit antisatellite vehicle.  The Vought ASM-135A that emerged 
was a two-stage rocket, with a first stage derived from the AGM-69 
SRAM-A and a second stage derived from the Altair III rocket.  The 
ASM-135A weighed about 2700 pounds at launch and was 18 feet long.  
The payload of the ASM-135A consisted of a miniature kinetic kill 
vehicle which used an infrared seeker to home in on the target 
satellite, destroying it by impact.  No explosive warhead was to be 
needed.  

F-15A 76-0086 was modified for trials with the Vought ASM-135A.  The 
ASM-135A was carried on the centerline station of the F-15.  The 
aircraft had to be specially wired to accommodate the ASM-135A 
missile, and had to be provided with backup battery, microprocessor, 
and datalink for midcourse guidance.  

Beginning in the early 1980s, captive flights were made with the 
missile in place, the aircraft zoom climbing to altitudes as high as 
80,000 feet.  The first actual launch of an ASM-135A from an F-15 took 
place in January 1984, the missile being aimed at a predetermined 
point in space.  Subsequently, three launches of the ASM-135A were 
made against celestial infrared sources.  

The first and only ASM-135A launch against an actual target satellite 
took place on September 13, 1985, when F-15A 77-0084 of the 6512th 
Test Squadron stationed at Edwards AFB took off from Vandenberg AFB 
and zoom-climbed up to 80,000 feet and then launched the ASAT against 
the Solwind P78-1, a gamma ray spectroscopy satellite that had been 
launched in February of 1979.  Both the first and second stages fired 
successfully, and the miniature kinetic kill vehicle separated and 
homed in on the satellite, destroying it upon impact.  

The test was a success in that it demonstrated that the basic concept 
was feasible.  However, it enraged arms control advocates, who saw the 
test as a violation of a joint US/Soviet treaty forbidding the 
development and testing of antisatellite weapons.  Solar scientists 
were not happy about the test either, since although the Solwind P78-1 
that was killed had officially completed its mission, it was still 
sending back useful data.  

Initial plans were made to modify twenty F-15As for the antisatellite 
mission and to assign them to the 48th TFS at Langley AFB in Virginia 
and the 318th TFS at McChord AFB in Washington.  These squadrons had 
each received three or four F-15A/B airframes which had been rewired 
for ASAT operations.  However, Congress was unwilling to permit any 
further testing of the system, and the ASAT program was officially 
terminated in 1988.  

Sources:

   McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Since 1920, Volume II, Rene J.
   Francillon, Naval Institute Press, 1990.

   Combat Aircraft F-15, Michael J. Gething and Paul Crickmore,
   Crescent Books, 1992.
   
   The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft Armament, Bill Gunston
   Orion, 1988.

   The American Fighter, Enzo Angelucci and Peter Bowers, 
   Orion, 1987.

   The World's Great Interceptor Aircraft, Gallery Books, 1989. 

   F-15 Eagle, Robert F. Dorr, World Airpower Journal, Volume 9,
   Summer 1992.


Joe Baugher			  **************************************
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