An expert in Asian military affairs warned that the use of satellite-based lasers over Hawaii by China in January, allegedly to study pollution in the air, could also be used as a reconnaissance tool to guide a hypersonic missile strike on Pearl Harbor or other sensitive military targets there, the U.S. Sun reported Sunday.
"The Daqi-1's lasers specifically monitor the density of the atmosphere and can detect different wind directions," Rick Fisher, an expert on China's military at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, told the Sun. "This is precisely the data required for China to accurately target small multiple reentry vehicle nuclear warheads or more recent Hypersonic Glide Vehicle warheads."
Honolulu television station KHON2 reported Feb. 11 that a National Astronomical Observatory of Japan livestream camera on top of the Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea recorded a brief flash of several vertical, green "lines" coming down from the sky to the Hawaiian Islands.
Scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the trajectory of the lasers did not line up with any of their satellites, and likely came from a Chinese Daqi-1/AEMS satellite that studies pollution in the air.
"It's a Chinese satellite that is measuring pollutants, among other things," University of Hawaii Institute of Astronomy's Roy Gal told the station. "It has many different instruments on it … Some kind of topographical mapping, or they're also used for measuring stuff in Earth's atmosphere, and I think that's what it is, environmental measurement satellite."
Fisher, who's biography is on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission as a consultant, said that while the Chinese could use the data collected to log the pollution, it could also be used to guide a hypersonic missile strike on the islands.
"HGV warheads seek to exploit low trajectories that are also low altitude and thus are very vulnerable to adverse weather conditions, necessitating the weather data precision that would be available from laser measurements," Fisher said.
"Indeed, there is an increasing Chinese threat to Hawaii, but in a general war over Taiwan the [Chinese People's Liberation Army] will also likely target U.S. facilities in Japan, South Korea, Alaska, and California."
Reuters reported Feb. 14 that a Chinese Coast Guard ship directed a "military-grade laser" at a Philippine ship in a disputed waterway in the South China Sea, briefly blinding the bridge crew.
Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. summoned the Chinese ambassador to express concerns about the incident and "over the increasing frequency and intensity of actions by China against the Philippine Coast Guard and our Filipino fishermen."
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