A second attempt would be possible if the first misses, the channel said, citing military sources. Pentagon officialss were not immediately available for confirmation.

Without intervention, the crippled satellite is due to break into the Earth's atmosphere on March 6 and crash down at an unpredictable spot, risking rupturing its tanks of toxic fuel, US authorities warned last week.

A US warship will fire a surface-to-air missile at the satellite at a specific point in its orbit that ensures any Earth-bound debris will splash into the ocean.

The shoot-down plan drew criticism on Sunday from Russia, whose defense ministry said in a statement it looked like a veiled weapons test and an "attempt to move the arms race into space."

Washington has denied seeking to cover up the satellite's technological secrets or to make a show of strength after China used a missile to shoot down an old weather satellite in January 2007.

earlier related report
China 'highly concerned' over US satellite destruction plan: govt
China said Monday it was "highly concerned" about a US plan to shoot down a crippled spy satellite, just over a year after it raised global tensions with its own anti-satellite operation.

"The Chinese government is highly concerned over the developments and has requested that the US fulfil its international obligations in earnest and ensure that the security of outer space and relevant countries will not be undermined," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in a statement.

"Relevant Chinese authorities are closely following the situation and studying corresponding precautions."

Senior US officials said last week that President George W. Bush had directed a US warship to shoot down an out-of-commission spy satellite before it crashed to Earth and potentially landed in a populated area.

US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack insisted the operation was unlike that conducted by China on January 11 last year, in which the Chinese shot down one of their satellites.

The (US) action is "not intended in any way as a statement regarding treaty obligations with anti-satellite weapons," McCormack said.

He said China's mission last year "was designed specifically as a test against the satellite, the ability to kill the satellite," while the US mission is "an attempt to try to protect populations on the ground."

China used a ballistic missile to intercept and destroy one of its own ageing weather satellites in low Earth orbit, becoming only the third nation after the United States and the former Soviet Union to do so.

The ability to shoot down satellites is seen by many analysts as crucial in future conflicts due to the dependence of modern military equipment on satellite-based communications.

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