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US Wants Taiwan To Bolster Intelligence Gathering: Jane's
Taipei (AFP) Jan 08, 2004 The United States is pressing Taiwan to procure two intelligence-gathering devices to correct an intelligence "blind spot" over the activities of China's army, the authoritative Jane's Defense Weekly (JDW) says. The facilities include a synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) satellite and a signals intelligence (SIGINT) aircraft, it says in an article to be published on January 14. "Taiwan has a major intelligence blind spot regarding what the ground forces of the People's Liberation Army does," a US defense department source told the magazine. "The procurement (from the US) of a SAR satellite is highly encouraged by the US military," the source said. Taiwan's existing satellite reconnaissance capability is limited, depending largely on commercially obtained imagery, with the sources including the Canadian RADARSAT, French SPOT, Israeli EROS and US Ikonos, the magazine says. However this will be boosted when Taiwan launches its own ROCSAT-2 research satellite early this year, it says. The 750-kilogram (1,650-pound), remote-sensing satellite will operate at an altitude of 891 kilometers (535 miles) and should provide imagery with a two-meter resolution, but its level of precision is unknown. Without an airborne SIGINT platform, Taiwan cannot intercept high frequency communication signals from China as its own ground SIGINT facilities are hindered by the curvature of the earth and the line-of-sight propagation of the signals, JDW says. Responding to a request from Taiwan in 2002, Washington has supplied Taipei with details of two airborne SIGINT options based on a Raytheon or Cessna aircraft, but Taipei has yet to pursue an acquisition. "Significant elements within Taiwan's air force were interested in these aircraft but met with opposition from within the Ministry of National Defense... As a result, neither program has gone through," the US source said. China has repeatedly threatened to invade Taiwan, which it claims as a renegade province, prompting the island to seek more sophisticated weaponry. In terms of the Taiwan Relations Act passed by the US Congress when Washington switched its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, the United States is obliged to provide the island with sufficient weapons to defend itself. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express The Chinese Space Program - News, Policy and Technology China News from SinoDaily.com
Taikonauts On Moon A Far Off Dream For China Yet
Beijing (XNA) Jan 05, 2006A one-year lunar fly-by mission may start in April 2007 in China, but a manned flight to the Earth's neighbour may be a long way away, a chief lunar exploration scientist said last night. |
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