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IHS Jane's: Defense & Security Intelligence & Analysis
 

Reach for the stars - China develops its military space technology

By Richard D Fisher Jr

2/12/2010

At the beginning of 2010, China once again demonstrated its space-based ambitions. On 11 January, China's state-run Xinhua news agency announced that it had successfully tested a "ground-based, midcourse missile interception technology". The test was confirmed by the Pentagon, which detected "two geographically separated missile launch events with an exo-atmospheric collision".

China was quick to state that the test was "defensive in nature and is not targeted at any country". However, coming three years after the successful January 2007 test of an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon, the January launch was another example that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is looking to challenge the United States in space.

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This recently upgraded telemetry and tracking facility at China's Jiuquan Space Center was likely involved with the midcourse missile interception test on 11 January 2010.
This recently upgraded telemetry and tracking facility at China's Jiuquan Space Center was likely involved with the midcourse missile interception test on 11 January 2010.(DigitalGlobe)

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