Tyr-Ziu Saxnot
05-05-2013, 01:19 PM
http://newstrust.net/stories/9224745/toolbar?ref=tp
Updated 5/2 9:44 a.m.
The Pentagon is so starved for bandwidth that it’s paying a Chinese satellite firm to help it communicate and share data.
U.S. troops operating on the African continent are now using the recently-launched Apstar-7 satellite (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apstar-7) to keep in touch and share information. And the $10 million, one-year deal lease (http://insidedefense.com/201304262432570/Inside-Defense-General/Public-Articles/dod-reviewing-process-for-leasing-satellite-services-from-chinese-providers/menu-id-926.html) — publicly unveiled late last week during an ordinarily-sleepy Capitol Hill subcommittee hearing — has put American politicians and policy-makers in bit of a bind. Over the last several years, the U.S. government has publicly and loudly expressed its concern that too much sensitive American data passes through Chinese electronics — and that those electronics could be sieves for Beijing’s intelligence services. But the Pentagon says it has no other choice than to use the Chinese satellite. The need for bandwidth is that great, and no other satellite firm provides the continent-wide coverage that the military requires.
“That bandwidth was available only on a Chinese satellite,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy Doug Loverro told a House Armed Services Committee panel, in remarks first reported byInsideDefense.com (http://insidedefense.com/). “We recognize that there is concerns across the community on the usage of Chinese satellites to support our warfighter. And yet, we also recognize that our warfighters need support, and sometimes we must go to the only place that we can get it from.”
The Apstar-7 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apstar-7) is operated by Hong Kong-based APT Satellite Holdings Ltd. One of that company’s largest shareholders is the state-controlled China Satellite Communication Company, which counts the son of former Chinese premier Wen Jiabao as its chairman (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-22/premier-wen-s-son-named-chairman-of-state-owned-china-satellite.html). But the Pentagon insists that any data passed through the Apstar-7 is protected from any potential eavesdropping by Beijing. The satellite uplinks and downlinks are encrypted, and unspecified “additional transmission security” procedures cover the data in transit, according to Lt. Col. Damien Pickart, a Defense Department spokesperson.
“We reviewed all the security concerns, all of the business concerns with such a lease,” Loverro said. “And so from that perspective, I’m very pleased with what we did. And yet, I think the larger issue is we don’t have a clear policy laid out on how do we assess whether or not we want to do this as a department, as opposed to just a response to a need.”
Every new drone feed and every new soldier with a satellite radio creates more appetite for bandwidth — an appetite the military can’t hope to fill with military spacecraft alone. To try to keep up, the Pentagon has leased bandwidth from commercial carriers for more than a decade. And the next decade should bring even more commercial deals; in March, the Army announced it was looking for new satellite firms to help troops in Afghanistan (https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=c7f7f45114c7d76090de1408fa616f62) communicate. According to a 2008 Intelligence Science Board study (http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/dod/dsb/sensors.pdf) (.pdf) — one of the few public reports on the subject — demand for satellite communications could grow from about 30 gigabits per second to 80 gigabits a decade from now.
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Insanity is our sharing bed with the Chinese. They have one over riding goal and that is to take our place as number one in the world. Now we help them. Pure insanity. As is our heavy manufacturing being sent overseas!!
Obama reassigned NASA and we use the Chinese , Get the picture??
Updated 5/2 9:44 a.m.
The Pentagon is so starved for bandwidth that it’s paying a Chinese satellite firm to help it communicate and share data.
U.S. troops operating on the African continent are now using the recently-launched Apstar-7 satellite (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apstar-7) to keep in touch and share information. And the $10 million, one-year deal lease (http://insidedefense.com/201304262432570/Inside-Defense-General/Public-Articles/dod-reviewing-process-for-leasing-satellite-services-from-chinese-providers/menu-id-926.html) — publicly unveiled late last week during an ordinarily-sleepy Capitol Hill subcommittee hearing — has put American politicians and policy-makers in bit of a bind. Over the last several years, the U.S. government has publicly and loudly expressed its concern that too much sensitive American data passes through Chinese electronics — and that those electronics could be sieves for Beijing’s intelligence services. But the Pentagon says it has no other choice than to use the Chinese satellite. The need for bandwidth is that great, and no other satellite firm provides the continent-wide coverage that the military requires.
“That bandwidth was available only on a Chinese satellite,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy Doug Loverro told a House Armed Services Committee panel, in remarks first reported byInsideDefense.com (http://insidedefense.com/). “We recognize that there is concerns across the community on the usage of Chinese satellites to support our warfighter. And yet, we also recognize that our warfighters need support, and sometimes we must go to the only place that we can get it from.”
The Apstar-7 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apstar-7) is operated by Hong Kong-based APT Satellite Holdings Ltd. One of that company’s largest shareholders is the state-controlled China Satellite Communication Company, which counts the son of former Chinese premier Wen Jiabao as its chairman (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-22/premier-wen-s-son-named-chairman-of-state-owned-china-satellite.html). But the Pentagon insists that any data passed through the Apstar-7 is protected from any potential eavesdropping by Beijing. The satellite uplinks and downlinks are encrypted, and unspecified “additional transmission security” procedures cover the data in transit, according to Lt. Col. Damien Pickart, a Defense Department spokesperson.
“We reviewed all the security concerns, all of the business concerns with such a lease,” Loverro said. “And so from that perspective, I’m very pleased with what we did. And yet, I think the larger issue is we don’t have a clear policy laid out on how do we assess whether or not we want to do this as a department, as opposed to just a response to a need.”
Every new drone feed and every new soldier with a satellite radio creates more appetite for bandwidth — an appetite the military can’t hope to fill with military spacecraft alone. To try to keep up, the Pentagon has leased bandwidth from commercial carriers for more than a decade. And the next decade should bring even more commercial deals; in March, the Army announced it was looking for new satellite firms to help troops in Afghanistan (https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=c7f7f45114c7d76090de1408fa616f62) communicate. According to a 2008 Intelligence Science Board study (http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/dod/dsb/sensors.pdf) (.pdf) — one of the few public reports on the subject — demand for satellite communications could grow from about 30 gigabits per second to 80 gigabits a decade from now.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Insanity is our sharing bed with the Chinese. They have one over riding goal and that is to take our place as number one in the world. Now we help them. Pure insanity. As is our heavy manufacturing being sent overseas!!
Obama reassigned NASA and we use the Chinese , Get the picture??