There are still more U.S. satellites than Chinese ones, but most of them are old and the level of technology is not comparable to that of newer satellites, which is a real advantage for Beijing. China first broke through the problem of "fighting". Anti-ship ballistic missiles are still a threat that is difficult to intercept. Then it broke through the problem of command and control chain. Light and 5G greatly improved the speed of networking and information exchange. Now it has broken through the problem of ocean surveillance. That is why the U.S. Navy is concerned. "The U.S. carrier fleet will have no chance of survival between the first and second island chains," says a Chinese military expert.
The National Interest USA reports that this is a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image of China's Taijing 4 03 star, with Nolfolk, the main base of the Atlantic Fleet, none other than the east coast of the United States, below.
Two aircraft carriers and two Burke-class destroyers are clearly visible.
Taijing 4 is a civilian SAR satellite, and the constellation includes five satellites.
China's aerospace science and technology base is highly developed, the technical talent team has also grown, and everyone wants to move toward the national team of the "seven sons of national defense."
The Seven Sons of National Defence (Chinese: 国防七子) is a grouping of the public universities affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China. They are widely believed to have close scientific research partnerships and projects with the People's Liberation Army.
Currently, there is a "talent surplus" problem in China.
The most commonly used reconnaissance satellites are still optical satellites, with high resolution and simple equipment. With digital imaging, the images are digitally downlinked, bypassing the hassle of film cartridges that needed to be tossed from orbit and reentered in earlier years. The resolution of low-orbit optical satellites has reached the level of aerial photography in the early years, which is sufficient for general census and detailed investigation. In addition to the military, but also a large number of land and infrastructure surveys, geographic mapping, agricultural census, disaster relief, etc., and now news images have also become a popular application, is used in a large number of all kinds of public situational analysis, the recent assessment of the damage to Gaza based on the Chinese satellite images is an example.
However, optical satellites are strongly affected by day and night, and rain, snow, clouds and fog can even block optical observations. SAR satellites use radar, which is all-weather and is not affected by day, night or weather conditions. The real time and reliability of information is much higher. SAR uses the radar beam to repeatedly scan the same target from "looking forward", "looking down" to "looking back" to obtain a very high resolution image.
The SAR cannot be used to maneuver targets, but parked aircraft carriers are not a problem. Even the speed of an aircraft carrier relative to the movement of satellites can be approximated as a forbidden target and SAR can still be used.
But satellites still present the traditional "coverage vs. resolution" problem. The higher the resolution, the lower the coverage. If the coverage were a 10 km x 10 km grid, it would take 5 million satellites to cover the entire surface of the Earth, which is obviously impossible. But 10x10 is still a "local census," and Telstar 4 - acommunications satellite owned by AT&T Corporation - images do not exceed 1,000 meters by 1,000 meters.
For fixed airports and ports, where the target area does not move, this is a minor problem. For moving targets, it is easy to miss the target if you search blindly, and the next time you search again, the target may have moved and you will miss it again. The intercept rate of conventional optical satellites on maneuvering targets is reported to be only 14%, so if the tactics are correct and the satellite's trajectory and time of overflight are precisely controlled, the carrier still has a great chance of concealment and survival.
The coverage of satellites in high orbit is much greater, and synchronous satellites keep their gaze on the Earth's surface, providing a theoretical view of all targets. However, at 36,000 kilometers in synchronous orbit, the resolution of optical satellites is too poor, and the power and antenna size requirements of radar satellites are too high for them to be used. Census satellites in medium orbit are somewhat more reliable, but the resolution is only enough to see "this is a big ship," and there is still no way to confirm whether it is an oil tanker or an aircraft carrier.
However, by combining the medium-orbit satellites, low-orbit satellites and artificial intelligence-with the medium-orbit satellites taking a census, the artificial intelligence deducing the most likely path of the target, and the low-orbit satellites confirming the target-the rate of satellite capture is greatly improved.
Once the target is confirmed, the satellite in medium orbit can keep track of it. The same point of light still cannot see what it is, but now satellites in LEO orbit have confirmed that it is the target and keep track of it. Of course, there is the danger of bad luck, or the need for high-frequency revisit verification in LEO.
This can meet the requirements of target recognition and target guidance. Otherwise, even if the Jilin-1 constellation has 138 satellites and can reach a revisit period of 10 minutes, it can still barely ensure capture before the 30-program target is opened in the 10x10 grid. This is just a census accuracy, not enough for target identification. An aircraft carrier can move 5 nautical miles (about 9 kilometers) in 10 minutes, and high-speed container ships may also reach this speed. Hitting the wrong target not only wastes fighter planes and ammunition, but may also cause endless trouble.
There are still more U.S. satellites than Chinese ones, but most of them are old and the level of technology is not comparable to that of newer satellites, which is a real advantage for Beijing.
Imagine a film camera of 20 years ago and a microsingle camera of today-it is easy to understand the enormous strides made by new technology in imaging. Artificial intelligence has further improved the ability to extract information.
That is why the U.S. Navy is concerned.
China first broke through the problem of "fighting". Anti-ship ballistic missiles are still a threat that is difficult to intercept. Then it broke through the problem of command and control chain. Light and 5G greatly improved the speed of networking and information exchange. Now it has broken through the problem of ocean surveillance.
"The U.S. carrier fleet will have no chance of survival between the first and second island chains," says a Chinese military expert.
The resolution was not mentioned in the news, but based on the cars in the parking lot, it should be 1 meter. The width of a car is about 2 meters, but the distance between cars when parking is about 1 meter. The parking distance can be seen in the picture, so the resolution of 1 meter should be achieved. The civil standard is based on economics. The cost of the satellite must be compatible with the final profit from selling pictures, so performance is not pursued endlessly. Military standards will pursue unlimited performance, as long as it is needed and affordable, the higher the resolution, the better.
So what is the resolution of China's military-standard SAR satellite? This is a brainstorming question.
"70% of the world is oceans and the remaining 30% is land, only no more than a quarter is something China is interested in paying close attention to.
There are more targets of interest on land, they are more spread out and they are smaller. Higher resolution is necessary and is of great use for tracking dispersed and mobile deployments of "Haimas", mobile missiles and "Fast Raptor/Lightning/Fighting Falcon" fighters. These targets can maneuver faster but remain stationary longer, which aids continuous surveillance. The ship is essentially in continuous motion once it sets sail, but if the land-based maneuvering system continues to maneuver for days or weeks, it will be unbearable for both machinery and personnel.", adds the military expert.
"Not only are carriers maneuverable, the battle group also comes with a strong anti-aircraft and anti-missile capability. "Hemas", maneuvering missiles, and parked fighters are much more vulnerable, and as soon as they're detected, they're essentially dead in the water, making them especially suited for quick and precise missile strikes. Philippines, talking about you."
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