Friday, November 20, 2009

China's LPAR Revealed

GOOGLE EARTH SHOWS COMPLETED RADAR

Google Earth's latest imagery update now provides a high-resolution view of the completed LPAR facility in western China. This facility was previously illustrated as an Image of the Week while in an incomplete state using then-available Google Earth imagery, and identified as an LPAR facility using Terra Server imagery. Google Earth's newly-uploaded imagery from 2009 displaying the operational radar facility can be seen below:


There is still no information regarding this facility, although its positioning and orientation suggests a BMEW function. An alternative, given the relative proximity to the Xinjiang possible HEL site, could be a space tracking role providing early warning data to the ASAT network.

SOURCES

-Satellite imagery provided courtesy of Google Earth

5 comments:

RAJ47 said...

Hi SOC!!!
Gr8. Plz also see the 17 Oct 2009 image. They have put the image today. Very interesting.

Sean O'Connor said...

There is newer imagery from October showing the radar slewed on its pedestal, but it can only be viewed at a certain height. This is clearly a data error in the Google Earth server.

Raul said...

What is an LPAR radar ?

NoMoreUSSR said...

What it is a LPAR radar?

Sean O'Connor said...

LPAR = Large Phased Array Radar