Satellite Bandwidth from an Unlikely Source

摘要

The U.S. military's indirect lease of satellite capacity from a company owned in part by the Chinese government bolsters industry's case that the Department of Defense (DoD) needs to change the way it secures commercial satellite communications services. Satellite operators have long urged DoD to commit to long-term leases that would enable them to align their fleets to meet future military demand, wherever it might crop up. Without such commitments, they say, the military could find itself without the bandwidth necessary to support some unforeseen contingency operation, particularly as it shifts its focus to Asia. Industry now has a concrete example of what a lack of contingency planning could portend in the Pentagon's use of capacity aboard the Apstar 7 satellite owned by Hong Kong-based APT Satellite Holdings. The company is nearly 40 percent owned by China Aerospace Corp., which in turn is owned by the Chinese government. In this case, the DoD's hand was forced by the fact that no other company could meet its requirement, originating from U.S. Africa Command, for coverage of the entire African continent using a single satellite.