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The Koreasat-5 satellite, which will boost the military's communications radius from a few hundred km to some 6,000 km, will be launched on Aug. 20, 10 days later than planned. The military, which has regularly encountered communication hitches due to the peninsula¡¯s mountainous topography, will now be able to enjoy an uninterrupted communications net that permits dispatches from as far afield as Alaska.
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said Tuesday the Koreasat-5 will be launched from international waters near the equator south of Hawaii from the U.S. firm Sea Launch's ship Odyssey with a Zenit rocket. The satellite, which will also be used for civilian communications, was originally scheduled for launch on Aug. 10.
The military communications system ANASIS using the satellite will be operational towards the end of 2007, expanded the range of communication to 6,000 km.
The military and civilian corporations have invested W1.16 trillion (US$1=W959) in the project. Satellites are vital to the construction and implementation of the C4I (command, control, communication, computer and intelligence) system, that is seen as the heart and brains of an independent modern defense for Korea.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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