[A-List] US imperialism: Iraq

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Spy satellites scanning targets every two hours
IAN BRUCE
The Herald, 11 November 2002

AMERICAN spy satellites are scanning key targets throughout Iraq at least
once every two hours in a concentrated surveillance operation which can pick
out objects as small as six inches across in daylight and two to three feet
wide at night.

The US national reconnaissance office controls three advanced KH-11
"Keyhole" satellites weighing 15 tons apiece and the size of a single-decker
bus equipped with optical and infra-red cameras, and three Lacrosse imaging
radar satellites with sensors which can detect signs of nuclear, chemical or
biological weapons development.

The giant craft orbit over Iraq at regular, predictable intervals, snapping
high-resolution digital pictures of "sites of military interest" and
providing the Pentagon and the CIA with continually updated records of major
ground and air activity.

All of the spysats operate on polar orbits to enable regular passes, and
several missions a day can be geared towards obtaining specific imagery of
areas around Baghdad, the western desert Scud missile launch points within
range of Israel, and the southern sector around the strategic port of Basra.

The only problem is that most of the passes can be timed by Iraq's military,
and efforts to hide or camouflage weapons of mass destruction are carried
out in the brief periods when the surveillance window closes.

One KH-11 passes over Baghdad at about 2am, then again at 3pm. On its
nighttime sweep, it uses infra-red scanners and low-light cameras. On the
second, it can employ its full range of sensors.

Another sweeps the capital in late morning and again just before midnight.
The third and oldest KH-11 overflies the gap period.

One Lacrosse goes over central Iraq and Baghdad at 11am and then again at
8.30pm. The second follows the same track at 3pm and 10pm. The third has the
3am and 5.30pm slots.

While the £700m KH-11s are in orbits slaved to the sun's cycle, the Lacrosse
craft have more flexibility and slightly more room for manoeuvre in their
quest for raw intelligence.

The Lacrosse can also build a computer-generated three-dimensional image of
terrain or buildings using its radar. These are essential for mapping and
for giving special forces' teams a realistic briefing for covert operations.

The bottom line, however, is less than 10 minutes' "loiter time" over any
target until the orbit takes the satellites out of camera range.

In recent months, high-flying U2 manned spy planes dating back to the 1960s
and Predator unmanned drones have been drafted in to plug some of the
surveillance gaps. In recent years, the Serbs, Indians, Pakistanis and North
Koreans all managed to dupe US intelligence by taking advantage of these
gaps to move nuclear material, troops and equipment.

The US has now authorised an £18 billion programme to create a new network
of satellites orbiting at more than 2000 miles above the earth which could
have three times the scanning period and 20 times the image capability of
current KH-11s.

The plan is to create a system which could be targeted anywhere on the globe
at two hours' notice and be able to pick out an object the size of a tennis
ball.