RUSSIA NOW WITHOUT A SPY SATELLITE IN ORBIT. According to an
article in the 9 May "Jane's Defence Weekly," Russia does not
now have a military photo-reconnaissance satellite in orbit.
A generation ago, the Soviet Union routinely launched 30 or
more such satellites every year, the journal said, but in
1999, only one such satellite was put in orbit, and in 2000,
only three. Now, those satellites have been deorbited or are
no longer functional. PG
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