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DFH-4

China also announced in 1994 a plan to deploy a GEO data relay satellite later in this decade, although formal program approval was not granted at that time(Reference 252). subsequently the DFH-4 project was approved and is underway, though launch schedules and other technical details have not been publicly released. CASC’s satellite R&D and manufacturing arm, CAST, has commenced work on the next generation communication satellite, the DFH-4, a direct broadcasting system which can transmit data to users without the need for ground station rebroadcasting.

The fielding of a direct broadcast satellite offers a capability for distributing information to the lowest echelon in a battlefield if this technology were adapted to military applications, potentially transmitting data (maps, pictures, and enemy deployments) on demand to small units, each using an 18-inch (or smaller) capability to receive orders and situational information. The DFH-4 could feasibly permit the transmission of tailored data to hundreds of units simultaneously.

REFERENCES

• 252. "China Designing Data Satellite for '97 Launch", Space News, 31 January - 6 February 1994, p. 2.

Sources and Resources

• Adapted from: Europe and Asia in Space 1993-1994, Nicholas Johnson and David Rodvold [Kaman Sciences / Air Force Phillips Laboratory]
• CHINA'S STRATEGIC MODERNIZATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE UNITED STATES Mark A. Stokes [U.S. Army Strategic Studies Institute] -- September 1999

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