Australia switches on £470m spy radar
David Fickling in Sydney
Thursday April 3, 2003
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,928373,00.html
Australia's defence minister, Robert Hill, launched a £470m radar system
yesterday which will allow surveillance of neighbouring countries.
The Jindalee operational radar network (Jorn) was completed five years
behind schedule and £50m over budget.
It is intended to spot large boats or aircraft but Senator Hill also linked
it to concerns about regional terrorism in the wake of the Bali bombing. He
said: "This is a much more valuable asset than I think the public will ever
understand.
"It's a huge capability boost in terms of surveillance and as we focus on
such issues as regional terrorism, it's going to be a great asset."
Previous Australian governments have been worried by their inability to
carry out consistent surveillance of the country's vast north. A prototype
of Jorn has been used to pick out people-smuggling boats in the Timor sea.
Scientists began work on the project nearly 40 years ago, and the system has
been under construction for 11 years.
Experts have questioned whether its wide focus comes at the expense of
accuracy.
"On its own it won't be as useful as when it was first proposed," said
Warren Reed, a former officer with the Australian secret intelligence
service.
There are also concerns about Indonesia's reaction, as Australia's
surveillance of its northern neighbour has often caused friction between the
two countries.
Jorn uses two banks of radio transmitters, 1,429 miles apart at Longreach in
Queensland and Laverton in Western Australia, to cover a 20,000 sq km range
stretching over Java, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in the
south-west Pacific ocean.
************************************************************************************
Distributed through Cyber-Society-Live [CSL]: CSL is a moderated discussion
list made up of people who are interested in the interdisciplinary academic
study of Cyber Society in all its manifestations.To join the list please visit:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/cyber-society-live.html
*************************************************************************************
|