China uses radar to track missile activity in Northeast Asia

Maxar Technologies has captured satellite images of China’s new surveillance radar system since February 2022. Information about the location of the image posted on Google Earth shows that this radar system is located on a mountain top in Yiyuan county, Shandong province, which faces the Korean peninsula across the Yellow Sea.

Satellite photos show the radar was built sometime after November 2019 and is heading northeast.

“This is a large phased array radar used to monitor missile threats from North Korea, South Korea and Japan.”, the source added that the radar has been in use for some time, but did not disclose when the device was built or when it became operational.

The new radar system is installed next to a south-facing radar and can monitor missile activity from Taiwan. The US site Defense News reports that Google Earth images show an older radar station built around 2013 or 2014.

Phased array radars are an integral part of China’s network of monitoring missile activities and space tracking. They are computer-controlled systems capable of scanning space with radio rays without rotating the antenna. Not only that, this type of device can also track multiple targets over a long range.

China started developing phased array radar systems in the 1970s.

The revelation of the new tracking radar comes at a time of heightened tension following a recent series of missile tests by North Korea.

In late March, Pyongyang conducted an intercontinental ballistic missile test for the first time since 2017. Previously, North Korean state media reported that the country had conducted three tests of supersonic missiles. bar .

In response to North Korea’s actions, Japan is planning to upgrade and expand the range of its cruise missiles so that they can hit targets 1,000 kilometers away. According to Nikkei, Japan aims to deploy the missile in the second half of the decade.