Pentagon questioned on use of Chinese satellite

The Pentagon's decision to use a commercial satellite operated by a Hong Kong-based and listed company was questioned by a US lawmaker who said the use of China's Apstar-7 satellite "exposes our military to the risk that China may seek to turn off our eyes and ears".

However, a satellite expert has played down the fears, pointing out that it was made by a French company.

The Pentagon uses the satellite to provide communications for its Africa Command.

Use of China's Apstar-7 satellite was approved because it provided "unique bandwidth and geographic requirements" for "wider geographic coverage" requested last May by the US Africa Command, said Lieutenant Colonel Monica Matoush, a Pentagon spokeswoman.

Apstar-7 is operated by APT Satellite Holdings. The state-owned China Aerospace Science & Technology Corp holds 61 per cent of Hong Kong-based APT. The Pentagon contract was disclosed without details at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday during questioning from congressman Mike Rogers, chairman of the panel that oversees space programmes.

The contract "exposes our military to the risk that China may seek to turn off our 'eyes and ears' at the time of their choosing", Rogers, a Republican, said. "It sends a terrible message to our industrial base at a time when it is under extreme stress" from the automatic US budget cuts known as the sequester.

Matoush said the Defence Information Systems Agency and Africa Command "made an informed risk assessment of operational security considerations and implemented appropriate transmission and communications security and information assurance measures".