Russia is set to launch a top secret spy satellite for South Africa\u2019s defence department, the DA claimed on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) had announced that a Kondor-E \u201cearth observation satellite\u201d would be launched on Thursday (December 18) from its Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Democratic Alliance MP David Maynier said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot be sure, but the Kondor-E satellite, which will be launched at 6.55pm SA time, may be defence intelligence\u2019s secret Russian Kondor-E \u2018spy satellite\u2019, developed under \u2018Project Flute\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maynier said the satellite reportedly arrived at the cosmodrome on December 1 \u201cfor pre-launch processing\u201d.<\/p>\n
Since then, it had been tested, loaded with propellant and transferred to site for final preparations.<\/p>\n
Maynier said Project Flute was a secret R1.4 billion defence intelligence contract with Russian company NPO Mashinostroyenia \u2014 signed on May 19, 2006 \u2014 to develop a Kondor-E radar imaging satellite. The contract number was 710\/303\/060001.<\/p>\n
He said that while all the facts about Project Flute were not available, it was aimed at developing \u201ca synthetic aperture radar satellite, called the Kondor-E, capable of seeing at night and through cloud cover, for defence intelligence\u201d.<\/p>\n
The cost was about R1.4 billion.<\/p>\n
Maynier said Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula \u201chas refused point blank to reply to any questions about \u2018Project Flute\u2019 in Parliament\u201d.<\/p>\n
She had also warned off those asking questions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the minister has done is issue veiled threats to those of us asking hard questions about Project Flute,\u201d claimed Maynier.<\/p>\n
However, Defence Secretary Sam Gulube had conceded at a meeting of Parliament\u2019s defence portfolio committee, on October 22 this year, that a contract for a \u201cmilitary satellite\u201d existed, and that the contract was \u201con track\u201d.<\/p>\n
The defence department was not immediately available for comment.<\/p>\n
The news site www.russianspaceweb.com carries a report on the Kondor-E, including what it calls the project\u2019s \u201cmurky history\u201d.<\/p>\n
Under the headline \u201cRussia to orbit South-Africa\u2019s first spy satellite\u201d, it claims that South African defence intelligence \u201cplanned to use the satellite for various surveillance goals, including battlefield reconnaissance\u201d.<\/p>\n
It confirms that the satellite would be capable of providing all-weather, day-and-night radar imagery for the military.<\/p>\n
The report further speculates on the location of a possible ground station to monitor the satellite.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is still unclear where exactly the ground station for Kondor-E was located in South Africa, or even whether it had ever been built.\u201d<\/p>\n
It says the two best \u201ccandidate sites\u201d are the SA National Space Agency\u2019s Hartesbeeshoek facility, or the Overberg Test Range near Arniston, operated by Denel.<\/p>\n
This article first appeared on MyBroadband<\/a><\/p>\nRelated articles<\/h3>\n