Military and Defence

China and the League of Arab States (LAS) agreed to promote the use of China’s BeiDou global navigation satellite system (GNSS) at the 7th Ministerial Meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum held in Doha, Qatar, on 16 May 2016. The BeiDou system is a rival to the US Global …

Tragically, the Middle East has been the backdrop for changes in the character of war over the past few decades. With the rapid dissemination of high-resolution Earth observation satellites throughout the region, even more changes in the character of war are in store, argues ThorGroup’s Dr. John B. Sheldon. The unique, …

It is difficult to overstate the critical importance of satellite navigation for the Middle East, yet the service is vulnerable to disruption. ThorGroup’s Dr. John B. Sheldon examines the threats to satellite navigation in the region, and ways to mitigate their worst effects. When Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized …

According to French business newspaper La Tribune, France and Egypt will sign a contract for a military communications satellite worth 600 million Euros on Tuesday, 10 May 2016, in Paris. SpaceWatch Middle East first reported on this deal in April 2016, just before French President Francois Hollande and Egyptian President …

The successful launch on 28 April 2016 of the seventh satellite of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) means that the Middle East region will soon have a supplementary, or even alternative, satellite navigation saystem to the American Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia’s GLONASS, and Europe’s Galileo. The satellite, …

ThorGroup’s Chairman and President, Dr. John B. Sheldon, explores the role of space in Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 recently announced economic and social reform programme. He argues that Vision 2030 is a golden opportunity for Saudi Arabian space. Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the son of King Salman and Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, …

More details are emerging of Iran’s launch of its Simorgh missile on Tuesday, 19 April, 2016. Most experts are unable to agree whether it was a failed space launch or a successful test of a new booster stage, with a few analysts are now suggesting that the Simorgh launch was …

Kratos Integral Systems Europe (ISE), a subsidiary of San Diego, California-based Kratos Defense and Security Solutions, Inc., successfully completed the critical design review (CDR) for the Sultanate of Oman’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) Advanced Space Radio Monitoring System. Oman’s TRA led the CDR supported by Kratos ISE personnel, and its …

In a clear reaction to collapsed relations with the Russian Federation, both Turkey and Ukraine have announced their intention to cooperate with each other in the development and manufacture of satellites, as well as collaboration on other strategic technologies. The announcement has come as a surprise to analysts, many of …

With the Iranian sanctions regime steadily coming apart, it is only a matter of time before Iran acquires – or even develops on its own – a high-resolution imaging satellite that will revolutionise its military and civil remote-sensing capabilities. Such a development is of particular concern to a number of countries …