A Long March rocket blasted off with a Chinese reconnaissance satellite Tuesday on an unannounced mission to collect imagery of strategic sites around the world.

The Yaogan 13 remote sensing satellite took off at 1850 GMT (1:50 p.m. EST) Tuesday from the Taiyuan launching base in Shanxi province of northern China. Launch occurred at 2:50 a.m. Wednesday Beijing time.

The two-stage Long March 2C rocket placed the payload in a sun-synchronous orbit with an average altitude of about 300 miles, according to satellite tracking data.

The launch was successful, according to the the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology.

The Yaogan series of satellites gather optical and radar reconnaissance imagery for Chinese military and intelligence agencies. Yaogan 13 may carry a synthetic aperture radar sensor to peer through clouds for all-weather, night-and-day image collection.  [Space Flight Now]

You can read more at the link.

The Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system is just one of several U.S. military programs that might have been compromised through the inclusion of fake Chinese electronics that were passed off as high
grade, the London Telegraph reported on Tuesday. Investigators for the Senate Armed Services Committee found a total of 1,800 instances in which the

U.S. Defense Department had purchased electronic components that could be counterfeit.  The Senate researchers found false components used not only in the THAAD system, but also in Boeing transport planes and helicopters.  The THAAD system was developed to destroy hostile ballistic missiles in their end phase of flight, both inside and outside of the Earth’s atmosphere, according to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.
In roughly 70 percent of the cases documented by Senate investigators, the counterfeit components were purchased in China, which is also believed to have been the origination point for 20 percent of the
other cases in which fake electronics were purchased from Canada and the United Kingdom.

In Chinese shopping districts, “military grade” computer chips are widely hawked, but these microchips are frequently commercial-grade ones that have been altered and repackaged. Military-quality electronics are developed to endure wide fluctuations in humidity and temperature. There are concerns that counterfeit Chinese chips could abruptly cease functioning. “We cannot tolerate the risk of a ballistic missile interceptor failing to hit its target, a helicopter pilot unable to fire his missiles, or any other mission failure because of a counterfeit part,” said the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.).  Analysts contend that issues with counterfeit electronics go back to the Clinton White House, when the Defense Department was directed to purchase “off-the-shelf” components instead of developing its own. A 2008 Commerce Department probe uncovered close to 7,400 instances of fraudulent components in military systems.  [Aviation Week]

In a move bound to anger China, the United States intends to sell $6.4 billion in arms to Taiwan, the State Department said Friday.

State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood said Congress — whose approval is needed for the deal to go through — was notified Friday afternoon. He indicated the administration expects congressional approval quickly.

The package includes a variety of U.S.-made weapons systems, including Patriot III anti-missile missiles, Apache attack helicopters, Harpoon missiles and Javelin anti-tank missiles.

The deal had been in the works for a few months, Wood said, and the decision is “consistent with U.S. policy of providing arms for defense of Taiwan and consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act.”

“This arms deal is a key factor in bringing security and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” he added. The deal also gives Taiwan upgrades for Taiwan’s E-2T aircraft and spare parts for its air force.  [CNN]

It has been US policy for quite some time to keep an equal military balance of power between Taiwan and China in order to prevent either side from initiating a conflict.  The sale of the PAC-3 missiles I would assume to be in response to the fact China has advanced their missile capabilities to be able to target satellites in space much less Taiwan.