• Forum
• SITREP
• Military
• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security

• Space

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Public Eye

GEO SIGINT - Qianshao / TJSW Tongxin Jishu Shiyan Weixing

Although China has an extensive and robust ground, sea and air-based SIGINT assets, it has apparently not otherwise exploited space-based systems for signals intelligence purposes. Taking into account the generally accepted lag of some 15-20 years between the state of the art in Chinese and American spacecraft contstruction, it would appear within Chinese technological capabilities to construct high-altitude SIGINT spacecraft with antenna diameters of a few tens of meters, equivalent to American spacecraft of the 1970s. That China has not done so to date almost certainly relates to the high cost and low productivity of such a system relative to current Chinese intelligence collection priorities.

The experimental ELINT satellites of the late 1970s were discontinued for unknown reasons. Technical writings, however, provide indications that the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST), the successor of the Shanghai Bureau of Astronautics, has resurrected the program and intends to field a satellite-borne electronic reconnaissance system.

Brian Harvey suggested in 2019 that the Tongxin Jishu Shiyan Weixing (TJSW - "communications engineering test satellite”) may be a military intelligence program, although with different functions – TJSW 1 for eavesdropping and TJSW 2 for early warning.

Following the launch of TJSW 1, Chinese authorities said the new satellite was a geostationary communications technology test satellite to be mainly used to conduct a test on Ka-band in broadband communication (frequencies between 27 and 40 GHz). Eventually, TJSW-1 was orbited on a geostationary orbit and no other information was revealed. Later it was known that the satellite had successfully deployed China's first large aperture reflector antenna in orbit. TJSW 1 was also known as Qianshao-3 - the same generic program name which had been given to low orbit satellites which were undertaking SIGINT work. Other reports also use the designator Chang Cheng 1 - “Great Wall”.

In January 2017 some newly-collated information was posted about the satellite. Manufactured by CAST, the satellite was China’s first to carry a large mesh antenna, with a diameter of ~32 metres being reported. Such an antenna would be ideal for SIGINT operations At 0:43 on December 30, 2021, Beijing time, China used the Long March 3B carrier rocket at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center to successfully deploy the communication technology test satellite No. 9 Launched into the air, the satellite successfully entered the scheduled orbit, and the launch mission was a complete success. This mission, suspected to be the third Qianshao-3 signals intel satellite, is the 405th flight of the Long March series of carrier rockets.