Space: September 17, 2001

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The US Air Force wants to have a constellation of radar satellites in orbit by FY13 which could locate, identify, and track ground targets such as tanks and trucks. The first satellite would be launched in 2008; it would take at least eight satellites to provide continuous coverage. This should avoid the embarrassing incidents in the Kosovo War in which dummy targets were destroyed while hundreds of real targets were never found.--Stephen V Cole