China could soon have Big Brother style “ghost imaging” satellites that will allow them to track all US military planes, according to local media.
The spy satellites will allow the Chinese government to track stealthy targets such as US B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, which usually cannot be seen, within 10 years.
Using a system called ghost imaging China will be able to take pictures of the military air force, even if they are flying below heavy cloud.
The new equipment would essentially allow them to identify and monitor all aircrafts that are currently invisible at night from space, such as the US Air Force's stealthy B-2 Spirit.
Among the B-2's stealth characteristics is a special outer coating designed to deflect and absorb the waves produced by cameras on satellites in orbit.
Xiong Jun, a physics professor at Beijing Normal University, said: “The theory of ghost imaging has been well established and understood.
“The speed of application very much depends on the government and the amount of money it's willing to spend."
The communist state is currently hoping to invest enough money to have a prototype satellite complete by 2020, test the new technology by 2025 and then implement the big Brother styled satellites by 2030.
The announcement comes after Eric Schmidt, the head of Google’s parent company Alphabet, made a stark warning earlier this month about Beiing’s plans to invest heavily in technology.
Speaking about whether the US or China would have more technological power Mr Schmidt said: “It's pretty simple.
“By 2020, they will have caught up; by 2025, they will be better than us; and by 2030, they will dominate the industries of Artificial Intelligence (AI).”
The tech boss warned that China’s AI strategy could give the communist state the upper hand in any future war with the US.
The American said his country needed to get its “act together” and improve its military procedures for any potential conflict.
He accused the US Government of wasting too much time with red tape and pleaded for a change to the military’s planning procedure around the implementation of AI technology.
China’s national AI strategy speaks of the need for the “modernisation of the national defence and armed forced”.
It goes on to say: “The people’s armed forces will be transformed into world-class military by the mid-21st century.”
