TOKYO, May 1 (UPI) -- Japan will reportedly launch two intelligence satellites in the coming 12 months that will give Tokyo round-the-clock world surveillance capability.
Tokyo's Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said Monday that an optical satellite would be launched in July followed by a radar-imaging satellite next January or February.
The report, citing government sources, said the spacecraft would join two others in a constellation that would allow Japan to capture images of any location in the world every 24 hours.
The scheduled launches come after Japanese lawmakers amended Japan's long-standing stance on the military use of space to allow spacecraft for defensive purposes.
Japan has been involved in spy-satellite development since 1998, when nearby North Korea test-fired a Taepodong ballistic missile over Japan.
The satellites reportedly are of the same type as a pair that was lost in the malfunction of an H2-A launch vehicle in 2003. The newspaper said the pending launches would also involve the H2-A rocket, which has been improved and has successfully launched two civilian satellites in the past year.
The initial plan to deploy two radar and two optical-imaging satellites was delayed by the 2003 launch debacle. As a precaution, Japanese officials will launch the new satellites separately.
In addition, there are plans to deploy an upgrade optical satellite in 2009 and a radar satellite in 2011.
