The Trump administration on Thursday approved a possible foreign military sale to NATO worth an estimated 136.1 million U.S. dollars to extend Stinger missiles' service life.
The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) requested to buy additional booster pellets, flight motors, gas generator cartridges, Stinger warheads sections, as well as U.S. government and contractor engineering and technical services, said the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency in a statement.
"This proposed sale will contribute to U.S. and NATO defense goals by increasing readiness and enhancing the air defense capabilities of NATO Allies. Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into their armed forces," it said.
NSPA, NATO's lead organization for multinational acquisition, support and sustainment across all domains, manages the Stinger Service Life Extension Program on behalf of Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands.
The Stinger missile is a lightweight, self-contained air defense system that can be rapidly deployed by ground troops, according to Raytheon, the U.S. defense firm that produces the missile.
US approves possible 136 mln USD military sale to NATO
China will continue to foster and strengthen the space computing industry, according to the country's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
Space-based computing power refers to deploying computational capabilities in space and using satellite networks to achieve seamless coverage. Compared to traditional land-based data centers, space computing boasts advantages such as real-time on-orbit processing, low-cost energy and wide-area coverage. "Computing satellites can achieve seamless coverage and process data directly on orbit through networks of laser communications. This compresses the data timeliness for scenarios like disaster warnings and resource monitoring from hours to seconds -- a capability land-based computing cannot match," said Xie Lina, deputy director of the Data Center Department, Cloud Computing and Big Data Institute, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.
The ministry will support relevant departments in actively carrying out forward-looking research on space computing, gradually establish a standard system covering hardware, software, networking, security, and others, and promote the research and development in technologies and products involving satellite-based radiation-resistant chips and inter-satellite laser communication.
China continues to foster, strengthen space computing industry
