The Chinese military is currently negotiating with an unnamed US computer giant for the purchase of a large number of laptop computers built to military specifications to equip its troops stationed near the Taiwan Strait, according to intelligence sources.
The computers are intended to improve the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) battlefield management system, enabling front-line soldiers to send back real-time battlefield information and images to their command posts inland.
According to industry analysts, the majority of laptops sold by US manufacturers are made in Tai-wan. By some estimates, Taiwan produces as much as 55 percent of the world's laptops.
The upgraded system is plan-ned to have similar specifications to Taiwan's US-made IMSE (improved mobile subscriber equipment) tactical communication system. The Taiwan military currently has only one operational IMSE unit -- in the army's sixth corps.
The PLA's upgraded system will be deployed to elite troops such as the 42nd Army Group of the Guangzhou Military Region -- a unit specially trained for an invasion of Taiwan.
The PLA made the decision to buy computers to improve its battlefield system during a recent review of an "information drill" launched at the end of last year in southeast China.
The drill was launched mainly to test its fiber-optic cable system in the southeast of the country -- the backbone of the military's high-speed communication network.
An intelligence official, whose job is to monitor the PLA, said the PLA found during the drill that its real-time battlefield management system could not function properly, mainly because of problems with computers carried by individual soldiers.
"Individual laptop computers used in the drill were just too old for real-time information transmission. After the drill, the PLA first contacted a French computer company looking for suitable replacements. But the French company could offer only computers built to commercial specifications," the official said.
"The PLA then approached a well-known computer company in the US. There they found the computers they wanted. It seems certain that the PLA will get the computers from the US company, although the US government has firm restrictions on the transfer of military technology to China," the official said.
According to industry sources, laptops of military specifications are much more expensive than their commercial equivalents. They are shock- and waterproof. The PLA started developing its battlefield management system in 1996 and now looks set to bring it into maturity with the help of US technology.
Meanwhile, the PLA has also shown improvements in other areas, such as its ability to rapidly deploy larger quantities of troops and supplies. In a logistics drill launched before the lunar new year holiday, the PLA measured the time it would need to transport troops and supplies from one place to another.
"In the past, the PLA had made similar efforts. But the results this time were more significant," a defense official said.
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