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BEIDOU-2 M3

Chinese Navigation Satellite (BeiDou-2, Regional) · CNSA / China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation

BeiDou-2 M3 belongs to a satellite system China built because of a single humiliating moment. During the 1995-96 Taiwan Strait Crisis, China test-fired ballistic missiles toward the waters near Taiwan — and by some Chinese accounts, the missiles lost GPS guidance mid-flight, either through American signal degradation or simple loss of lock, forcing an abrupt and embarrassing halt to the exercise. Whatever exactly happened, Chinese military planners drew an unambiguous lesson: never again depend on a satellite navigation system controlled by a potential adversary. BeiDou-2, launched starting in 2007, was China's answer — a regional system covering Asia-Pacific, the direct ancestor of the fully global BeiDou-3 network that followed.