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People's Liberation Army
Air Force
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Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport
31°12'N 121°20'E
Although Shanghai is one of the three biggest international aviation hubs in China, Shanghai has only one civil airport, the Shanghai Hongqiao Intentional Airport which is located about 18 km from the City Center. The Pudong Airport will complement Shanghai's existing Hongqiao Airport, though most international flights will eventually shift to Pudong. China Eastern Airlines and Shanghai Airlines are based at Hongqiao Airport. Hongqiao Airport handled an average of 2,500 flights a week in 1998, of which 28 per cent were international. In 1999, it handled over 13 million passengers and over 700,000 tons of cargo.
Shanghai, China's largest city, has a status equivalent to a province, and reports directly to the central government. The city is located on the East China coast just to the south of the mouth of the Yantze River and has Jiangsu province to the north and Zhejiang to the south. Shanghai is one of China's biggest and busiest port, most important industrial and commercial center. Its population is 12 million, with a population density of 41,000 per square km.
This airfield, which is located south-west of the city of Shanghai, is probably a dual-use facility supporting both military and civil operations. A small highway strip is located to the west of this airfield.
The PLA has little need or incentive to utilize the airfields and other military facilities in this area, since other well-maintained nearby coastal military facilities ensure more proximate access to Taiwan. In the event of military conflict, the PLA is unlikely to this area as a staging base, because involving the area directly in military activities would be extremely disruptive to economic activity in the region.
Photographic Evaluation Report
High resolution imagery is available from three sources, including declassified CORONA imagery. Commercially available Russian 2-meter resolution KVR-1000 imagery is available via the SPIN-2 service on TerraServer.
As of 01 May 2000 archival Space Imaging IKONOS 1-meter imagery available on the CARTERRA™ Archive includes over two dozen scenes, acquired between 17 January 2000 and 28 March 2000. Of these scenes, however, at least half feature heavy cloud cover in excess of the standard 20% threshold. None of the remaining scenes include coverage of Shanghai Hongoiao International Airport.
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1969 - CORONA
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05 October 1986 - SPIN-2
Imagery from TerraServer.com Copyright
Aerial Images, Inc. and SOVINFORMSPUTNIK. Distribution and publishing
in any form requires permission from Aerial Images, Inc.
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Sources and Resources
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/china/facility/shanghai-hongoiao.htm
Maintained by Robert Sherman
Originally created by John Pike
Updated Friday, May 12, 2000 12:00:01 AM
