Display board for the BeiDou+ frontier defense and control system by NORINCO Group Photo: Deng Xiaoci/GT

China arms industry giant China North Industries Group Corp Ltd (NORINCO) on Thursday said it is building a new frontier and coastline defensive system across the country with the home-developed BeiDou Satellite Navigation System, or BDS, at its core.  

Codenamed "BeiDou+ Land and Maritime Defense and Control System," the system is designed to provide high precision monitoring and communication capability for border defense personnel and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to conduct missions in border regions, Yang Hua, the project leader from NORINCO, said during an exclusive interview with the Global Times on Thursday on the sidelines of the 10th China Satellite Navigation Conference in Beijing. 

As part of the Beidou-powered project, the company aims to build land-based Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) every 40 to 50 kilometers along the country's land and maritime border to achieve an extreme high precision position, reaching centimeter-level accuracy on moving targets and millimeter-level accuracy on static ones, Yang said.

Some 2,000 CORS stations have already been deployed and put into use in border and interior regions, including Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Yunnan Province, and islands and reefs in the South China Sea. 

Display board for the BeiDou+ frontier defense and control system by NORINCO Group Photo: Deng Xiaoci/GT

The high precision system can make drones carry out more frequent routine patrols in regions with perilous climates or geographical conditions, which greatly protects the lives of frontier army men, Yang said. 

The BDS can also provide short messaging services to its users. This can help frontier soldiers holding BeiDou-enabled terminals on mission, either at land or sea, to contact the rear more efficiently, helping the frontier soldiers better respond to emergency situations, Yang said

According to Yang, "the system has also been used as part of the local anti-terrorist campaign in Xinjiang, which has been proven effective."

NORINCO's display board for the system at the exhibition area shows  that customers of such a system include the country's land and maritime frontier army, public security and coast guards.