ISRAEL ADVANCES IN SAR SATELLITE PROJECT

TEL AVIV [MENL] -- Israel has advanced in plans to launch its first synthetic aperture radar satellite in an effort to vastly improve its reconnaissance capability and reduce dependency on the United States. Officials said the Tecsar satellite project has overcome several hurdlesand could be launched by 2007. They said the satellite has become a priorityof the Defense Ministry and Israel Air Force for the acquisition ofstrategic image intelligence.