China's Sovremenny-class destroyers seem to have captured the most attention. Turning to air power, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have procured advanced US war-planes, while China and North Korea have turned to Russia for new fighters. Air power will receive another significant boost with the introduction of mid-air refueling tankers. At present, both Beijing and Tokyo intend to acquire such aircraft. Airborne reconnaissance and signals intelligence capabilities also are being reinforced.
Military satellites appear to be the next step.
China has successfully launched satellites into orbit and Japan, Taiwan and both of the Koreas harbor such ambi-tions. But this is changing. In August 1998, Pyongyang test-launched a missile that could strike Japan or any of the American forces stationed on Japanese territory. Roughly one year later, it appeared that the launch of an even longer-range missile was imminent. Although the testing of this missile, an ICBM capable of delivering a several hundred kilogram payload to the continental US, was cancelled, the CIA has warned that work on it is continuing.