In the 1940s General Electric opened the first of several factories around Syracuse that, at their peak, employed 17, 000 workers and invented, among other things, over-the-horizon radar.

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With this, they can shift their business focus from the rear-view mirror to an over-the-horizon radar that looks ahead to accurately anticipate future customer needs before anyone else.

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China has built several sky-wave based Over-the-Horizon radar stations that for the first time allow the PLA to monitor continuously U.S. Navy ship movements hundred miles out in the Western Pacific.

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This missile system, when operational and combined with China's developing over-the-horizon radar network and its new constellation of imaging and radar satellites designed to locate U.S. ships at great distances, will make for a potent weapon system.

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For the PLA, anti-missile systems, Aegis-class guided-missile cruisers, near-top-of-the-line F-16s fitted out with the latest air-to-air missiles, "over-the-horizon" long-range radar - all of this equipment is either in Taiwan, on its way or "under consideration" - are threats that can be coped with militarily.

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