Luciad, a defence contractor based in Leuven, Belgium, is selling the Chinese government high performance software used for situational awareness by the military commands of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the South China Morning Post reported, citing Chinese government contractors.

The LuciadLightspeed program is able to quickly and accurately process real-time data, including from fast-moving objects.

© AP Photo / Lucas Jackson, Pool

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Situational awareness is the ability to know what is happening in a target environment and use that intelligence to defeat the enemy. In warfare, the situation is so fluid that it can change in seconds.The US graphics technology company NVidia, for its part, said that Luciad software help planners “visualise and analyse changes in enemy positions or assess target information in real time” in order to adjust relevant mission parameters.

Military planners normally use data from drones, satellites, radars, weather forecasts, etc., with traditional software allowing errors as large as 500 metres (1,600 feet) in the positioning of moving targets.

By contrast, LuciadLightspeed is capable of processing real-time data, including information on fast-moving objects, at a speed of 100 calculations per second, 75 times faster than its closest competitor, and is accurate to within 3 centimetres (one inch) on a global scale.

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Luciad software is reportedly used by the US Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. An array of secret US missions originated at the base, including the 2011 raid in Pakistan to assassinate al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

China boasts one of the world’s most extensive military intelligence gathering systems and also has the world’s second-largest network of satellites, second only to the United States.