Powell's Middle East tour to begin in Cairo

CAIRO — Secretary of State Colin Powell will make this city his first stop on his Mideast trip late this month in yet another signal that the Bush administration intends to upgrade U.S. ties with Egypt.

But it is the strategic component of the upgraded relationship that is being monitored closely in Israel. For example, Egypt is developing reconnaissance capability to monitor the entire Middle East.

The capability is being developed with the United States in what is described as a civilian effort. But Egyptian officials said Cairo's contract with U.S. firms is the first step toward a full-scale space reconnaissance program meant to compete with Israel.

Officials said the current space program allows Egypt to obtain satellite data in a 2,500 kilometer diameter of the southern city of Aswan. This would include most of North Africa and the Levant.

"This project will establish Egypt as a regional leader in earth observation and remote sensing capabilities," said Mohammed Adel Yehia, chairman of Egypt's National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Science. "We look forward to bringing the benefits of satellite technology to the entire region."

Officials did not detail the extent of Egypt's control over the satellite facility. Under the previous Clinton administration, Israel obtained a pledge not to allow U.S. satellites to provide imaging data of the Jewish state.

The State Department had not responded as of Thursday to the question of whether the Bush administration has imposed similar restrictions on the Egyptian satellite deal.

Meanwhile, the United States has pledged to maintain its level of military aid to Egypt. But Washington plans to continue to cut economic aid to Cairo.

Kurtzer said U.S. military aid to Cairo now amounts to $1.8 billion. He told Egyptian correspondents that this level would remain stable during the Bush administration. Economic aid would be reduced from $700 million to $400 million, he said.

Executives said that Datron/Transco Inc., based in Simi Valley, Calif., is testing such components for the reconnaissance system as the reflector, positioner, radio frequency feed, and servo/controller system. The contract was awarded last year for a program scheduled for completion in the fall.

Datron is providing the ground station, which will linked systems in Cairo and Aswan. The company is a a wholly owned subsidiary of Datron Systems Inc. which supplies satellite systems for such uses as tracking military transports.

Another U.S. firm, GeoMAP, will provide remote sensing and geographic information system services.

The Aswan station will acquire data from the French Spot as well as the U.S. Landsat-7 and ERS-2 satellites. The system has an option to add additional satellites in the future. The collected data will be transferred to the processing facility in Cairo for image archive, catalog and high-quality image generation.

"The Datron solution will provide NARSS with the instant data acquisition and rapid data processing capabilities that are critical for time sensitive applications such as agricultural monitoring, resource management and emergency response initiatives," Datron program manager Michelle Aten said.

Powell's visit will be followed by that of Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Mussa to Washington in early March. The two will prepare for a visit by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the spring.