Kenya defense forces will be using the little known San Marco space station in Malindi to increase their intelligence gathering capacity besides improving their defense capabilities, SIN has confirmed.
The San Marco Space port, is an Italian owned space station that has launched 27 space rockets successfully 3-kilometers inside the Indian Ocean.
Kenya Ministry of State for Defense admits that Kenyan military personnel receive training from Italy while intelligence officers and Israeli experts are exploring how they can fly drones from the San Marco station.
The San Marco is operated by Italian Space Agency (ASI, Agenzie Spaziale Italiana) with Kenya playing significant roles in space science for over 40-years.
Italian Foreign minister, Franco Frattini was in Kenya on January 14, 2010 to hold talk with foreign affairs minister Moses Wetangula and the Kenyan defence minister Yusuf Haji.
Frattini, Wetangula, and Haji settled on a 15-year agreement on the San Marco space station with Italy pledging more financial, technical, and other forms of support to ensure benefits of the facility were significantly achieved.
Denials by US and Ethiopia that US sent drones to Kismayu confirm Intelligence reports that the drones were flying from the coasts of East Africa (South) and not from the north further making the intel credible.
The accuracy of the attacks further asserts this credibility based on proximity and clarity of the target depending on the operator.
San Marco Range has two platforms in Formosa Bay three miles off the coast namely the Santa Rita platform which is the firing pad, while the San Marco platform is the launch pad.