DistantNews
Support us
US weighs offensive space tactics as China satellite rivalry intensifies
🇨🇳 China /Technology

US weighs offensive space tactics as China satellite rivalry intensifies

From South China Morning Post · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • The U.S. is developing offensive space weapons to counter China's growing satellite capabilities.
  • Analysts warn of a lack of communication channels between the U.S. and China to manage space risks.
  • China's People's Liberation Army uses intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance satellites to target U.S. forces.

The United States is actively preparing to deploy offensive weapons capable of disabling China's military satellites in a potential conflict. This strategic shift comes amid escalating rivalry in orbit and a concerning lack of reliable communication channels between the two superpowers to manage space-related risks, according to defense analysts.

We’re now having to think … how do we, the United States, hold those assets at risk, so that they can’t use space to target us on the ground.

— Kari BingenDirector of the Aerospace Security Project at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), discussing U.S. offensive space capabilities.

Kari Bingen, director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), highlighted that Washington is openly discussing how to "hold at risk" the satellites that support China's targeting of American forces in the Indo-Pacific. "We’re now having to think … how do we, the United States, hold those assets at risk, so that they can’t use space to target us on the ground," Bingen stated at a CSIS event. She added that this is "really starting to spur this much more public conversation on offence, or our ability to deny the other side the use of space."

That is really starting to spur this much more public conversation on offence, or our ability to deny the other side the use of space.

— Kari BingenExplaining the public discourse around offensive space strategies.

Bingen noted that China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) operates over 500 intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) satellites. The PLA has been observed "practising out in the Gobi Desert, targeting our ports, our ships, our airfields" by integrating space sensors with battle networks to create "kill chains" against U.S. forces. The former U.S. deputy under secretary of defense for intelligence also expressed concern over the absence of basic safety dialogues between Washington and Beijing, contrasting it with existing U.S.-Russia communication. "If a U.S. satellite was on a collision course with a Chinese one, 'we send an email. We don’t know if it gets answered. The onus is on our side to take that evasive manoeuvre'," she explained.

practising out in the Gobi Desert, targeting our ports, our ships, our airfields

— Kari BingenDescribing China's People's Liberation Army's satellite and targeting practices.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by South China Morning Post. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog