【Current Affairs Military】 CCP’s “Space Combat” Alerts US Space Force.

In a world where space battles reminiscent of scenes from the movie “Star Wars” may become a reality, the senior commander of the United States Space Force has emphasized the occurrence of symbolic “space dogfights” in the black background of space. The progress of the Chinese Communist Party’s “space weaponization” program is pushing the United States to rethink its space strategy.

On April 3, Chance Saltzman, the Secretary of Space Operations of the United States, highlighted in a hearing of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission that the lack of attention to space security policy in the U.S. national security strategy has hindered the Space Force’s ability to rapidly evolve to counter current threats, especially those posed by the increasing space capabilities of the Chinese Communist Party.

The United States has consistently advocated for global peace in the use and development of space. Many countries around the world have deployed their scientific, commercial, or military space assets, with a significant portion of these assets devoted to scientific research and commercial operations. There are also a considerable number of satellites engaged in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, communications, and global high-precision positioning military missions. However, most of these space assets themselves have not been equipped with lethal weapon systems dedicated to destroying enemy satellites. The United States has been trying to persuade adversaries to avoid “space weaponization,” and seems to be striving to practice this ideal. However, the United States’ competitors, particularly the Chinese Communist Party, appear to have never ceased their “space weaponization” program.

Saltzman, in his submission to Congress titled “China’s Space Ambitions,” warned the United States that space has long been a domain of warfare, with space weaponization having a history of at least twenty years. The U.S.’s acknowledgment of this fact has been too slow, impeding its progress in the space domain. He specifically emphasized that the CCP has already posed a threat to the United States in space. He believes that the U.S. national security space policy has “lagged” behind real needs, stating that “we have restrained ourselves from doing what we need to do for too long,” and “we have fallen behind in formulating declarative policies and policies requiring rapid action.”

Saltzman believes that due to the U.S.’s leadership in space technology, the space domain brings many advantages to the United States. The U.S. has become accustomed to taking these advantages for granted, which has seemingly led to the neglect of the importance of the space domain, detached it from people’s awareness and thinking, to the extent that it has not risen to the level requiring serious policy considerations. Therefore, the Space Force must request attention to the national security policies from higher authorities.

Over the past two decades, U.S. adversaries, particularly the Chinese Communist Party, have developed anti-satellite capabilities that pose serious threats to the United States, including kinetic and non-kinetic weapons that can potentially destroy or disable U.S. satellites.

In 2007, the CCP conducted its first anti-satellite missile test, destroying a decommissioned weather satellite into thousands of fragments. These space debris are still having repercussions. Since then, the CCP has been strengthening its space capabilities. In October of last year, China released a new space development plan, indicating Beijing’s efforts to surpass the U.S. in dominating the space realm. China evidently understands the crucial importance of the space domain for achieving long-range precision strikes, intelligence gathering, and information dissemination.

As of October 2024, China claimed to have over 1,015 active satellites, with an increasing number each year. Over half of these satellites are equipped with optical, multispectral, radar, and radio frequency sensors for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions. This has significantly enhanced its capability to detect and track U.S. aircraft carriers, expeditional forces, and aviation fleets.

China’s geostationary orbit (GEO) satellites can continuously monitor military activities of the United States and its allies in the Pacific region. Its expanding low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation, which is planned to reach 14,000 satellites by 2030, will enable China to compete with Western commercial LEO constellations.

China’s third-generation global positioning system, “Beidou III,” provides positioning, navigation, and timing services and has been utilized in troop movements and maneuvers. Additionally, China has conducted at least three space shuttle missions and released unidentified objects.

Saltzman believes that China’s continuously growing space capabilities will enable it to threaten the security of the United States and its allies with long-range precision weapons, potentially hampering U.S. military operations. If these threats are not mitigated, they will at least increase the difficulty and complexity of U.S. military objectives.

Intelligence indicates that the Chinese military may view anti-satellite operations as a means of deterrence and countering the U.S. in regional conflicts, particularly targeting U.S. intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance satellites as well as communication satellites for destruction. China may be planning to deploy land-based weapons capable of destroying satellites above 36,000 kilometers in geostationary orbit. In 2013, China launched a ballistic object with a range of 30,000 kilometers, believed to be a test of land-based anti-satellite weapons.

In addition to ground-based weapons, China is also developing orbit “inspection and repair” satellites, which have dual-use capabilities as both in-orbit servicing tools and anti-satellite weapons. This involves a legend akin to capturing enemy satellites as seen in science fiction, however, it has been confirmed as a reality.

Indeed, China is striving to narrow the gap with the United States in the space domain, but this does not imply that China is significantly more advanced or has made great breakthroughs in space technology. It signifies that China is almost entirely focusing on military and weaponization in the space domain, contrary to the peaceful development and utilization of space advocated by the United States, particularly in the aspect of space weaponization, where it has resorted to unethical means.

China’s anti-space activities are supported by a series of practice satellites (SJ) and communication technology test satellites (TJS) providing space situational awareness data. One of the most notable events was a satellite exercise conducted in March this year, which Deputy Secretary of Space Operations Michael A. Guetlein likened to “space dogfight” training.

Guetlein stated that the Space Operations Department observed five different objects simultaneously and controllably moving in and out and orbiting in space. He said, “This is what we call space dogfight.” “They are practicing tactics, techniques, and procedures for in-orbit operations from one satellite to another.”

Air combat between fighter jets is not unfamiliar to people, where fighter jets can maneuver freely in the air, such as climbing, descending, rolling, and looping, to gain advantageous attack positions and shoot down opponents. However, conducting any maneuver in space is not easy. Because there is no air in space, moving objects cannot alter their trajectory with external forces and can only travel along their designated orbits. To change trajectories in space, one must expend the energy carried or change one’s mass. Additionally, any maneuver in space must be extremely precise, or else opportunities for engagement may be missed, requiring accurate sensor data to provide the necessary situational awareness to operators participating in the melee, enabling them to make correct decisions and maintain superiority. Furthermore, future space dogfights are more likely to be unmanned, with two satellites or spacecraft engaged in combat controlled by ground operators.

Guetlein did not elaborate on the mechanism of the Chinese “satellite dogfight,” making it difficult to determine if it is genuinely a satellite maneuvering capability. It is more probable that China launched five satellites into space as a collective, maintaining a joint trajectory, with each satellite capable of moving around their mass center. Even so, this is enough to raise high alerts in the U.S., as its purpose might be to launch lethal attacks on U.S. space assets. Reports suggest that Russia is also developing destructive space weapons that can destroy satellites and potentially alter the style of warfare in the future.

Thus far, discussions on space warfare continue to carry a romantic hue. However, Saltzman emphasizes that the U.S. Space Force is planning and forecasting various scenarios that may emerge in the future space domain, which is increasingly becoming hostile and competitive.

Given the global nature of space and its interconnectedness with almost every aspect of modern life, the consequences will be direct and significant. Saltzman states that the U.S. must expand its space domain awareness, ensuring that the information it holds meets or surpasses that of its adversaries. Faced with adversaries capable of disrupting everything, the United States must unify policies to ensure sustainable security and reliability in the space domain.