China’s military has deployed 347 satellites, including 35 launched in the past six months, to target U.S. forces in a future conflict, the commander of the Space Force told a Senate hearing on Tuesday.
Space Force Gen. B. Chance Saltzman said Russia is also testing and deploying orbital anti-satellite weapons, extensive cyber capabilities and land-based anti-satellite missiles, electronic jammers and lasers.
China’s more advanced space warfare weapons pose “the most immediate threat” to attacks in space, while less-capable Russian space assets also pose “an acute threat” of attacks or disruptions on U.S. satellites.
Both “are intent on targeting perceived U.S. vulnerabilities and eliminating American advantage in the space domain,” the four-star general told a Senate Armed Services subcommittee on strategic forces hearing Tuesday. “Both expect space to be key to future warfare by enabling long-range precision strikes. Both seek information superiority through disabling an adversary’s space communication and navigation systems.”
Gen. Saltzman said China has been aggressively building space weapons and technology to attack space systems and ground components. Beijing is aiming to become the world’s leading space power by 2045 as part of what Chinese officials have called a “space dream,” deploying lasers that can attack satellite sensors and electronic warfare jammers that can disable GPS satellites and communications satellites.
via joemiller
