A U.S. Air Force general is sounding the alarm about China’s improved anti-satellite weapons.
The Chinese regime launched a missile last July and claimed it was testing a ballistic missile defense system. A week later, however, the U.S. State Department revealed the missile test was actually for an experimental anti-satellite weapon.
This week, Air Force Lt. Gen. Jay Raymond confirmed that not only did the Chinese regime launch an anti-satellite weapon on July 23, 2014, but that the test was successful.
“Soon every satellite in every orbit will be able to be held at risk,” said Raymond on April 14, at the the annual Warfighters Lunch at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, according to the website Breaking Defense.
After the test last year, the State Department announced, “We call on China to refrain from destabilizing actions—such as the continued development and testing of destructive anti-satellite systems—that threaten the long-term security and sustainability of the outer space environment, on which all nations depend.”
Richard Fisher, a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, told Epoch Times at the time, “The State Department’s statement indicates to me this may be an additional test of the original anti-satellite system.”
The Chinese regime claimed the test did not destroy anything. Its anti-satellite weapon tests are particularly controversial, since it destroyed one of its own weather satellites in January 2007, which sent a cloud of dangerous debris barreling through orbit.
The Chinese regime has a history of trying to cover up tests for its anti-satellite weapons programs. For the test in July 2014, they claimed it was a missile defense test. For the test in May 2013, it claimed its anti-satellite test was a research rocket.
