US Space Chief Warns Congress of China’s Space Capabilities in Potential Indo–Pacific War

China has ‘invested heavily in counter space threats’ over the past two decades, Gen. Chance Saltzman said.

U.S. Space Force Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, chief of Space Operations, testifies at a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill on March 14, 2023. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

China’s ambitions in space pose a “powerful destabilizing force” to the U.S. economy and national security, according to Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations for the U.S. Space Force.

“Space has become a warfighting domain,” Saltzman told the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a bipartisan congressional panel, in a hearing on April 3.

“Over the last two decades, our competitors, China in particular, have invested heavily in counter space threats, kinetic and non-kinetic weapons that can deny, degrade, or destroy our satellites,” Saltzman warned.

The hearing took place as tensions have mounted between China and the United States regarding trade policies and tariffs. Saltzman’s testimony sheds light on the challenges that the U.S. military could face over a potential conflict in the western Pacific, including Taiwan.

Saltzman explained that China has been able to advance its space capabilities quickly because it has a “Western Pacific mindset,” pooling all its resources and advancing all capabilities in that region. In contrast, the United States has more global concerns, according to the Space Force commander.

“The modern battlefield has to account for the space domain,“ he said. ”If we can’t continue to protect our use of the domain and we can’t deny an adversary, it’s going to be tough to meet military objectives in any of the other domains.”

In his written testimony, Saltzman explained that the Chinese regime’s military, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), has set out military objectives for the space domain.

“Intelligence suggests the PLA likely sees counterspace operations as a means to deter and counter U.S. military intervention in a regional conflict,” Saltzman wrote.

The general said China’s space weapons include ground-to-space missiles and ground-based lasers, the latter of which can “disrupt, degrade, or damage satellite sensors.”

“By the mid-to-late 2020s, we expect them to deploy systems high enough in power that they can physically damage satellite structures,” his testimony reads.

Currently, China’s military exercises “regularly incorporate radio frequency jammers” against space-based communications, radars, and navigation systems, according to Saltzman.

“Intelligence suggests the PLA may be developing jammers to target a greater range of frequencies, including U.S. military protected extremely-high-frequency (EHF) systems,” he said.

In 2022, China used a satellite equipped with a robotic arm to tow a defunct Chinese navigation satellite to a graveyard orbit. Saltzman said such a robot-armed satellite was an example of how satellites can have both civilian and military applications and that it is “not a science fiction” that China can use such technology to “capture enemy satellites.”

China is also practicing “dogfighting in space,” Saltzman said, saying his service has seen Chinese experimental satellites conducting “unusual, large, and rapid maneuvers” in geostationary orbit in recent years. Based on the observation, Saltzman said Beijing “is resolved to contest [U.S.] spacepower through combat operations.”

“China’s advancement in space technology, their stated desire to dominate, and Beijing’s disregard for international norms for the responsible use of space make them an incredible danger to U.S. prosperity and security,” he said.

“China’s determination to deny U.S. spacepower in the Indo–Pacific could not only degrade of [sic] our military space-based capability, but it would threaten the satellites of our allies and commercial partners as well.”