Beijing Deploys Hundreds of Satellites to Monitor Military Exercises in Australia

A Kuaizhou-1A carrier rocket with a Chinese character slogan that reads "Heroic Wuhan, Great China" lifts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in China's northwest Gansu province carrying two communications satellites on May 12, 2020. STR/AFP via Getty Images

Hundreds of Chinese satellites are currently hovering over Australia collecting information on military training activities involving allies and regional partners.

According to space data collected by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Beijing conducted a full scale surveillance of the recently completed “Exercise Talisman Sabre,” and now the “Exercise Malabar” being held off Sydney.

This comes as Australia plays host to Exercise Malabar, an annual drill with warships from the United States, India, and Japan—an alliance known as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad. This is the first time Australia has hosted the event, which runs over 10 ten days and started from Aug. 10.

Choppers fly overhead as the HMAS Brisbane (L) enters Sydney Harbour in Sydney, Australia on Aug. 11, 2023 as part of Exercise Malabar annual drill. AAP Image/Jenny Evans

EOS Space Systems in Canberra tracked three Chinese geostationary orbiting satellites hovering across Northern Australia during Exercise Talisman Sabre in July.

Since Aug. 10, hundreds of smaller low-orbit satellites (LEOs) have been tracked, completing thousands of orbits over Sydney Harbour, where the QUAD Exercise Malabar is being held.

“We’ve seen over 300 satellites surveying ground-based activities, and the number of overflights is over 3,000 since the start of the Malabar exercise centred around the Sydney Harbour bay area,” James Bennett from EOS Space Systems said, reported the ABC.

Mr. Bennett said that a large number of Chinese satellites above Australia are providing Beijing with detailed information on what is occurring on the Australian mainland and offshore.

“They can glean military intelligence on what the capabilities and equipment are, as well as processes of ground military activities; they can use this to drive a fair bit of intelligence on military operations in Australia,” Mr. Bennett said.

Meanwhile, the Defence Department said that it takes “prudent measures to safeguard the information security of Australian and participating forces” but did not provide details on how it was managing the risk, reported the ABC.

The Defence Department has been approached for comment.

Beijing’s Growing Satellite Presence

James Brown, the chief executive of the Space Industry Association of Australia, told ABC that the number of Chinese satellites tracking the military exercises is indicative of Beijing’s growing presence in space.

“We’ve seen an extraordinary amount of Chinese intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance satellites being launched in recent years, and Australia is a target for all that activity; space is becoming a critical domain for any future conflict and any potential conflict,” Mr. Brown said.

“They have hundreds of military and intelligence satellites which are not only collecting on Australia and its allies but in some cases dazzling Australian and allied satellites and manoeuvring closely to other satellites.

“Australia, by contrast, doesn’t own any military satellites and certainly doesn’t have any capability to collect the sort of imagery that China’s been collecting over Sydney Harbour this week.

In February, Australian officials sought clarification from the United States as to whether Chinese spy balloons were flown over Australia after the U.S. declared that Beijing had “overflown these surveillance balloons over more than 40 countries across five continents.”

Earlier that month, U.S. Defence shot down four objects, with one being a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon.