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By Micah McCartney
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Chinese satellites have been observed carrying out advanced "dogfighting" joint maneuvers in orbit, according to a senior U.S. military official.
While not inherently aggressive, the exercise has fueled concerns over Beijing's potential to disrupt or damage satellites—and with them, the communications billions of people depend on.
Why It Matters
The exercise also hammers home the fast-closing technology gap between China and the U.S. The East Asian power has ascended to the level of space power in recent years on the back of massive government investment in research and development.
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China has constructed a space station; was the first to land a probe on the dark side of the moon; and is in a race with the NASA-led Artemis program to send a manned mission to Earth's natural satellite, with plans for an eventual permanent base there. China is also building a communications satellite network to rival SpaceX's Starlink.
Newsweek reached out to the Chinese embassy in the U.S. by email with a request for comment.
What To Know
"With our commercial assets, we have observed five different objects in space maneuvering in and out around each other in synchronicity and in control. That's what we call 'dogfighting' in space," Gen. Michael Guetlein, vice chief of Space Operations in the U.S. Space Force, said Tuesday at a talk hosted by defense consulting and strategy firm McAleese.
"They are practicing tactics, techniques, and procedures to do on orbit space operations from one satellite to another."
Guetlein stressed the U.S. must maintain its edge in space, particularly when it comes to safeguarding the Pacific Fleet and Joint Force Command. "What keeps me up at night is the pace that the adversary—or the threat—is changing every single day. It is an eye-watering pace. It requires our guardians to be on their A-game every single day."
The Chinese maneuvers in question were carried out by five experimental satellites—three Shiyan-24Cs and a Shjian-605 A and B, Defense News cited a Space Force spokesperson as saying.
The growing capabilities of U.S. strategic adversaries are a source of anxiety in Washington.
Officials have also accused Russia of jamming signals from U.S. military satellites and deploying "nesting doll" satellites capable of firing projectiles to stalk their U.S. counterparts, suggesting they could be used to disable the space assets.
While Russia, a long-established space power, has been the focal point of these concerns, the longer-term threat is widely considered to be China—a rising military force that is by some measures outpacing the U.S. in the competition for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The technically complex maneuvers carried out by China last year, can only add to the perception of China as a threat.
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What's Been Said
Lin Jian, spokesperson, Chinese Foreign Ministry, said during an October press briefing: "China stays committed to the peaceful use of outer space, and opposes arms race in outer space or weaponizing outer space. China has no intention to engage in a race with other countries in space and doesn't seek to gain an edge in space."
Gen. Chance Saltzman, Space Force chief, was quoted by Politico: "The number of different categories of space weapons that [China has] created and [ …] the speed with which they're doing it is very threatening."
What's Next
President Donald Trump, who established the Space Force in 2019, has signaled his intent to prioritize space-based defense initiatives.
The agency has been tasked with determining how to move forward on the "Golden Dome" missile defense system program Trump established by executive order shortly after taking office.
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