Chinese Military Developing Space Assets At "Breathtaking Speed"

Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of U.S. Space Command, recently warned about China's "breathtakingly fast" development of space military capabilities, following his trips to South Korea and Japan.

"We are seriously focused at U.S. Space Command on our pacing challenge, which is the People's Republic of China," Gen. Whiting told reporters during a call from Japan on April 24.

"The People's Republic of China is moving at breathtaking speed in space, and they are rapidly developing a range of counter-space weapons to hold at risk our space capabilities," he added.

Reports indicate that China is actively working on various space-based weapons technologies, including satellite-mounted lasers, kinetic kill vehicles, and electromagnetic railguns. These capabilities, if fully realized, could potentially enable China to neutralize enemy satellites, intercept incoming missiles, and exert dominance over strategic orbits.

"They're also using space to make their terrestrial forces--their army, their navy, their marine corps, their air force--more precise, more lethal, and more far-ranging."

One particular concern was the number of Chinese satellites in orbit, Gen. Whiting said.

"Over the last six years, they have tripled the number of intelligent surveillance and reconnaissance satellites on orbit, and they have used their space capabilities to improve the lethality, the precision, and the range of their terrestrial forces," he said.

"And so that obviously is a cause for concern and something that we are watching a very, very closely."

China's satellite fleet stood at 359 systems as of January, according to his prepared remarks for a hearing of the Senate Armed Service Committee in February. He also noted that Beijing is developing hypersonic glide vehicles along with other advanced space weaponry to "overcome U.S. traditional missile warning and ballistic missile defense systems."

China's ambitions with regard to the Moon are also among Space Command's concerns.

"We've seen the announcements of China's ambitions to go to the Moon. And those appear to be exploratory and scientific on the surface, but the Chinese aren't very transparent with what they do in space," he said.

"And so we hope there's not a military component to that, but we would certainly welcome more transparency."

A U.S. military report published in January warned that China and Russia are putting up dual-use satellites in space while hiding their military applications. One example is a Chinese satellite equipped with a giant robotic arm, which could be used to grapple other satellites in the future.

China is aiming to put its astronauts on the moon by 2030. Pakistan, South Africa, Belarus, and Nicaragua are among a group of nations that have signed up for a planned moon base led by China and Russia. The moon project is officially known as the International Lunar Research Station.

Originally published at Activist Post