Space Force: China Could Strike U.S., Australian Forces

During a visit to Canberra this week, Lt. Gen. Gregory Gagnon, head of U.S. Space Force combat operations, told reporters that China has developed and tested weapons in space capable of tracking and striking U.S. and Australian forces.

He noted China had about 70 satellites in orbit in 2013; that number has increased to roughly 1,400.

Gagnon warned some Chinese satellites can monitor troop and ship movements and relay that information to long-range missile systems.

He said any conflict with China or Russia would extend into space because both countries have built forces to operate there. “Space is a warfighting domain today not because we want it to be, but because the People’s Liberation Army has made it so,” he added.

The Space Force’s Future Operating Environment 2040 report, released this month, lists technologies China is developing and fielding, including anti-satellite missiles, directed-energy weapons, autonomous satellites capable of offensive actions, and artificial intelligence systems designed to accelerate targeting decisions.

The report also cites Chinese research into brain-computer interfaces that could allow a single operator to control large satellite fleets and reduce decision times from minutes to milliseconds.

It warns some Chinese methods will be hard to detect: satellite jamming that resembles technical faults, GPS spoofing that looks like routine navigation errors, and attacks through supply-chain disruption. The report says the objective in many cases is to degrade U.S. capabilities gradually rather than deliver a single decisive strike.

Gagnon urged the United States and Australia not to rely only on passive defenses and to be prepared to take offensive action to prevent Beijing from tracking ships and forces.

On April 21, the Department of the Air Force requested $338.8 billion for the coming fiscal year, $92.5 billion more than the current year. The Space Force’s portion of the request is $71.1 billion, a 124% increase. The budget lists $21.6 billion for space control systems (up 158%), $6.7 billion for satellite communications, $6.8 billion for missile warning systems, and $500 million for cyber protection of satellites. Space Force Chief Gen. Chance Saltzman described the request as a generational opportunity to position the service against growing threats.

Australia’s new 10-year defense plan allocates between A$9 billion and A$12 billion to space, including a new multi-orbit satellite communications system for the Indo-Pacific. A recent report by a U.S. think tank found Australia trails peer countries in space capability and lacks a clear strategy to close the gap.

The Space Force report and Gagnon’s comments were released as the Pentagon and allies increase space spending and update defense plans to address contested activity in orbit.