China ramps up military Space capabilities in bid to rival US dominance

Hong Kong: China views space as a critical military domain, just as it does the land, sea and air.

While China's space programme is a source of national pride, its authoritarian leader Chairman Xi Jinping aims to displace the USA as the leading space power. This explains the enormous investment Beijing is pouring into scientific, civil and military space assets.

So what progress is China making? The US Space Force, in an updated space threat fact sheet published in April, described China's and Russia's advances as "a serious threat to US national security interests in, from and to space". In fact, the release warned starkly, "China is the pacing challenge and is rapidly improving its space capabilities to track and target US military forces. China and Russia are pursuing a wide range of counter-space capabilities to disrupt and degrade US space capabilities."

The statistics are certainly impressive. Last year, China conducted 68 space launches. Cumulatively, these rocket launches placed 260 individual payloads into orbit, of which 67 - or 26 percent - were satellites capable of performing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).

Phenomenally, China's on-orbit presence has snowballed 620 per cent in the past decade. It now has more than 1,060 satellites in orbit, which is 875 more than it had in 2015. Of this array of satellites, more than 510 can perform ISR for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) using a range of optical, multispectral, radar or radiofrequency sensors.

Such a satellite network can comb the Earth's surface looking for American aircraft carriers, air wings or other expeditionary assets, for example.

A significant example of such an ISR satellite is the remote-sensing TJS-12 launched into geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) in December 2024. The US Space Force claimed, "The satellite could allow China to persistently monitor US and allied forces in the Pacific region." (ANI)

Also Read: EAM Jaishankar discusses India and China ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping

Also Watch: