At least one official in the Department of Defense has signaled that China is on its way to developing weaponry for use in outer space, the Daily Caller reports.
Rear Admiral Michael Studeman of the United States Navy, Director of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, made the assertions during a recent virtual conference. Admiral Studeman claimed that China was already working on technology that included the capabilities of “dazzling to jamming, to kinetic kill-from-the-ground, from space,” adding that “they’re on the march.”
“They take a look at our space capability and want to equal and exceed those,” Studeman continued. “And be able to dominate to guarantee themselves the maneuvering they need to be able to secure their objectives if they’re in a fight.”
Studeman’s statements reaffirm a recent report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which concluded in its April “Threat Assessment” report that the Chinese are aiming to “integrate space services – such as satellite reconnaissance and positioning, navigation, timing, and satellite communications – into its weapons and command-and-control systems to erode the U.S. military’s information advantage.”
These moves by China, which have been in the works for years, were among the major reasons why President Donald Trump ultimately decided to create a Space Force in the first place, Studeman said. Created as a result of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in 2019, creating the first new branch of the United States Armed Forces since the creation of the Air Force in 1947.
When asked to give his assessment of the ongoing acceleration of technology development in this field between the two nations, Studeman concluded that “It will be a game of measures and countermeasures and counter-countermeasures for some time to come.”