Space Force faulted for failing to build weapons

China’s military has deployed multiple space warfare systems capable of destroying and disrupting U.S. satellites vital for military operations, while the U.S. Space Force so far remains constrained from developing its own space weapons in response, according to a congressional report made public Tuesday.

The latest annual report of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission warns that China is eclipsing the U.S. as the world’s leading space power — and threatening U.S. military and civilian space systems.

The report said China’s rapid expansion of space power “should concern all Americans.”

The threat is not limited to the military sector but includes Chinese space capabilities that can threaten vital satellite services affecting the health and welfare of all Americans, the report said, noting that satellites remain vulnerable to attack.

“Although the U.S. Space Force was established at the end of 2019 with the mission of ensuring continued U.S. space superiority, longstanding policy constraints have placed effective limits on its ability to achieve its critical mission,” the report said.

“These constraints include limits on developing and using offensive counterspace capabilities like ASAT weapons, electronic jamming, and cyber operations as well as limited resources to update legacy systems or build new capabilities.”

The constraints are in sharp contrast to China’s space arsenal. China invested heavily in building space weapons that can destroy or disrupt satellites that would “incapacitate” U.S. communications, intelligence, missile warning and undermine the military’s ability to conduct joint operations and project power, the report said.

The weapons include three types of ground-based anti-satellite missiles, robot satellites that can grab and destroy satellites without causing debris, and electronic and directed energy anti-satellite weapons.

“While China has continued to actively pursue both offensive and defensive counterspace capabilities, the United States has refrained from developing an offensive space program and has dutifully sought to avoid actions that could be seen as ‘weaponizing space,” the report said.

“Losing U.S. leadership in space would amount to relinquishing the advantage first secured during the original space race — when space became essential to military superiority, global prestige, and geopolitical influence,” it said.

Space Force Chief of Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman told the commission that Chinese space weapons pose a significant threat.

“Taken as a whole, China’s potent and expanding arsenal of space-based capabilities multiplies its combat potential many times over. … China can hold U.S. and allied forces at risk with long-range precision weapons, preventing our forces from taking meaningful action before they even reach theater. The consequence of failing to mitigate this threat means military objectives will be tough to meet without unacceptable loss of American lives,” the general was quoted in the report as saying.

The commission did not directly recommend that the Space Force build counterspace weapons but called for boosting spending for the Space Force to “achieve space control and establish space superiority against China’s rapidly expanding space and counterspace capabilities.”