Space Force warns of Chinese satellites ‘dogfighting’
China has practiced co-ordinated satellite maneuvers in space that resemble aerial combat, according to a US Space Force General.
Speaking on Tuesday at the McAleese Defense Programs Conference in Washington, the vice chief of space operations General Michael Guetlein said the US is preparing to develop capabilities for off-planet warfare. Space Force needs to guarantee “space superiority,” over China, Russia, and other nations, he opined.
That status is necessary because China has already launched a refuelling station in geosynchronous equatorial orbit to service its growing satellite fleet.
Now it’s used some of its orbiting assets in what look like offensive drills.
“We observed five objects in space moving in and out and around each other in synchrony and in control,” Guetlein said. “That’s what we call dogfighting in space – they are practicing tactics, techniques and procedures to do in-orbit space operations from one satellite to another.”
The maneuvers were first spotted by commercial satellites and the information was relayed to Space Force
“Gen. Guetlein referenced Chinese satellite maneuvers observed in space,” a spokesperson told Breaking Defense. “China conducted a series of proximity operations in 2024 involving three Shiyan-24C experimental satellites and two Chinese experimental space objects, the Shijian-6 05A/B. These maneuvers were observed in low Earth orbit.”
China is thought to have possessed anti-satellite rockets for nearly two decades. Four years ago it launched a satellite with a robotic arm, claiming it was experimental. In 2022 skywatchers suggested the nation had grabbed one of its own satellites and moved it to a different orbit.
Gen. Guetlein warned that China has a huge fleet of signal jammers in space, and over the last three years the Space Force has observed both it and Russia taking a much more aggressive attitude in orbit. Jamming signals, spoofing traffic, and “dazzling” orbital reconnaissance platforms has become more common, he noted in the presentation you can see below.
Youtube Video
Russia represents another threat, and five years ago the US and UK accused the former Soviet state of launching an anti-satellite spacecraft that tracked another Russian orbital vehicle. Guetlein called such systems “nesting dolls,” after the iconic Russian toy.
Fear of nuclear weapons being deployed from space also persists. Last year Russia vetoed a UN resolution calling for a ban on the development of space nukes, in line with the provisions of the Outer Space Treaty.
“We have heard President Putin say publicly that Russia has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space,” said the then-US ambassador to the UN for special political affairs Robert Wood. “If that were the case, Russia would not have vetoed that resolution.”
Guetlein said maintaining dominance in space will require a mix of private and military expertise.
“What keeps me up at night is the pace at which the adversary threat is changing every single day,” he concluded. “It is an eye-watering pace. It requires our guardians to be on their A game every single day. and they are absolutely killing it and doing everything they can do to guarantee space for the nation.” ®
