The US military has issued a warning that China’s military is quickly developing a sizable force of space weapons.
The development includes advanced anti-satellite missiles, lasers, jammers, orbiting killer robots, and cyber tools. All of which are intended to blind and deafen the American military in a future conflict.
China’s Space Military
The Pentagon’s most recent annual report to Congress on China’s military, which was made public on Tuesday, included new information about Beijing’s expanding space arms arsenal.
The assessment stated that China’s space forces and associated support components are maturing fast.
China is developing space-based weapons that can attack adversary targets on the surface of the planet, according to a Pentagon analysis based on data from the Defense Intelligence Agency.
The second artillery regiment of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), today known as the Rocket Forces, served as the forerunner of China’s space program (PLARF). In the 1950s, the space program was launched under it.
Contrary to the Indian situation, where military and civilian space activities have always been run totally independently by ISRO and DRDO, respectively, The Dong Feng 3 IRBM (Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile) and the DF-5 ICBM were modified versions of its Long-March 1 (LM-1/CZ-1) and LM-2 LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellite launch vehicles.
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Space War Against China and US
To fight what China refers to as informalized wars of the future, space warfare has gained momentum since the PLA Strategic Support Force (PLASSF) was established in 2015 as a separate component of the PLA.
China has also been working on “parasitic microsatellites,” which can be launched from one orbiting satellite and then collide with other spacecraft already in orbit. In such fast motion, even a 10 cm. As happened to our RISAT-1 in c, debris can destroy a satellite. 2016.
These lightweight, cost-effective alternatives to ground-based ASAT guns weigh only a few kilograms. They are capable of being intelligently designed to properly identify and then eliminate an enemy satellite.
Directed Energy Weapons (DEWs), sometimes known as lasers, are another kind of ground-based, very effective space weapon being developed by China.
DEWs are concentrated electromagnetic fields that are directed from the earth to satellites, having an impact on their functions, particularly their earth-observation sensors. Space-based DEWs are another possibility. The DEWs can blind (which more permanently damages sensors) or dazzle (which temporarily disables) sensors, or even kill a space asset.
China tested a new kind of space-based weapon in August 2021 called the hypersonic Fractional Orbit Bombardment System (FOBS).
To breach the US Ballistic Missile Early Warning Systems (BMEWS) at their weakest point, the Soviet Union created the FOBS in the 1960s. Despite the FOBS appearing to be in violation of the then-developing OST, the US did not overstate the threat at the time for reasons of its own, and it subsided by the 1980s.
Although the Chinese test in August 2021 narrowly missed the mark, a similar test earlier this year was successful. Contrary to conventional ICBMs, the FOBS warhead hardly gives ABMs a few minutes to respond.
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