Report: China has deployed lots of of latest satellites in preparation for conflict with U.S.

China’s military is rapidly building up space capabilities, including more than 970 recently deployed satellites that would support attacks on U.S. aircraft carriers, expeditionary forces and air wings during a conflict, a Space Force intelligence report says.

The intelligence report also reveals that Russia is building a nuclear space weapon capable of triggering large-scale blasts that could destroy U.S. and other satellites.

The report said China’s military deployments include 20 satellites launched from March through June, said the unclassified space threat fact sheet. The satellites are designed to enable “long-range precision strikes against U.S. and allied forces.”

The People’s Liberation Army, China’s military, can use anti-satellite missiles, electronic jammers, robot grappling satellites and an orbiting space plane to attack and disrupt space-based information systems of U.S. and other militaries.

“Intelligence suggests the PLA likely sees counterspace operations as a means to deter and counter U.S. military intervention in a regional conflict,” the report said.

The intelligence report was released amid increasing concern over China’s war preparations.

On Monday, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall warned of the growing potential for conflict with China.

“I am not saying war in the Pacific is imminent or inevitable. It is not,” Mr. Kendall said at a conference hosted by the Air & Space Forces Association. “But I am saying that the likelihood is increasing and will continue to do so.”

China is increasing its “space order of battle” along with its counter-air capabilities, he said.

The Space Force headquarters intelligence unit produced the report, which is dated July 17.

The report says military writings indicate PLA forces are preparing to destroy, damage and interfere with reconnaissance and communications satellites to “blind and deafen the enemy.”

“China is the pacing challenge and is rapidly improving its space capabilities to track and target U.S. military forces,” the report states.

Anti-satellite weapons are currently capable of attacking U.S. and allied satellites in low, medium and geosynchronous orbits. Many strategic U.S. missile warning and communications satellites are deployed in geosynchronous orbits.

“This vital authoritative report shows just how dramatically and systematically China has built up its space and counterspace assets, and just how aggressively Russia has developed and postured its own,” said Andrew Erickson, a Naval War College professor of strategy who first disclosed the report.

“Of fundamental concern are the sheer number of satellites China now has in orbit, particularly for [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance], as part of its systematically building out a comprehensive, capable reconnaissance-strike complex.”

China’s launch of hundreds of satellites since 2015 represents a 560% increase in its satellites in space, now estimated at 970. Of those, 490 are used for military intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, with sensors that include electro-optical, multispectrum radar and radar frequency technology.

A March space threat report listed China’s total satellite fleet at 950, including 470 intelligence systems, indicating that the most recent 20 satellites are military systems.

In December, the PLA launched a Yaogan-41 in geosynchronous orbit about 22,000 miles above Earth. The remote-sensing system will “persistently monitor U.S. and allied forces in the region.”

China also has three reusable space planes with a capability similar to the secretive U.S. XB-37 space plane.

Two early Chinese space planes returned to Earth, and the third remains in orbit. “All three have released unidentified objects,” the report said.

China’s 2007 test of a ground-launched anti-satellite missile blew up a low-Earth orbit weather satellite and left more than 2,700 pieces of orbiting debris.

The missile used in the test has been developed into an operational ground-based missile system intended for attacking low-Earth orbit satellites, and the PLA “actively trains on this system today,” the report said.

“Intelligence suggests China also likely intends to field [anti-satellite] weapons capable of destroying satellites up to [22,369 miles],” the report said.

A ballistic object launched by China 11 years ago reached 20,000 miles in space, suggesting Beijing has basic anti-satellite killing capabilities in high orbits.

Beijing has also shown it can use its inspection and repair satellites as weapons. The report cites the Shijian-21 satellite, which moved a defunct BeiDou navigation satellite to a graveyard high-level orbit in 2022. The Space Force warned that the system could “grapple” other satellites.

The Space Force has observed multiple Chinese maneuvering satellites conducting unusual, large and rapid movements in geosynchronous orbit, indicating tactics with multiple military applications, the report said.

The Chinese military also operates ground-based laser weapons that can disrupt or damage satellite sensors. The report said that by the mid- to late 2020s, the PLA could deploy higher-power lasers that can damage satellite structures.

Anti-satellite jammers are also practiced regularly during PLA exercises.

“Intelligence suggests the PLA may be developing jammers to target [satellite communications] over a range of frequencies, including U.S. military protected extremely-high-frequency systems,” the report said.

Mr. Erickson said the United States and its allies have capable countermeasures to Chinese space threats but noted that “it is no longer credible to claim that Beijing may lack essential architecture for targeting its long-range precision strike systems, which include the world’s most numerous conventional ballistic and cruise missiles.”

On Russian space arms, the report identifies several anti-satellite weapons, including the Nudol missile that blasted an orbiting satellite in a 2021 test, creating 1,500 pieces of debris.

“Russia is also developing a very concerning [anti-satellite] capability using a new satellite designed to carry a nuclear weapon,” the report said.

The nuclear-armed satellite could threaten all satellites operated by countries and companies around the world, the report said, including vital space-based communications, scientific, meteorological, agricultural, commercial and national security services.

Several orbiting Russian anti-satellite systems currently threaten U.S. systems, including a satellite-killing system launched in May that is in the same orbit as a U.S. satellite, the report said.

An ASAT prototype followed another U.S. satellite in 2019, the report said.

The Russian military also has an air-launched anti-satellite missile fired from a MiG-31 jet.

Moscow’s Peresvet laser weapon has been deployed with five strategic missile divisions since 2018. It is used to mask Russian missile deployments by blinding satellite sensors. More powerful lasers are expected by 2030, the report said.

“Even as Moscow backs space arms control negotiations, Russia is researching, developing, testing, and deploying counterspace systems to take advantage of a perceived vulnerability of U.S. military dependence on space,” the report said.

Mr. Erickson said Russia is engaged in “extremely aggressive” space weapons that discredit Moscow’s questionable efforts to conclude a space arms control agreement.

The use of a nuclear space weapon represents “an indiscriminate Sword of Damocles that would imperil satellites of all nations and entities, on which the world has come to rely for the most basic societal functions.”

“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin must never be permitted to hold the world’s vital interests at risk in such a way,” he said.

The Space Force did not respond to a request for comment on the report.