In a recent video widely circulated on Chinese social media, a high-speed fighter jet looming in the thick clouds is locked onto a Chinese remote sensing satellite. Its inverted trapezoid wings and horizontal drooping tail resemble the U.S. military’s most advanced aircraft, the F-22, which is known for its stealthy design.
In another video, the Atlanta airport appears to have been put on live satellite feed. Each aircraft taking off and taxiing on the runway is viewed by a Chinese satellite from 600,000 meters above the ground, with model characteristics, real-time trajectories, and dynamic speeds in full view.
The company that released the videos, China Changguang Satellite Technology, describes itself as a Chinese commercial satellite company. The company, which was founded in late 2014, has built China’s largest commercial remote sensing satellite constellation yet. The company says on its website that the constellation consists of 138 high-performance optical remote sensing satellites covering high-resolution, large-width, video and multispectral series, which can revisit any location in the world eight to 10 times a day.
In recent years, satellites have rapidly become a basic requirement for modern military operations, and their support is needed for communication command, positioning of weapons and equipment, missile guidance, and monitoring of battlefield conditions. In addition, since there are no national borders in space, remote sensing is considered one of the most effective, safe and reliable means of reconnaissance.
Since the purpose of the stealth fighter is to make the aircraft invisible to radar, it has anti-radar, anti-infrared, and anti-sonic detection features, but is not designed for optical observation. China’s “Jilin-1” satellite constellation is a constellation of optical remote sensing satellites that can theoretically track stealth fighters designed for radar detection.
In terms of resolution, the Xinhua News Agency reported in September that the ground-based image resolution of the optical remote sensing satellite Gaofen 11-02 can reach up to sub-meter level. Changhuang Satellite earlier this month released a number of satellite plans called “Jilin-1” taken by the constellation, which they called “Washington Wallpaper”, including the White House and the Capitol. Li Deren, head of China’s High-Resolution Earth Observation Project, told Chinese media in September that the resolution of Keyhole, the best U.S. satellite, is 0.1m, and that China’s Gaofen 11 satellite can also meet this standard.
Japan’s Ministry of Defense think tank “Defense Research Institute” said in a report released on the 13th of this month, China to promote the development of cutting-edge technology of private enterprises applied to the military field of “military-civilian integration”, in the field of space, China with 363 satellites at the intelligence level to support the land, sea and air operations of the system.
“We’ve been a little bit slow in recognizing China’s efforts in recent years to militarize space,” he told VOA. He told VOA, “If we’re going to stop and defeat Beijing’s expansion, the United States and our allies will have to be more deterrent in space.”
Former acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan also warned last year that the U.S. military was “not moving fast enough” in space to maintain its lead over China and Russia. Speaking at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Shanahan said, “China and Russia have weaponized space in order to put America’s space capabilities at risk.”
Outer space is considered to have tremendous military potential and economic value, and China sees competition in this area as the high point of the country’s strategic capabilities in the new century and a new area of vital national strategic interest. The Chinese government’s space development plan, formulated in 2017, states that it wants to build a fully-fledged space power by 2045. The 2017-2045 Aerospace Transportation System Development Roadmap issued by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) states that “by 2020, China’s mainstream rockets will reach world-class level,” and by 2045, China’s “equipment and technology will be at the international level in general. Leading the way, it strongly supports the full realization of the goal of a space powerhouse.”
A recent report by Bryce Space & Technology, a U.S. space industry information and consulting firm, said that in the third quarter of this year alone, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation conducted 12 launches, compared to only five launches by SpaceX in the United States.
Official Chinese reports indicate that China will continue to launch more satellites in the coming months. Zhang Xueyu, director of the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, told the official Xinhua news agency last month that the center would launch “one satellite every half month on average by the end of March next year, with a minimum interval of five days.” Another Chinese launch site, the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, earlier this month sent 13 satellites, including the world’s first 6G test satellite, into pre-determined orbits on a single Long March 6 launch vehicle.
China’s massive investment in space and counter-space capabilities could pose a threat to U.S. space assets and military effectiveness, according to a report released in March by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Assessment Commission.
In response to the challenges from China and Russia in the space sector, the United States officially launched the formation of the “Space Force” in 2018 as a new branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, separate from the Air Force. President Trump said at the White House ceremony announcing the formal establishment of the U.S. Space Command last August that the move was critical to national security. He said, “Those who seek to harm America, those who want to challenge us in the depths of space: the game is played completely differently now.”
The U.S. Space Command established a unit called the 9th Space Delta Force in July to conduct surveillance in space and even launch space attacks if necessary. A U.S. Air Force report says the special forces unit will “conduct protective and defensive military operations to deter and, if necessary, thwart orbital threats, and provide response options for national decision-making authorities.
Blaine Curcio, founder of Orbital Gateway Consulting, a Hong Kong-based outer space market research firm, told VOA that the U.S.-China competition in space is becoming part of the competition between the two countries’ technologies in the area of technology infrastructure.
He said, “We are seeing more and more satellites and other things being launched into space as the United States and China are trying to build their respective science and technology infrastructures. Neither country trusts the other in that regard, and the space sector is becoming increasingly sensitive.”
Corsio said that while China has become an international leader in some areas, it still lags behind the United States in general.
They still lag behind in the most sophisticated frontier technologies,” he said. For example, the largest and most advanced rockets are still mostly launched by the U.S. company SpaceX. In addition, in terms of communication satellites, China’s largest satellite has a communication capacity of 50 gigabits per second (50 Gbps), while the largest in the United States has reached the 500 gigabit level.”
While China may be launching faster than any other country, the U.S. still has far more satellites in space, according to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think tank. As of March of this year, the U.S. owned 1,327, or about half, of the total 2,666 satellites known to be in Earth orbit, while China owned only 363 of them, or 13.6 percent, the report said.
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