US Military Warns: China Is Winning Space Race

China is winning the space race now over the United States, including enhanced "kill chain" technology and the ability to knock out signals and satellites of other countries in space, U.S. military experts warn.

President Donald Trump has tasked the U.S. Space Force, a new branch of the military, with staying ahead of China's "breathtakingly fast" advancements in space, The Telegraph  reported.

U.S. Space Force Cmdr. Stephen Whiting warned that among the "very concerning" weapons China can now boost "over-the-horizon" are "kill chain" technology that can "track and target US and allied forces in the Indo-Pacific" with "millimeter-level accuracy from over 100 kilometers away," according to the report.

The U.S., China, and Russia are the world's leading nuclear powers, and they retain space superiority, too, locking the trio into an space arms race as Trump seeks to build out a $175 billion "Golden Dome" to defend America's land, satellites, and interests around the globe.

Much of modern warfare has become reliant on space technology and satellites, and China's long-range weapons capable of striking the U.S. "depend on space," according to the U.S. Air Force's Indo-Pacific commander, Gen. Anthony Mastalir, to The Telegraph.

China's "kill chain" precision technology is bolstered by its "more than 500 satellites capable of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR)," according to the USSF.

China has sent up 900 satellites in the past decade, including 260 in the last year, 67 of which are ISR capable, according to the report, similar to the United States.

So the battle for space superiority remains paramount as China is developing technology to not only jam U.S. satellites, but potentially destroy them entirely.

China's attack satellites can threaten other satellites, while their high-energy lasers and direct ascent anti-satellite rockets can cripple missions and U.S. defenses, according to Whiting.

In fact, China has had anti-satellite weaponry since 2008, and in the past decades have conducted anti-satellite tests, according to the report.

China has been "practicing tactics, techniques, and procedures to do on-orbit space operations from one satellite to another," according to USSF Gen. Michael A Guetlein.

That means China could destroy its own satellites to send debris into other satellites to cripple them, too. 

And, finally, China's on-the-ground weaponry is enhanced by "using space-enabled services" to make its forces "more lethal, more precise, and more far-ranging," according to Whiting.

"There used to be a significant capability gap between the United States and our adversaries, driven by our technological advantage," Gen. Guetlein said. "That gap, once massive, has narrowed considerably.

"If we don't change our approach to space operations, we risk seeing that gap reverse, putting us at a disadvantage."

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