- China is testing satellites that can perform complex space maneuvers, a US general said this week.
- He said they’d observed 5 objects maneuvering around each other in synchronicity and control.
- The rivalry between the US and China is heating up in areas of technology and global influence.
China is testing experimental satellites capable of performing complex coordinated space maneuvers, a US Space Force general said this week.
“With our commercial assets, we have observed five different objects in space maneuvering in and out and around each other in synchronicity and in control,” Gen. Michael Guetlein, the vice chief of space operations, said at a McAleese Defense Programs Conference in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.
He described it as “dogfighting.”
The USSF later clarified that Guetlein was referring to three Chinese Shiyan-24C experimental satellites and two Shijian-6 05A/B experimental space objects that had been seen carrying out complex maneuvers in low Earth orbit.
While dogfighting typically refers to high-speed maneuvers performed in close-range aerial battles, Gueltein said that “what we call dogfighting in space. They are practicing tactics, techniques, and procedures to do on-orbit space operations from one satellite to another.”
China’s experimental Shiyan satellite program has long been the source of speculation, especially as the country’s rivalry with the US grows in areas of technology and global influence.
After the launch of three Shiyan satellites in 2022, Chinese state media reported that they were being used for “space environment monitoring.”
But some Western military officials and experts believe they’re being deployed to test military capabilities, such as grappling with other satellites in space.
“Their proximity to sensitive targets alludes to more sinister intentions,” Nicholas Deschenes, a US Army captain, wrote in the English Military Review in 2019, after Shiyans were detected near US satellites.
Deschenes said that one model’s robotic arm could be used to manipulate or attack other satellites.
Clayton Swope, a senior fellow in the Defense and Security Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said there was a “clear trend” of China deploying satellites to conduct sophisticated space maneuvers.
“We don’t publicly have much concrete evidence about their purposes other than to say these satellites are probably testing out new technologies,” Swope told Business Insider, adding: “Many likely have a surveillance purpose but could also be testing out capabilities that could be used for anti-satellite weapons.”
He said the incidents highlighted the need for a treaty to spell out what was acceptable behavior in space, to avoid the risk of accidental conflict.
“Both the United States and China should want such an agreement,” Swope said, “as it would go a long way to ensure that a misunderstanding of intentions and actions in space does not spiral out of control.”
