China's 'remarkable capabilities' in orbit spurs concerns for US Space Force

Wary of China's growing capabilities even in the cosmic realm, the United States has acknowledged that it would have to remain in a state of “perpetual competition" in order to maintain stability in space. In an address at the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air Warfare Symposium in Aurora, Colorado on Tuesday, Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations of the U.S. Space Force, said that “perpetual competition" is necessary at a time when China exhibits its “remarkable capabilities on orbit".

This has prompted the US to devise a plan on how to safeguard its space assets. “Unlike in other domains, our concept for domain control in space cannot rely on overwhelming destructive force,” Saltzman said, according to Space News. He added that the state of competition would make sure that the US is “neither driving our adversaries towards disrupting the space domain nor towards desperation.” “If you do this right, you never fight,” he added.

Saltzman also revealed the United States' intentions of ensuring “space superiority when necessary while also maintaining the safety, stability and long-term sustainability of the space domain.”

What is the US Space Force's key focus?

The most crucial goal for the US Space Force is to avert any possibility of China targetting the Pentagon’s most valuable geostationary satellites that are situated some 22,000 miles above the Earth’s equator. The satellites are fixed to their location, so the "predictability and lack of relative motion to the ground makes them particularly vulnerable to direct attack”, Saltzman said.

To not let anyone benefit from the vulnerability, the Space Force plans to augment geostationary systems through distributed satellite networks in various orbits. This would tell rivals that “listen, even if you could attack that one, why would you want to escalate that way when there’s so many other capabilities?”

Amid growing threats, the United States must be open to rethinking its space architecture, and one way to do it is through smaller and cheaper “commoditised” satellites, according to Lt. Gen. John Shaw, deputy commander of U.S. Space Command.