China May Blind U.S. Satellites in Future Conflicts

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

The United States Space Command is concerned that China would likely target American spy satellites in future conflicts. It is very likely that China is developing lasers designed to blind the United States’ eyes in space.

In response to these concerns, the United States Space Command is developing tactics with the National Reconnaissance Office to protect and defend America’s spy satellites. 

“We’re pretty comfortable [in asserting] that they are developing directed energy weapons – probably building lasers to blind our satellites,” said the commander of SPACECOM and the United States Air Force Command, General John Raymond.

If war was to ever occur, ground-based Chinese lasers could be able to blind the sensors onboard American KH-11 spy satellites, thus making them useless. Such satellites orbit Earth at an altitude of about 200 miles. So a ground-based laser would have to be very powerful to reach the satellites while penetrating through the atmosphere and clouds. However, as Popularmechanics.com states, “a ground-based laser could be built as big as the operator wanted it to be,” meaning that if the Chinese wanted a ground-based anti-satellite system, then they will have it. 

General Raymond has also mentioned that China is developing satellites that could attack other satellites while in orbit. Similar to how the French are also developing an anti-satellite satellite, it is very likely that the Chinese could launch dual-purpose satellites into space that would mainly be used to eliminate “space clutter” (such as offline satellites in orbit), but could also be used to damage or destroy enemy satellites during conflict.

Some possible solutions towards the potential Chinese threat include better hiding spy satellites and deploying defending satellites that serve to jam hostile satellites, deflect enemy offenses, or deploy countermeasures.

However, as the demand and dependency on space satellites increase for developed countries in both the commercial and military sectors, it is possible that the best solution for satellite defense lies with Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). MAD would be best described as making offense your best defense. Taken from nuclear warfare, MAD pretty much sends the message: “if you destroy my satellites, I’ll destroy your satellites”. The fear of losing so many crucial military and civilian assets may sometimes be enough to make sure your adversaries stay passive.