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Gen. Stephen N. Whiting, head of US Space Command, said at the Space Symposium conference in April that space was a “warfighting domain” and that the US needed to prepare accordingly. (credit: Space Foundation) |
by Christopher Stone
Monday, July 14, 2025
Space is not a place where war will happen in the future, it’s a place where war is happening now! Major powers now vie for dominance in this vital warfighting domain, with China and Russia actively challenging the United States’ long-standing leadership. Evidence suggests these nations are not merely testing space weapons but are actively engaged in a low-intensity warfighting campaign to undermine US and allied interests in orbit, while preparing for further, more destructive and aggressive actions in space.
| Evidence suggests China and Russia are not merely testing space weapons but are actively engaged in a low-intensity warfighting campaign to undermine US and allied interests in orbit. |
A clear sign of this shift is the rapid development and deployment of anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons by China and Russia. Beginning in earnest in 2007, China demonstrated its ASAT capabilities by destroying a defunct weather satellite at an altitude of 850 kilometers, signaling its ability to target critical US space infrastructure. Since then, China has expanded its arsenal with jammers, high-powered microwave weapons, and fractional orbital bombardment systems for both nuclear and conventional strikes from orbit. These advancements enable China’s space forces for sustaining offensive operations against US space assets and attacking US terrestrial forces and the homeland from orbit.
Russia, leveraging its extensive space expertise, has also prioritized combat capabilities. Its Nudol missile system, designed to target satellites in low Earth orbit, and advanced electronic warfare systems capable of disrupting satellite communications highlight its growing, aggressive posture. In addition, there are reports that Russia is pursuing and testing in orbit systems necessary to deploy nuclear weapons in orbit. These nuclear ASATs have created great alarm in the capitals of the Western world, as it should. Despite all their denials, these developments reflect a strategy focused on achieving space superiority by deterring and/or denying adversaries access to space while safeguarding Russia’s own strategic interests.
Credible military documents from both nations underscore their strategic ambitions for victory over the United States. China’s military documents (and even scientific papers) emphasize deployment of capabilities for “killing” key disaggregated constellations like Starlink and the belief that space is the “commanding heights” needed in any high technology war with the US. Russia’s military doctrine explicitly identifies space as a warfighting domain, prioritizing anti-satellite weapons to ensure escalation dominance in space and on Earth. These statements are alarming enough, and some choose to ignore them as bluster, however their behavior and activities in space show that this is not simply a test program, but is an active low-intensity combat operation against the US.
Recent incidents illustrate active space confrontation has been ongoing for years. US Space Command reports that Chinese and Russian forces have conducted reconnaissance missions (a task that China considers “battlefield prep” activities), testing Western satellite resilience and probing vulnerabilities. In addition, senior Space Force leaders have finally acknowledged the low intensity attacks upon our critical space infrastructure, when they stated that we are under low-threshold attack “every day.” China and Russia’s development of rapid-response ASAT systems, capable of reaching every major orbital regime, suggests readiness to escalate from their active low-intensity attacks into a kinetic conflict at a time and orbital plane of their choosing.
Meanwhile, despite this reality, the US Space Force lacks sufficient numbers and types of weapons systems (non-kinetic and kinetic) to deter or counter such threats credibly in the minds of both China and Russia. This anemic defense posture leaves our critical space infrastructure vulnerable to more damaging attacks than the ones the US and its partners in commercial sector have had to endure every day for years. While the Space Force has had five years to advocate for such systems, only recently have its senior leaders finally started to call for real space warfighting capability and not just relying on the hollow promise of “taking hits” through resilience alone.
In conclusion, China and Russia are not passive players in space but active participants in a low-intensity war against the West. Their deployment of ASAT weapons, pursuit of space superiority through electronic and other low-threshold types of space warfare, and demonstration of space-to-ground and nuclear ASATs point to a concerted campaign to erode US leadership and, if the time comes, destroy America’s “soft ribs.” This silent war, fought with China and Russia holding the advantage, demands urgent action. Without significant increases in resources, weapons deployments capable of escalation dominance, matched with improvements in the defense posture of current US space capabilities, the nation risks facing the dire consequences warned of by Chinese strategists—a post-war “grave aftermath” following the war’s potential future expansion in and from orbit.
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