India must ready itself for the Chinese threat from space

China last year termed space a “critical domain in international strategic competition”, having deemed “security of space” as a cornerstone of the strategic protection of its national development. This should have alarmed India—indeed, the global community—since it signals that China implicitly considers space as another battlefield, notwithstanding the country’s posturing of being against the weaponisation of extra-terrestrial realms. If it didn’t, the US department of defense’s (DoD’s) recent annual report submitted to the US Congress should serve as a wake-up call. The report notes that the People’s Liberation Army (China’s armed forces) “continues to acquire and develop a range of space and counterspace capabilities and related technology”. The report, analysing published work of PLA academics on counterspace technologies, says that China sees the ability to use space-based systems and “deny the same to adversaries” as crucial to modern warfare. The country has been acquiring and developing indigenously kinetic-kill missiles and vehicles (launched from either ground or orbit to destroy a target with sheer kinetic energy) and orbiting space robots. It has drastically expanded space surveillance to monitor objects in space and launch counterspace operations—nearly half of the 120 (in May 2018) recon and remote sensing satellite-fleet were owned and operated by the PLA. These could be used for, among other things, tracking and targeting an adversary’s forces. In addition, the PLA is developing satellite-jammers and directed-energy weapons that could have exoatmospheric use. China is also reported to be working on real-time surveillance, recon and warning system, and has been bolstering its capacity in this regard, including through the Beidou navigation satellite system. The PLA, the DoD notes, could be looking at integrating terrestrial and space military operations.Read more…