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Long
March-3C rocket lifts
off from the Xichang
Satellite Launch Center.
Credit: China Space |
The U.S.-China Economic and
Security Review Commission (USCC)
released today its 2015
annual report to Congress.
The 2015 report provides
information on and analysis
of developments in the
U.S.-China security dynamic,
U.S.-China bilateral trade
and economic relations, and
China’s evolving bilateral
relationships with other
nations.
Within the report, a
Section 2 delves into China’s
space and counterspace
programs, provided to
Inside Outer Space by
the USCC.
Steady investment
In an introduction to that
section, the report notes
that China “has become one of
the top space powers in the
world” after decades of high
prioritization and steady
investment.
“China’s aspirations are
driven by its assessment that
space power enables the
country’s military
modernization and would allow
it to challenge U.S.
information superiority
during a conflict,” the
report states.
Among other purposes, the
report contends, China’s
space and counterspace
programs are designed to
support its conduct as part
of its antiaccess/area denial
strategy to prevent or impede
U.S. intervention in a
potential conflict.
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China is
rapidly developing
robotic and human
spaceflight skills.
Credit: CMSE |
The U.S. Department of
Defense defines ‘‘antiaccess’’
actions as those that are
intended to slow deployment
of an adversary’s forces into
a theater or cause them to
operate at distances farther
from the conflict than they
would prefer.
‘‘Area denial’’ actions
affect maneuvers within a
theater, and are intended to
impede an adversary’s
operations within areas where
friendly forces cannot or
will not prevent access.
Antisatellite
systems
The report is rich in
factoids and citations about
China’s aspirations in space
– both for civil and military
purposes, including that
country’s expanding deep
space exploration agenda.
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China’s
human spaceflight
program is moving
forward on a
multimodule space
station in the 2020s.
Courtesy: CMSE |
As listed in the report’s
section focused on space,
some of the conclusions are:
- Although China’s space
capabilities still
generally lag behind those
of the United States and
Russia, its space program
is expanding and
accelerating rapidly as
many other nations’
programs proceed with
dwindling resources and
limited goals.
- China’s aspirations in
space are driven by its
judgment that space power
enables the country’s
military modernization,
drives its economic and
technological advancements,
allows it to challenge U.S.
information superiority
during a conflict, and
provides the Chinese
Communist Party with
significant domestic
legitimacy and
international prestige.
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European Space Agency
(ESA) has outlined a
number of space
cooperation projects.
Credit: CMSE/Wei Yan
Juan |
- China likely has
capitalized on
international cooperation
to acquire the bulk of the
technology and expertise
needed for most of its
space programs. China
probably will continue to
pursue close cooperation
with international partners
to overcome specific
technical challenges and to
meet its research and
development objectives and
launch timelines.As China’s
developmental counterspace
capabilities become
operational, China will be
able to hold at risk U.S.
national security
satellites in every orbital
regime.
- China is
testing increasingly
complex co-orbital
proximity capabilities.
Although it may not develop
or operationally deploy all
of these coorbital
technologies for
counterspace missions,
China is setting a strong
foundation for future
co-orbital antisatellite
systems that could include
jammers, robotic arms,
kinetic kill vehicles, and
lasers.
- Civilian projects,
such as China’s human
spaceflight missions,
directly support the
development of People’s
Liberation Army (PLA)
space, counterspace, and
conventional capabilities.
Moreover, Chinese civilian
and commercial satellites
likely contribute to the
PLA’s command, control,
communications, computers,
intelligence, surveillance,
and reconnaissance (C4ISR)
efforts whenever it is
technically and
logistically feasible for
them to be so utilized, and
they would probably be
directly subordinate to the
PLA during a crisis or
conflict. Given the PLA’s
central role in all of
China’s space activities,
U.S. cooperation with China
on space issues could mean
supporting the PLA’s space
and counterspace
capabilities.
- China’s rise as a
major space power
challenges decades of U.S.
dominance in space—an arena
in which the United States
has substantial military,
civilian, and commercial
interests.
Note:
The full report is now
available at:
http://origin.www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/annual_reports/2015%20Annual%20Report%20to%20Congress.PDF
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