The evidence is mounting that space is no longer simply the next frontier. It is rapidly becoming the next battlefield. For decades, the United States enjoyed an overwhelming technological advantage in orbit, relying on satellites to provide communications, navigation, missile warning, intelligence, and precision targeting around the globe. Today, however, American military leaders are sounding increasingly urgent alarms that China has accelerated its development of offensive space capabilities at a pace few anticipated

The latest warning came from Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Schiess, President Donald Trump’s nominee to become the third Chief of Space Operations for the U.S. Space Force. Speaking during his Senate confirmation hearing, Schiess described China’s military buildup in space in unusually stark terms.

“What they are doing with what I’ll call counter-space and space superiority capabilities is breathtakingly fast,” Schiess told lawmakers.

That assessment carries particular weight because Schiess is hardly an outside observer. A veteran space officer who currently serves as the Space Force’s deputy chief of operations, he has spent decades overseeing military launch operations, missile warning systems, satellite communications, and operational space forces. If confirmed, he will become the senior military officer responsible for organizing, training, and equipping America’s newest military branch.

When senators asked him to identify China’s greatest space threats, Schiess painted an unsettling picture. He cited anti-satellite weapons launched from the ground, space systems capable of threatening American satellites, and sophisticated electromagnetic jamming capabilities that he described as “very worrisome.”

Even more concerning, he said China has built an integrated intelligence network capable of locating American military forces far beyond previous limits.

“They built a kill chain to be able to see our carrier strike groups, our bombers, at a much farther pace, speed, and distances,” Schiess said. “So, the Space Force needs to be able to bring capability to deny, degrade that kill web to be able to protect the joint force.”

A Warning Years in the Making

Schiess is not the first senior commander to sound the alarm.

In 2024, Gen. Stephen N. Whiting, commander of U.S. Space Command, offered nearly identical testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“What China and Russia are doing, particularly building with their counter-space weapons, they’re moving breathtakingly fast.”

The fact that two of America’s senior space commanders have independently used precisely the same language underscores how seriously military planners now view China’s rapid progress.

For many years the United States was widely regarded as the unquestioned leader in military space technology. Increasingly, however, the concern is not simply that China is catching up, but that Beijing has placed extraordinary emphasis on offensive space weapons while the United States focused primarily on protecting existing satellite systems.

Building a Larger Space Force

Those concerns help explain why the Space Force is seeking one of the largest expansions in its short history.

Created in 2019, the service currently consists of roughly 10,000 Guardians and approximately 2,000 civilian employees. Under current plans, it hopes to nearly double its uniformed force over the next five years while adding thousands of additional civilian specialists.

The administration has also proposed dramatically increasing the Space Force budget to $71.1 billion.

Schiess told senators the request is “exactly what we need.”

Much of the increase would fund weapons systems, infrastructure, training, satellite capabilities, and equipment rather than simply adding personnel.

The Growing Arsenal

The concern is not theoretical. Numerous counterspace weapons are already being developed or deployed by both China and the United States.

According to publicly discussed Space Force doctrine, future space warfare could involve orbital attacks, electronic warfare, cyber operations, pursuit satellites capable of maneuvering alongside enemy spacecraft, long-range missile strikes against satellites, and attacks against launch facilities and command centers.

Ground-based systems are equally important.

China has demonstrated direct-ascent anti-satellite missiles capable of destroying satellites from Earth. Military planners also warn about high-powered lasers, microwave weapons, electromagnetic jammers, cyber attacks, and robotic satellites capable of approaching and manipulating other spacecraft in orbit.

Recent reporting also cited Chinese research into truck-mounted high-powered microwave weapons designed to threaten large satellite constellations operating in low Earth orbit.

Victoria Samson Offers a Different Perspective

Not everyone agrees that China has already surpassed the United States.

Victoria Samson, author of the Secure World Foundation’s annual report on global counterspace capabilities, argues that America retains important advantages.

She notes that while the United States officially fields only three acknowledged offensive counterspace capabilities, it has successfully tested both co-orbital and direct-ascent anti-satellite weapons, possesses the world’s most advanced space situational awareness capabilities, and could field additional orbital capabilities if projects such as Golden Dome continue moving forward.

At the same time, Samson recognizes China’s advances.

She noted that China has demonstrated satellites capable of capturing other satellites and moving them into graveyard orbits, a technology with obvious dual-use military potential.

Starlink Raises New Questions

The growing importance of commercial satellite networks has added another dimension to the competition.

Recent reporting described evidence that China and Russia have discussed cooperative efforts aimed at countering SpaceX’s Starlink constellation.

Military analysts caution that Starlink has become a critical communications platform supporting modern warfare, making it an increasingly attractive target during any future conflict.

Experts also note that the United States may someday confront similar questions if China successfully deploys its own Starlink-like constellation with military applications.

Rather than immediately resorting to physical destruction, proposed countermeasures discussed in reporting have included diplomatic pressure, regulatory actions, electromagnetic jamming, cyber attacks, and ultimately anti-satellite weapons.

Space Is Becoming a Warfighting Domain

Another major concern involves attacks launched directly from Earth.

China has already demonstrated ground-based anti-satellite missiles, while reports describe continued work on lasers, microwave weapons, electronic jammers, and cyber capabilities capable of degrading satellite operations without necessarily creating large debris fields.

The U.S. Space Force is also investing in electronic jammers and other counterspace capabilities while emphasizing both offensive and defensive operations designed to achieve what military planners call “space superiority.”

The debate today is no longer whether space will become militarized. Military planners increasingly treat that question as settled.

Instead, the concern is whether the United States can maintain the strategic advantage it held for decades while China rapidly expands both its satellite networks and the offensive systems designed to neutralize those of its rivals.

Schiess’s warning that China’s counterspace capabilities are advancing at a “breathtakingly fast” pace echoes earlier concerns raised by Gen. Whiting and reflects a growing consensus inside the U.S. military. America still possesses extraordinary technological strengths, but many defense leaders believe those strengths can no longer be taken for granted.

As satellites become central to communications, navigation, missile defense, intelligence gathering, and precision warfare, the competition in orbit may prove just as decisive as the contests taking place on land, at sea, or in the air. The next great military race may already be underway, and increasingly, it is being fought hundreds of miles above the Earth.