China is developing anti-satellite missiles and other exotic weapons
that can destroy or disrupt vital U.S. military and commercial
communications, space warfare experts told Congress on Tuesday.
“The current and evolving counterpace threat posed by China to U.S.
military operations in the Asia Pacific theater and outside is extremely
serious,” said Ashley J. Tellis, a former State Department and National
Security Council strategic specialist.
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Michael Krepon, a strategic analyst with the Stimson Center, said he
regards the space debris caused by China’s 2007 ASAT test as a major
concern regarding space warfare.
Krepon said he opposes developing dedicated space weapons to counter
the Chinese space threat because current capabilities, like anti-missile
defenses, have some space warfare capabilities.
Krepon said he backs a “multilayered approach” to the threat
combining strategic deterrence of space attacks, with adding more and
smaller satellites that are difficult to target and working out an
international code of conduct with China and other space-faring nations
for space.
“Deterrence is increased by complicating the plans of the attacker,” Krepon said.
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