Strategic battlefield in space

As well as seeking to dominate the Pacific Ocean on top of the waves and in the depths beneath them with its vast navy, China is seeking to weaponise space, completing 50 launches this year to put its satellites in orbit. Last year China launched 35 satellites. But this year it has outstripped the US, which completed 43 mainly commercial launches.

Terry van Haren, president of Australian space industry firm LeoLabs and a former air force commander and fighter pilot, has issued a salient warning about the trend. “The US hasn’t surpassed 50 launches since 1967, the height of the Cold War,” Mr van Haren told The Australian. “What is space war? It’s actually like a big game of chess. What you do is you deploy all your pawns before you start a conflict. You need to have all your pawns ready to defend and ready to attack. A lot of this suspicious activity is mostly related to their preparations for a potential space conflict.” LeoLabs has been tracking Chinese launches, 3000 satellites in orbit and more than 18,000 pieces of space junk.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute recognises the danger. Its senior space analyst, Malcolm Davis, said the Chinese space program, despite a civilian face, was largely run by key staff from the People’s Liberation Army. It was beginning to challenge the dominance of US military space capabilities, Dr Davis said. Experts say Australia needs to develop additional ground-based sensors to track such threats, and work with the US and Britain under the AUKUS alliance to develop space-based early warning systems.

China launches about 70 per cent of satellites south towards Australia, offering an opportunity for early detection by Australian-based radar. Early detection has become a greater priority, Ben Packham reports, since China’s test in August of a Fractional Orbital Bombardment System. That weapons delivery platform is designed to re-enter the atmosphere at more than five times the speed of sound before manoeuvring to its target. In August the missile missed its intended target by a wide margin, but it could be an early version of one to be used in a future conflict. US officials conceded the launch was close to a “Sputnik moment”.

Russia also upped the ante in space last month, testing an ASAT (anti-satellite) missile that destroyed an old Soviet satellite, creating a cloud of space debris that threatened lives on the International Space Station. The debris will be a problem for years. Defence Minister Peter Dutton said the Russian test was provocative and dangerous, showing the growing threats to space systems.