Space Force Sounds the Alarm on Unseen Activity

Satellite orbiting Earth with moon in background.

China’s satellites are now rehearsing ‘dogfighting’ maneuvers in orbit, directly threatening America’s space dominance and national security in ways President Trump’s Space Force must urgently counter.

Story Snapshot

U.S. Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein revealed China conducted synchronized ‘dogfighting’ with five satellites in 2024, observed by commercial trackers.
These maneuvers practice tracking, disabling, or coercing U.S. space assets, narrowing America’s lead in this critical domain.
Activities violate the spirit of peaceful space use, escalating militarization as China challenges U.S. superiority.
President Trump’s administration faces renewed pressure to bolster Space Force budgets against Chinese aggression.

Space Force Exposes Chinese Satellite Dogfighting

On March 18, 2025, at the McAleese Defense Programs Conference in Washington, D.C., U.S. Space Force Vice Chief Gen. Michael Guetlein disclosed commercial space data showing five Chinese objects maneuvering in low Earth orbit. Three Shiyan-24C experimental satellites and two Shijian-6 05A/B spacecraft executed coordinated rendezvous and proximity operations in 2024. Space Force labels these actions “dogfighting in space,” synchronizing in and out of formation with precision control.

Guetlein emphasized these tactics prepare China for on-orbit operations between satellites, including potential tracking and disabling of U.S. assets during conflict. This revelation highlights China’s operationalizing of close-in maneuvers, shrinking the U.S.-China capability gap that President Trump’s policies aim to maintain. Commercial space-situational awareness providers tracked the event, proving private sector eyes now monitor great-power space games.

Historical Precedents Build to Orbital Confrontation

China’s 2007 direct-ascent anti-satellite test destroyed its own FY-1C weather satellite, generating massive debris and signaling kinetic intent. From 2013-2018, Shijian and Shiyan series demonstrated complex inspections and close approaches, viewed as dual-use military tech. In 2019, Russia’s “nesting doll” satellite stalked a U.S. asset, deemed unsafe by officials. The 2021 Russian ASAT test created thousands of debris pieces, drawing global rebuke.

In 2022, U.S. GSSAP satellite US-270 approached China’s Shiyan-12 in geosynchronous orbit. China detected it, processed data, and counter-maneuvered within one day, showcasing rapid tactical response. Kratos analysis calls this pre-dogfighting interaction, with dynamic cycles resembling aerial intercepts. These incidents trace escalating cat-and-mouse games, eroding space as a peaceful sanctuary under the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which bans only mass destruction weapons.

Shrinking U.S. Advantage Demands Trump-Era Action

The U.S. Space Force, established in 2019 under President Trump’s first term, frames space as a warfighting domain requiring superiority. Gen. Guetlein warns adversaries act unsafely, against norms, narrowing America’s edge concerningly fast. China’s People’s Liberation Army Strategic Support Force oversees these programs, seeking “space great power” status to deter U.S. intervention, like over Taiwan, by holding American satellites at risk.

U.S. responses prioritize maneuverable proliferated constellations, enhanced SSA, and doctrines for on-orbit defense. Congress and the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission scrutinize budgets amid this rivalry. FDD analysis frames China’s demos as rehearsals for crisis coercion, fueling a new space race. No kinetic attacks occurred, but ambiguity risks misperception and escalation, threatening commercial orbits and global services like navigation and communications.

Implications for American Security and Economy

Short-term, Chinese RPOs enable inspection, jamming, or interference with U.S. satellites in gray-zone ops. Long-term, they spark co-orbital arms races with inspector or bodyguard satellites, heightening debris risks to crewed missions and economies. Military planners prepare for contested space; commercial firms face higher collision costs. Politically, this intensifies U.S.-China competition, complicating arms control as each claims defensive intent.

President Trump’s Space Force must secure funding to restore dominance, protecting vital assets that underpin military precision and civilian life. Failure invites Beijing’s overreach, undermining the liberty and strength conservatives champion against globalist threats.