US Air Force Official: China Might ‘Strike From Space’

Warns of potential for 'global strikes' from space

As Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has said before, his priorities are “China, China, and China.” His keynote address at the Air Force Association Air, Space & Cyber Conference continued that trend, talking up the possibility of space warfare against China.

Kendall warned China has the potential to “actually put weapons in space,” and likening the situation to the Cold War. He further warned China might be able to make attacks effectively undetectable for early warning systems.

This is almost a perfect, tailor-made talking point for the US military, as it facilitates potentially endless spending on space warfare simply to counter what China might do. This was the whole justification for the US Space Force, and its appetite for wildly expensive weapons systems of dubious use, in the first place.

Space Operations Chief Gen. John Raymond has been talking up the growing capabilities of China to deny America access to space, vowing “we can’t let that happen,” and saying the US must be prepared for this fight.

It’s not clear why the US military is so convinced China wants to either fight America in space or try to deny them access to space. Either way, the officials agree that the answer is expensive preparedness and amassing weapons for the presumptive battle. As with the Cold War, this could go on more or less forever, or until one side just runs out of money.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.