Space Force Says a Chinese Spacecraft Is Practicing Dogfighting Maneuvers in Orbit

The US Space Force has accused China of "dogfighting in space," a term that usually refers to fighter jets caught up in an aerial, close-range battle.

During a defense program conference this week, Space Force vice chief of space operations Michael Guetlein said that the military arm had observed "five different objects in space maneuvering in and out and around each other in synchrony and in control," as quoted by Defense One.

The Space Force is "starting to see our near-peers focusing on practicing dogfighting in space with satellite-on-satellite," he said.

If confirmed, the practice could indicate an escalation in the defensive military capabilities of world powers in orbit, highlighting a heating up "space arms race."

As Defense One reports, Guetlein's comments were referring to maneuvers made by three experimental Chinese satellites — called Shiyan-24C, as well as two still unidentified space objects dubbed Shijian-605 A and B — last year. At the time, the Space Force observed the objects carrying out a "series of proximity operations" in low-Earth orbit, according to Guetlein.

The Shijian-6 system is believed to be capable of "electronic intelligence" allowing satellites to eavesdrop on communications, including naval comms traffic.

"They are practicing tactics, techniques, and procedures to do on-orbit space operations from one satellite to another," Guetlein said.

The Space Force general said that the satellites are just one of several activities of US adversaries in space, including Russia's "nesting doll," satellite demonstration in 2019, which involved smaller spacecraft closely following the movement of US satellites.

China has similarly been accused of having its satellites "zigzag" across different altitudes and come uncomfortably close to US satellites.

Guetlein accused Russia and China of breaking internationally agreed-upon rules.

"Unfortunately, our current adversaries are willing to go against international norms of behavior, go against that gentleman's agreement, and they're willing to do it in very unsafe and unprofessional manners," he said, as quoted by Defense One.

As a result, Guetlein argued there was a growing "capability gap" between the US and its adversaries, which could end up putting the country's assets at risk and allow other countries to claim control over the space domain.

"We're only going to be as good as the amount of resources that we're willing to put towards space superiority," he said at the event this week.

More on satellite-on-satellite action: China Joins SpaceX in Ruining Astronomy for Everybody

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