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A top US military official has warned that China is rapidly advancing its space capabilities at an unprecedented pace and is the most significant threat to American dominance.

Getting into it: While speaking at the Air & Space Forces Association’s annual conference in Maryland, Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess, commander of US Space Forces-Space, said that “China is definitely our biggest threat.” He warned that the Chinese military is advancing its space-based capabilities at a rate that puts US assets increasingly at risk, noting,“They are bringing on capability, I won’t say daily, but at least monthly, that puts our assets at risk.” Schiess also touched on China’s efforts to build a “kill chain.“  

The Chinese “kill chain” he’s referring to operates by leveraging space-based assets (specifically, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) satellites) to locate and track US military platforms like aircraft carriers, air wings, and expeditionary forces. Once identified, this information is relayed in real time to ground-based command and missile systems, enabling China to engage US forces far beyond traditional threat ranges. As of July, China had 1,200 satellites in orbit, a tenfold increase from 2015.

In addition to this, China is developing a broad arsenal of counter-space weapons aimed at neutralizing American dominance in orbit. These systems include ground-based lasers designed to blind or damage satellite sensors, jamming systems that target space-based communications and navigation, and satellites that can grab or ram other spacecraft. Schiess described these developments as part of a deliberate strategy to render US systems vulnerable in any future confrontation. “They are putting our assets at risk in a way we haven’t had to worry about before,” he said.

This comes after Gen. Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations, warned back in April that China was ramping up investments in six categories of counter-space weapons: ground-based and space-based variants of jammers, directed energy weapons, and kinetic interceptors. He also noted that China’s military frequently uses jamming systems to disrupt US satellite communications and has satellites capable of “dogfighting” in orbit.

In response, the US is now placing significant weight on the development of the “Golden Dome” missile defense initiative, unveiled by President Donald Trump in May. The program envisions a $175 billion system of space-based missile interceptors, designed to shoot down ballistic threats (including from space) during their boost phase, long before they reach US territory. Trump claimed the system would be operational in three years, calling it the most extensive defense shield ever built.

This effort has led to significant criticism from China and Russia, who argue the system represents a dangerous escalation in space militarization. In a joint statement issued in May, Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin accused the US of seeking “first-strike capability” and undermining global strategic stability. Their statement claimed Golden Dome violates the long-standing principle of mutual deterrence by giving the US the theoretical ability to launch a disabling strike on Chinese or Russian nuclear forces and then intercept any retaliatory attack.