“It sounds like he may have misspoken or may have confused this with something else China is doing, like hypersonic glide missiles,” he said. “I have not seen any public reporting about China developing a kinetic space to Earth weapon. Todd Harrison, director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), was even more skeptical. “Those I think are possibilities, more so than, you know, they actually have money dedicated to an operational capability.” “Maybe they got their hands on some internal Chinese discussion where the PLA is mulling some idea, a concept, right? Maybe there’s some R&D experiment that sort of leads in this direction,” said Weeden. “I’ve seen no evidence to indicate this,” said Brian Weeden, head of program planning at Secure World Foundation (SWF), said in an email. Outside analysts contacted by Breaking Defense were largely skeptical - and in some cases, simply incredulous - about Kendall’s statements. That would seem to walk back what he said on stage, but based on what the source with knowledge of the issue said, Kendall may well have been trying to obfuscate the exact nature of the intelligence. (Canada has long operated such an arm on ISS and such grappling technology also has potential commercial uses for satellite servicing.)įinally, Kendall said he had no specific knowledge that the Chinese are pursuing a space to Earth weapon, but said “it could be possible” and suggested this idea would be attractive to the Chinese because FOBS systems are hard to detect by early-warning satellites. Kendall said “there’s no question about the technical feasibility or technology to do these types of things,” noting that China already has a satellite with a robotic arm in orbit that DoD says is aimed at rendering US satellites non-functional. “It’s a way to avoid defense systems and missile warning systems.” Kendall also made a vague reference to other offensive capabilities, saying there is “a potential to actually put weapons in space.” “If you use that kind of approach, you don’t have to use a traditional ICBM trajectory,” Kendall said. Others felt that he was just trying to send a broad message about the speed with which the People’s Liberation Army is developing and fielding weapons. Some analysts believed Kendall, an unapologetic China hawk, was hyping the Chinese threat. That’s a major claim, and one Kendall had to know would make waves at the conference. In a speech focused on Chinese threats, this line stood out: new PRC capabilities, Kendall said, include “precision weapons with steadily increasingly range … including the potential for global strikes, strikes from space.” 20 keynote speech at the annual Air Force Association conference to claim that China is developing the ability to launch “global strikes from space” against US targets, it raised more than a few eyebrows and sent military analysts scrambling.Īfter all, the decision to bring up the potential for a space-based strike against terrestrial targets couldn’t have been casual. WASHINGTON: When Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall used his Sept. Frank Kendall, Air For secretary, speaks at the annual Air Force Association conference in Sept.
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