By Andrew Thornebrooke
China’s communist regime is likely developing cyberweapons capable of hijacking U.S. satellite systems during a war, according to newly leaked Pentagon documents.
Among the recent trove of top secret Pentagon files allegedly leaked by an Air National Guardsman this year is one document that suggests that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which rules China as a single-party state, is “probably developing cyber-attack capabilities that will threaten Western satellite systems.”
“The intelligence community assesses China is developing cyber-attack capabilities to deny, exploit, and hijack satellite links and networks as part of its strategy to control information, which it considers a key warfighting domain,” the document reads.
The document was classified as top secret special intelligence and was marked to prohibit its release to foreign nationals.
The Pentagon didn’t respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment regarding the file.
The document suggests that the CCP is developing systems capable not only of knocking U.S. satellites offline but also of actually hijacking and using them toward the regime’s own ends.
“China’s ability to infiltrate a core network or mimic a specific command link could allow it to seize control of a satellite, rendering it ineffective to support communications, weapons, or intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems,” the document reads.
China Preparing to Attack US Satellite Systems
The leaked Pentagon document presents the latest glimpse into the CCP’s long-running attempts to develop technologies capable of attacking and defeating U.S. satellite-based infrastructure.
The regime has been developing a comprehensive arsenal of space and counterspace capabilities for years. Such capabilities would allow the CCP to target U.S. communications and GPS infrastructures, as well as its missile defense systems.
China’s research into such capabilities includes experiments with directed energy weapons, microsatellites, robotic explosives, satellite jammers, anti-satellite missiles, grabber satellites, and a comprehensive suite of cyber warfare tools.
The regime has also been testing the U.S. ability to defend its satellite.
Speaking to The Washington Post in December 2021, Gen. David Thompson, the U.S. Space Force’s first vice chief of space operations, said the CCP was launching attacks on U.S. space infrastructure “every single day.”
Those reversible attacks—in which U.S. satellite architecture or cyber systems are compromised temporarily—are largely understood to be a testing of the waters for an actual assault in the event of a war between the United States and China.
The United States, its allies, and its partners are investing heavily to deploy newer, more distributed satellite systems to mitigate the threat posed by the CCP.
Such systems will replace the nation’s heavily centralized and vulnerable satellite systems with satellite constellations consisting of hundreds or even thousands of satellites.
