US Space Force plots major military exercise in ORBIT over fears of Chinese ‘kill web’ to spy on the West

THE US Space Force is plotting its first-ever military exercise in orbit to test how it might fend off "on-orbit aggression" from adversaries.

Just days ago, a top Space Force commander voiced concerns over China's monster network of tracking satellites which can be used to monitor western military operations on the ground.

Space Force, a branch of the US military, announced that it is partnering with two companies, Rocket Lab and True Anomaly, to recreate a space threat to test it's responses.

On this mission, dubbed Victus Haze, a Rocket Lab spacecraft will pose as a non-ally to chase down another satellite made by True Anomaly, Space Force's Space Systems Command said in a statement.

We no longer have the luxury of time to wait years, even 10 or 15 years, to deliver some of these capabilities.

Gen. Michael Guetlein, Space Force's vice chief of space operations

A real-life threat scenario could involve a satellite approaching a US spacecraft or a satellite performing an unusual maneuver.

In this instance, Space Force wants to have the capability to respond.

A Space Force response could either deter a non-ally from taking action or to defend a US satellite from an attack.

Gen. Michael Guetlein, Space Force's vice chief of space operations, told ArsTechnica: "When another nation puts an asset up into space and we don't quite know what that asset is, we don't know what its intent is, we don't know what its capabilities are, we need the ability to go up there and figure out what this thing is.

"Victus Haze is about continuing to break those paradigms and to show how we would rapidly put up a space domain awareness capability and operate it in real time against a threat."

It's unclear what kinds of measures Space Force is currently considering to deter adversaries in orbit.

The Pentagon believes energy weapons like lasers or particle beams may be used to shoot down intercontinental ballistic missiles that enter orbit.

"We no longer have the luxury of time to wait years, even 10 or 15 years, to deliver some of these capabilities," Guetlein said in a discussion in January hosted by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

"A tactically relevant timeline is a matter of weeks, days, or even hours."

'Kill web'

Under President Xi Jinping’s leadership, China spent roughly $14billion (11.2billion) on its ambitious space programme in 2023, according to Statista.

Speaking to reporters at the 39th Space Symposium this week, Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of US Space Command, said: "Frankly, China is moving at a breathtaking speed.

"Since 2018, China has more than tripled their on-orbit intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites.

"And with these systems, they've built a kill web over the Pacific Ocean to find, fix, track and, yes, target United States and allied military capabilities."

The US Marine Corps defines a "kill web" as "a dynamic network that seamlessly integrates intelligence and warfare capabilities across various domains, including land, sea, air, space and cyberspace."

The country has also "built a range of counterspace weapons, from reversible jamming all the way up to kinetic hit-to-kill direct-ascent and co-orbital ASATs," according to Whiting.

As part of global efforts to set-up permanent habitation facilities on the Moon, China has revealed plans to take its 'all seeing' Skynet surveillance off-planet.

Outer Space Treaty

Nasa boss Bill Nelson has previously been outspoken of his fears of China beating the US to building a lunar base.

China's military presence in the South China Sea signals how the country might behave on the lunar surface, Nelson claimed, which would breach the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.

"We better watch out that they don’t get to a place on the moon under the guise of scientific research," he told Politico last year.

"It is not beyond the realm of possibility that they say, ‘Keep out, we’re here, this is our territory.’”