WASHINGTON – The United States is in danger of losing the strategic high ground that underpins modern military power, according to a sweeping new report that urges Congress to move quickly as China accelerates its bid to dominate space.
In its 745-page annual report to Congress, to be released at a public event on November 18, the bipartisan US China Economic and Security Review Commission offers a candid assessment of Beijing’s bid to become the world’s top space power.
The commission, created by Congress in 2000, has long tracked China’s economic and military rise. This year’s edition says the speed, scale and ambition of China’s space program has entered a new phase that US military leaders describe as “mind-boggling”.
Space Force Gen. Chance Saltzman, the U.S. head of space operations, used that phrase in testimony to the commission as he detailed the rapid expansion of Chinese space-based systems designed to give Beijing an edge in peacetime competition and potential conflict. The report cites Saltzman’s warning that China’s growing arsenal of military space capabilities threatens the United States’ ability to rely on satellites for targeting, communications, and surveillance, particularly in the Western Pacific contingency where long-range and dispersed U.S. forces depend on flexible networks.
“China’s rapid advances in space capabilities should concern every American,” the commission writes. This emphasizes how deeply American society depends on satellite services for GPS navigation, banking, weather forecasting, and the power grid. Defense officials say the dependency is undervalued outside the national security realm.
Benefits of ‘dual use’
A central theme in the report is China’s benefits from a fully dual-use space program. Commercial enterprises, state-owned enterprises, and the military work as a system, allowing the People’s Liberation Army to achieve commercial success in direct military applications. That edge is most evident in counterspace technologies that can disrupt or disable satellites. American commanders see them as tools that China could use to blind or confuse the United States at the beginning of a crisis.
The commission says Washington spent years avoiding the development of offensive space systems to avoid accusations of weaponizing orbit. That restraint is eroding as China treats space as a battlefield. The report points to the Space Force’s March 2025 warframe framework, which puts space superiority at the center of the U.S. plan, including offensive and defensive operations to protect critical satellites.
The report said China’s recent progress has been extensive. Beijing has expanded commercial launch capacity, deployed mega-constellation early stages and built a global network of ground stations, all structured for easy dual-use. It is also investing in quantum communications satellites for secure links, reusable space planes, space-based computing and AI, nuclear thermal propulsion for faster deep space missions, and space-based solar power that can deliver energy to Earth.
The commission estimates that China has built a state-directed commercial ecosystem over nearly a decade, featuring companies that appear private but follow government priorities. This gives Beijing an industrial base that grows rapidly and meets strategic goals. The report called it “a formidable technological, economic, and geostrategic challenge for the United States.”
The report said China’s long-term objective is to drive international space governance, shape global standards, and replace the United States as the world’s leading space power.
For Congress, the message is that lagging behind in space would weaken US national security, erode global influence and cut into US commercial muscle in the growing space economy.
The Commission recommends that lawmakers increase Space Force funding to achieve space control and space superiority. It also calls on the Pentagon to expand space wargaming, improve modeling and simulation of Chinese threats, and deepen operator training on space warfare tactics.
