China is mastering directed energy, radio frequency and other advanced weapon systems that threaten US activities in space, the head of operations for the US Space Force warned on Thursday.
General B. Chance Saltzman, the force’s chief of space operations, told the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission that China has used its resources more effectively than the US because Beijing is more narrowly focused on one region on the planet, while Washington must manage a larger agenda.
“We just have a much broader set of missions than what we see the PRC focusing on,” he told the commission. “They’re very clear in that they have a Western Pacific mindset.
“They’re able to husband their resources around all the capabilities in that area,” he said, comparing it to China’s rapidly growing maritime ambitions in the Asia-Pacific.
“It’s their focus that allowed them to be the most dangerous and so fast.”
Saltzman contended that the US should hasten the enhancement of Space Force capabilities, and that Washington should regard space less as a resource and more as a military domain.
