Lasers, Jammers And Killer Satellites In DIA’s Warning On China’s Space Arsenal

The US Defense Intelligence Agency has sharpened its warning about China’s ambitions in space. On 26 October, the agency released the 2026 edition of Challenges to Security in Space, with information current to July 2026. Air & Space Forces Magazine, in a report by Greg Hadley on 28 October, was first to report its findings. The assessment on China is the most pointed yet.

On-orbit weapons

The headline finding is blunt: “China is developing space-based technology, including on-orbit counterspace weapons, capable of holding space systems at risk.”

Close approaches and robotic arms

In 2023, China’s TJS-3 satellite “approached within 10 kilometers of other nations’ spacecraft in GEO” on several occasions. The DIA calls these approaches “largely inconsistent with the stated mission of the satellites, suggesting China may have obfuscated their true mission.” China has now launched 27 TJS satellites.

The report also names Shijian-17, which carries a robotic arm, and Shijian-21, which towed a dead BeiDou satellite in January 2022. It also cites Shijian-25, which carried out refuelling tests in January 2025.

Lasers

China already operates ground-based lasers that can “disrupt, degrade, or damage” satellites in low orbit. The DIA adds that “by the late 2020s, China may field space-based directed energy systems”. That is a forecast, not a confirmed deployment.

Jamming

PLA jamming relies on “a combination of ground-based and on-orbit systems.” According to Air & Space Forces, this is the first time the DIA has mentioned on-orbit jammers.

Anti-satellite missiles

China “probably intends to deploy additional ASAT missiles that can destroy satellites in low, medium, and high orbits.”

Nuclear

On the most sensitive question, the report is reassuring: “there is no indication that China plans to actively test or develop a nuclear ASAT weapon for use in space.”

Arms control

The report describes the China–Russia pledge of no first placement of weapons in outer space as unverifiable.

Each side’s position

Washington: The DIA says China and Russia “refuse to acknowledge” their counterspace programmes. Washington’s own record is not spotless either. According to Air & Space Forces, the Space Force acknowledged in September that it has its own on-orbit “space control” weapons. No Pentagon or Space Force primary source for that acknowledgement has been found.

Beijing: The foreign ministry has not yet responded to the report directly. On 26 October, spokesperson Guo Jiakun presented China’s new position paper on outer space governance. He said it aims to “safeguard common security, prevent armed conflicts, reduce misunderstanding and misperception”. The paper itself calls for opposing the weaponisation of outer space and for a legally binding arms control instrument.

Chinese commentary: Writing in the Global Times, commentator Song Zhongping dismissed the report as “thief crying stop the thief”, a pretext for the US military build-up and its Golden Dome programme. This is commentary, not an official position.

The bigger picture

Strip away the rhetoric and a familiar pattern emerges. Each side accuses the other of militarising orbit while insisting its own programmes are defensive. With both Washington and Beijing now fielding or developing weapons in space, and with no verifiable arms control framework in place, the risk is not simply an arms race in orbit but a crisis on Earth triggered by a blinded or disabled satellite. For countries such as Pakistan that increasingly rely on space for communications, navigation and security, that is a risk worth taking seriously.

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