The opening moves of the next major war could unfold hundreds of miles above Earth.
uncertain
moves → open → Earth
U.S. adversaries are looking at ways to blind American forces in future conflict by jamming communications, disabling GPS, using lasers to attack satellites or destroying them completely.
asserted
adversaries → look → them
A sweeping new Defense Intelligence Agency assessment details how China and Russia are developing sophisticated ways to disrupt or destroy U.S. satellites.
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China → detail → satellites
This includes a Russian satellite designed to carry a nuclear weapon into Earth's orbit.
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This → include → orbit
American forces rely on satellites to communicate across battlefields, navigate ships and aircraft, track enemy forces, detect missile launches and guide precision weapons to their targets.
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forces → rely → targets
Knocking those systems offline could leave forces below struggling to see, communicate and strike.
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Knocking → knock → forces
"We can't do military operations the way that we do them today without satellites, without systems in space," Clayton Swope, deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, previously told Fox News Digital.
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Swope → do → Digital
"Whoever has space and can deny that to their adversary has a huge asymmetric advantage in a conflict," Swope said.
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Swope → deny → conflict
Beyond the battlefield, satellites underpin everything from GPS navigation and communications to banking, transportation and the electric grid, meaning a large-scale attack in space could disrupt services millions of people rely on every day.
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millions → underpin → people
Chinese military thinkers have identified reconnaissance, communications, navigation and early-warning satellites as potential targets for attacks designed to "blind and deafen the enemy," according to the report.
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thinkers → identify → report
DIA assesses Beijing could begin threatening or gradually degrading an adversary’s space architecture during a crisis as a "prelude to war."
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Beijing → assess → war
Russia, meanwhile, views U.S. reliance on satellites for precision strikes and projecting military power as a "critical vulnerability" to exploit during a conflict.
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Russia → view → conflict
Its doctrine envisions attacks ranging from temporary jamming and blinding satellite sensors to the outright destruction of spacecraft and the infrastructure supporting them.
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doctrine → envision → them
DIA describes the threat as a continuum, beginning with attacks that can temporarily disrupt a satellite without destroying it and escalating through cyber and orbital attacks to kinetic weapons and, ultimately, a nuclear detonation in space.
Some of those tactics have already made their way into active conflict.
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Some → describe → conflict
During Operation Epic Fury, the U.S. and Iran "took offensive actions against each others’ space capabilities to degrade and disrupt military actions on both sides," according to DIA.
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U.S. → take → DIA
The report does not detail those operations, but says jamming near the Strait of Hormuz in June disrupted U.S. aircraft and shipping vessels.
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jamming → detail → aircraft
The Chinese military already practices jamming satellite communications and GPS during military exercises.
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military → practice → exercises
Beijing also has ground-based lasers capable of disrupting or damaging satellites in low-Earth orbit, and DIA assesses it could field space-based directed-energy systems by the late 2020s.
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it → have → 2020s
Other Chinese systems can get much closer.
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systems → get → ?
The Shijian-17 satellite has a robotic arm capable of grappling another satellite, while Shijian-21 used similar technology in 2022 to move a defunct Chinese navigation satellite into a higher orbit.
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satellite → have → orbit
DIA noted that the same technology used to service or remove satellites can also have military applications.
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technology → note → applications
Russia has repeatedly put its own spacecraft near U.S. satellites.
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Russia → put → satellites
Cosmos 2543 began following a U.S. national security satellite after it was released into orbit in 2019, approaching it several times before later firing a projectile in what DIA described as an anti-satellite weapons test.
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DIA → begin → test
Russia sent Cosmos 2558 near another U.S. government satellite in 2022, and two years later launched Cosmos 2576 into the same orbit as a U.S. national security satellite before it began moving toward the American spacecraft.
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it → send → spacecraft
By 2025, Cosmos 2588 was maneuvering within roughly 93 kilometers of another U.S. government satellite.
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Cosmos → maneuver → satellite
Russia is also developing Burevestnik, an air-launched weapon intended to "kill" satellites in low-Earth orbit, according to DIA.
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Russia → develop → DIA
The weapon would be launched from a modified MiG-31 aircraft and could be placed into orbit with little or no warning.
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weapon → launch → warning
The threat escalates dramatically with Russia’s nuclear ambitions.
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threat → escalate → ambitions
"Russia is developing a satellite designed to carry a nuclear weapon," the assessment states.
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assessment → develop → weapon
Such a weapon could cause the "rapid and sudden loss or degradation of thousands of satellites" operated by governments and companies around the world, disrupting communications, navigation, weather forecasting and national security systems.
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weapon → cause → communications
The damage could continue long after the initial blast.
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damage → continue → blast
DIA warns that a nuclear detonation in space would leave behind radiation belts that "could persist for years" and damage satellites that initially survived or were only temporarily disrupted.
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that → warn → satellites
Then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner set off alarm bells in February 2024 when he called on the Biden administration to declassify intelligence about a "serious national security threat," later revealed to involve a Russian nuclear anti-satellite capability.
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he → set → capability
U.S. officials have generally been more guarded about the underlying intelligence.
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officials → underlie → intelligence
As recently as April, U.S. Space Command chief Gen. Stephen Whiting said officials were "very concerned" by reports that Russia was potentially considering placing a nuclear anti-satellite weapon in orbit, but declined to confirm whether Moscow was actually developing one.
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Moscow → say → one
The Aporia
