China is building sophisticated cyberweapons to take control of enemy satellites to make it impossible for them to transmit signals in wartime.
Source: Financial Times referring to a classified US intelligence report
Details: The US Central Intelligence Agency is convinced that China wants to suppress, capture or use other people’s satellites, because it considers them a key means of controlling information, which Beijing considers the main “area of warfare”, the newspaper writes.
To do this, the FT notes, China needs cyber weapons that surpass all the means of electronic warfare that the Russian Federation is conducting against Ukraine. According to the leaked documents, China is developing its own technology to mimic the signals of the satellites themselves, intercepting control over them or causing critical failures at an unexpected moment for the enemy.
“Adequate cyber weapons in the hands of the Chinese military will make space equipment ineffective in supporting communications systems, self-guided missiles, surveillance and reconnaissance, and satellites will not be able to communicate with each other, transmit images and valuable intelligence and help control weapons systems,” the publication writes, citing American intelligence report.
FT notes that Taiwan noticed the high efficiency of satellite communications in the war in Ukraine, which is why it began to build its own network, protected from hacking by the Chinese military.
The US military has officially stated that China has made significant progress in the development of military space technology, the newspaper writes.
“China continues to aggressively invest in technologies designed to disrupt, degrade and destroy our space capabilities,” General Chance Saltzman, Commander of the US Space Forces, said in a speech to Congress in March.
And former Deputy US Cyber Command, retired General Charlie Moore said that China is making a lot of efforts to deprive the US of the advantage in space and cyberspace. He said that the PRC is trying not only to improve its capabilities, but also to create new technologies in the field of defense, offensive and intelligence, adds FT.
What preceded this:
- The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense believes that China will take care of its own interests and will not provide military assistance to the Russian regime.
- According to the FT, the Wagner private military company, which is involved in a full-scale war in Ukraine, unsuccessfully asked China for weapons at the beginning of the year.
