China is building a massive army in space that's like something straight out of Star Wars.
This week US space chiefs warned China had "tripled the number of intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance satellites in orbit". Experts are now concerned this space fleet could be used to advance military goals on the ground.
With the ability to blast targets from thousands of miles away, even around the curvature of the Earth, these satellites could identify targets for submarines to then hit with missiles.
READ MORE: NASA worried 'secretive' China plots to take over the Moon as space race heats up
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China now has some 350 satellites focused around the Indo-Pacific. US officials reckon they want to make the region a no-go zone for western forces, possibly paving the way for an invasion of Taiwan.
Not only do these satellites constantly feed information back to Chinese military chiefs and allow for precise targeting of distant targets, they would also make western interference in the region much trickier to pull off.
Col Raj Agrawal, commander of America’s Space Delta 2 force, said while speaking at the US embassy in London this week: "The Chinese have demonstrated clear intent with what they are fielding in space, and that intent is for the projection of power in the Indo-Pacific... The Chinese are posturing forces in such a way to make the Indo- Pacific prohibitive in terms of US and allied freedom of manoeuvre."
Lt Col Travis Anderson, 75th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Squadron commander, warned that China's expanded space army "allows them to look into the Indo-Pacific and find the US and allied forces' ships".
Gen Stephen Whiting, commander of US Space Command, said China has built a "kill web" over the Pacific Ocean, with the aim of tracking and targeting enemy forces.
"Frankly, the People’s Republic of China is moving at breathtaking speed in space, and they are rapidly developing a range of counterspace weapons to hold at risk our space capabilities," he said.
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