China and Russia are ahead of the US in space weapons: what is said - Pentagon

To spread: The USSF emphasized that the United States will give priority to weapons, which allows to "violate and weaken" the opponent's capabilities. And the physical destruction of satellites is regarded as an extreme event. USSF Space Forces, whose budget exceeded NASA funding by $ 4 billion in 2024 and amounted to $ 29 billion, intend to eliminate space gap.

USSF commander General Censman Saltzman stated the need to expand the arsenal of American space weapons to parry threats from China and Russia, which are still ahead of the United States in the field. This is stated in Ars Technica. The US is currently relying on decentralized satellite system architecture, using numerous cheap satellites, such as Starlink, instead of a small number of powerful and expensive devices.

Such a strategy increases the stability and survivability of the system over potential threats. However, according to Saltzman, the United States is forced to catch up with China, which already owns space weapons and a significant military satellite fleet, which is one third of its total group in 1000 apparatus. He also pointed to Russia's active activity related to the development and possible placement of nuclear weapons in space.

Saltzman noted that achieving the advantage in space requires the ability to control the Earth's space, using both kinetic and neoinetic methods of influence. Kinetic weapons include the means of physical destruction of satellites, while neo -inetic means cover radio electronic suppression, cyberattacks and directed energy, such as laser or microwave weapons. Russian Federation and China are already developing similar systems.

The recently presented US military slides have marked Chinese and Russian space weapons, including: USSF commander stressed that the United States will give a priority of weapons, which allows to "violate and weaken" the possibilities of the enemy, minimizing the formation of space debris. In this case, the direct destruction of enemy satellites is considered as an extreme step. However, in the face of threats, America will have to take more radical measures.

The Pentagon is already developing systems of directional energy weapons, as well as introducing new means of electronic suppression that should be deployed in the coming months. However, in the field of US space weapons, China and Russia, especially in the segment of orbital systems of weapons, are inferior to the US space weapons. In this regard, experts predict a significant increase in US space forces in the coming years.