Lieutenant General Douglas Schiess, President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the US Space Force, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on 17 July that China is developing space warfare capabilities at a “breathtakingly fast” pace, warning that Beijing is actively building systems designed to threaten American satellites, communications, and military forces. The testimony came during Schiess's confirmation hearing, where he pledged to prepare the Space Force for an increasingly contested orbital environment.

China's Counter-Space Build-Up

“China’s threat is real,” Schiess told senators. “What they are doing with what I’ll call counter space and space superiority capabilities is breathtakingly fast.” He said Beijing had studied how the United States uses space to support military operations and was rapidly developing tools to neutralise those advantages.

Schiess detailed that China had conducted anti-satellite tests, expanded electronic warfare systems capable of jamming American space assets, and built a surveillance architecture that could track US carrier strike groups and bombers at far greater ranges than before. “They’ve built a kill chain to be able to see our carrier strike groups, our bombers at much farther pace, speed and distances,” he said, adding that the Space Force must develop capabilities “to deny, degrade that kill web to be able to protect the joint force.”

Senate Committee's Assessment

Committee Chairman Senator Roger Wicker said the United States could no longer treat space as a permissive environment, warning that both China and Russia were investing heavily in weapons designed to disrupt the satellites, communications, and navigation systems that underpin US military operations. He said the next chief of space operations would need to ensure the Space Force grew at a pace commensurate with the evolving threat.

Ranking Member Senator Jack Reed noted that recent conflict involving Iran had demonstrated that “space is no longer a support domain — it is a warfighting domain.” Reed pointed out that Space Force assets had been deployed early in that conflict and had themselves become targets, and he pressed Schiess on how he planned to prepare the service for future high-intensity conflicts.

AI, Integration, and the Human-in-the-Loop Debate

Schiess agreed that closer integration with the Air Force and other military branches would be essential, particularly in electronic warfare. He identified artificial intelligence as a critical tool for improving space domain awareness, while stressing the importance of human oversight: “we need to make sure that we have still have a guardian in the loop.”

Budget and Civilian Impact

The nominee defended the administration’s proposed Space Force budget of $71.1 billion, arguing the figure reflected the growing challenge posed by China and Russia. He said most of the increase would be directed toward weapon systems, facilities, and training rather than personnel. “I believe that the $71.1 billion that the President has asked for is exactly what we need,” Schiess said.

He also warned that any hostile disruption of US space systems would extend far beyond the battlefield, affecting GPS, satellite communications, missile warning systems, financial transactions, and everyday civilian services that Americans rely on. The US Space Force was established in December 2019 as the first new branch of the US armed forces since the Air Force was created in 1947. It is responsible for organising, training, and equipping forces to protect American interests in space and to deliver space-based capabilities to the joint force.