WASHINGTON — The Department of Defense (DoD) released its mandated “2025 Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China” report on Tuesday, confirming that Beijing’s operational satellite fleet has expanded to more than 1,189 spacecraft, with a specific emphasis on space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR).
According to the assessment, China now operates over 510 ISR-capable satellites equipped with optical, multispectral, radar, and radiofrequency sensors. This figure represents a massive surge in persistent monitoring capabilities, allowing the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to track U.S. carrier strike groups and expeditionary forces across the Indo-Pacific with increasing revisit rates.
A Decade of Exponential Growth
The 2025 report underscores a dramatic shift in the orbital balance of power. Since 2015, China’s on-orbit presence has grown by approximately 927 percent. The PLA’s strategy has transitioned from merely owning space assets to integrating them into “informatized” warfare—a concept that treats information dominance as the decisive factor in modern conflict.
This expansion is not limited to military-specific platforms. The report highlights the “Civil-Military Fusion” strategy, noting the deployment of the G60 (Thousand Sails) commercial megaconstellation. As of mid-2025, China had launched approximately 90 satellites for the G60 network, which is projected to grow to 13,000 satellites to compete directly with Western proliferated Low Earth Orbit (pLEO) architectures.
Counterspace and Dual-Use Threats
The DoD assessment raises specific concerns regarding dual-use technologies that function as counterspace weapons. The report cites operations involving the Shijian-21 (SJ-21) and Shijian-25 (SJ-25) satellites, which have conducted close-proximity maneuvers and probable refueling experiments in Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO).
While Beijing characterizes these missions as debris mitigation or servicing trials—such as the documented tugging of a defunct BeiDou satellite to a graveyard orbit—U.S. defense officials warn these capabilities can be repurposed to grapple and disable adversary spacecraft during a conflict.
Additionally, the report details the PLA’s continued fielding of ground-based counterspace weapons, including:
- Direct-ascent anti-satellite (DA-ASAT) missiles capable of targeting LEO satellites.
- Directed energy weapons (lasers) designed to blind or damage optical sensors.
- Electronic warfare jammers targeting GPS and satellite communications.
‘Intelligentization’ by 2027
The release aligns with the PLA’s broader modernization timeline. The report notes that Beijing is accelerating the “intelligentization” of its forces—the integration of AI and autonomy into military command structures—ahead of its 2027 centennial goals.
This trend was visible in January 2025, when Chinese medical teams utilized the Apstar-6D satellite to conduct remote robotic surgeries from 3,000 kilometers away, demonstrating the high-throughput, low-latency capabilities now available to PLA logistics and field support units.
The DoD concludes that the PLA views space superiority not just as a support function, but as a critical “destroy and disrupt” theater essential for deterring or defeating third-party intervention in a regional crisis.
