In its Defence White Paper of December 2004 the Chinese government had spelt out a clear objective of winning war through the command of the seas and of the air while modernising its nuclear-missile forces. Its massive lead in its military space capabilities has started to worry even the US as indicated by the Pentagon’s reports to the Congress in recent years. A robust space capability is critical for a credible nuclear strategy for early warning, rapid communications, command and control, target intelligence, targeting, and so on. But it has been acquiring enormous importance even for conventional wars. The RMA (Revolution in Military Affairs), Network Centric Warfare, etc. (or the Chinese term of “informationalisation”) that we hear and talk so much about, rely heavily on space capabilities.

The rapid strides China has been making in space may be judged from the fact that its “long march” rockets made two-dozen consecutive successful launches during the past five years; and the total consecutively successful indigenous launches during the past 10 years was 46 (compared to our 15)! It is developing newer generations of more powerful launch vehicles with 120-ton thrust and 50-ton thrust rockets. During the past five years China “independently developed and launched 22 different types of man-made satellites” thus acquiring new capabilities, mostly for military uses. It has added two more types of satellites to the existing series of four types. Its ocean satellites series are expected to enter service soon. Its 15-year plan visualises deployment of all-weather day-night observation satellites for civil and military roles. It is known to build small and micro satellites. It has acquired the capabilities to launch manned space flights.

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