China is developing and deploying next-generation fighter jets and launching advanced satellites at an alarming pace, said top Air Force and Space Force intelligence officials, who warn that America needs to be more aware of the urgent threat.
The U.S. officials, who spoke publicly Monday at a major defense conference in Maryland, said Beijing has clearly messaged that its goal, particularly in the futuristic domain of space, is to replace the U.S. as the preeminent power in control of the orbiting assets that undergird global military dominance.
“It’s concerning how fast they’re going,” said Brig. Gen. Brian D. Sidari, director of intelligence for the U.S. Space Command. He pointed to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s sophisticated attempts to replicate elite “joint force” integration, which the Pentagon has achieved through space-based communications in recent decades.
China has accelerated its development to “get those capabilities to enable how to defeat the joint force,” said Gen. Sidari. He appeared alongside other top intelligence officials at the Air, Space & Cyber Conference, organized by the Air & Space Forces Association and held at Maryland’s Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center outside Washington.
“They’ve studied us, the Chinese, for so long, how we enable, you know, the joint force with those space-based capabilities,” the brigadier general said during a panel discussion titled “The China Threat.”
Lt. Gen. Max E. Pearson, Air Force deputy chief of staff for intelligence, said, “What we need to recognize about PLA modernization and their defense industrial base is their whole of society approach.”
The PLA calls the approach “national strategic integration,” said Gen. Pearson, who described it as a “blending of the commercial industry to the military industry, integrating input from academia, all centered on and focused on problems set … by the PLA to develop capabilities that advance their weapon systems and that advance their military power.”
He emphasized that Beijing’s approach is “underpinned by consistent, assured funding sources,” which has “fueled a lot of what we’ve seen out of the PLA modernization in recent years.”
U.S. military officials and defense industry insiders commonly complain behind the scenes that political disruption, budget fights and stopgap funding in the U.S. system have hampered the Pentagon’s ability to outpace China.
When it comes to staying ahead of China, Gen. Pearson said, “we certainly have work to do.”
“But I think that’s really why the department is putting such an emphasis on reinvigorating our defense industrial base and refining our acquisition process,” he said. “And why we hear our leaders focus so much on innovation, the need to do that really is legit.”
Countering China
The China Threat panel was the first place where top U.S. military officials spoke publicly about Beijing’s advancements since the Chinese military parade on Sept. 3.
Several nuclear missiles were among the weaponry displayed by the PLA, which also used the parade to reveal for the first time a road-mobile heavy strategic intercontinental ballistic missile dubbed the DF-61.
J. Michael Dahm, a retired U.S. Navy intelligence officer who moderated Monday’s panel, pointed to other defense technology that Beijing has rolled out more discreetly over the past year.
“We’ve seen two purported sixth-generation aircraft prototypes in the skies over China,” he said, adding that Beijing also has shown “a glimpse” of a new multi-intelligence radar AWACS, or Airborne Early Warning and Control, plane.
“The PLA [also] officially acknowledged the JL-1 air-launched ballistic missile, carried by an H-6 bomber, which apparently rounds out China’s nuclear triad,” Mr. Dahm said.
“Meanwhile, China’s space launches have surged, increasing by over 30% in 2025 compared to last year,” he said. “The number of payloads China has delivered to orbit has doubled since 2024, with an initial buildout of not one but two Chinese mega-constellations of low earth orbit satellites similar to the U.S. Starlink.”
Starlink is the low earth orbit satellite network operated by the U.S. company SpaceX to provide broadband internet service globally.
The race for ‘reusable lift”
Regarding future space advancements, Gen. Brian D. Sidari underscored the risks associated with China’s pursuit of “reusable lift,” which refers to rockets and spacecraft capable of being recycled for multiple launches and missions.
“I’m concerned about when the Chinese figure out how to do reusable lift that allows them to put more capability in orbit at a quicker pace,” he said, though he pointed out that the number of satellites being launched by Beijing “still does not compare to the U.S.”
Chief Master Sgt. Stefan Blazier, the Air Force’s deputy chief of staff, emphasized during the panel discussion that the service is “starting to address” the pace of technological change that is reshaping the aerospace domain, “but we have to address it even more.”
“What is very true right now is the more we sweat in peace, the less we bleed in war,” he said.
Chief Master Sgt. Ron Lerch, the Space Force’s deputy chief of space operations for intelligence, said the service looks “at the long term stability of [space] as important.”
“We want space to be usable by everyone,” he said. “We look at the long-term stability of it as important, and we do not want to take a war to space. But if we have to, we’re happy to go there.”
