The People's Liberation Army Rocket Force in Space Warfare: With Available but Incomplete Capabilities

摘要

Based on the military struggle readiness of Winning Informationized Local Wars, the PLA has underscored the need for dominance in space, looking for a privileged and commanding status in the context of space warfare. To further dictate the whole war, the PLA is currently devoted to the development of anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) to substantiate its Space Control Capability. The correlation between the PLARF and anti-satellite operations can be seen from two aspects. First, transformation of the military strategy towards the ideal of having both nuclear and conventional capabilities and deterring wars in all battlespaces in the wake of the recent military overhaul of the PLA markedly revealed Beijing's unwavering intent to force its influence into space. Second, empirical data of the PLARF's "reconnaissance, control and strike" joint construct and operational equipment showed that the PLARF has entered the developmental stage capable of undertaking successful anti-satellite operations. This study concludes that the PLARF is in charge of anti-satellite operations and then conduct this mission with the vertical commanding architecture from the Central Military Commission, Theatres, down to the PLARF units. This study also argues that for now and the foreseeable future, the PLA will focus all its efforts to integrate information links of the combat systems and extend the range of conventional ballistic missiles.