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The Chinese military has been using a specially developed war game simulator to train in space warfare, despite China’s official stance being against a conflict in space. Photo: Shutterstock

China Science

China unveils space war-gaming system for military operations and training

Beijing says it does not want a space war, but new tech, previously shrouded in secrecy, helps prepare troops for futuristic battles – just in case
More than 400 military cadets take part in two-month-long competition, giving them a chance to fight in mock skirmishes and wield advanced weapons

Science

Stephen Chenin Beijing

Published: 10:00pm, 16 Dec 2023

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Chinese military scientists have unveiled a space war-gaming system that was previously shrouded in secrecy.

With a “user-friendly” design, the system has the power to simulate and foresee the intricate process of space combat, according to its developers.

It was not just a tool for China’s military operations, but also for shaping and sharpening the finest space warriors and commanders on a large scale, they said.

Developed by the National University of Defence Technology in Changsha, the system has already proved its worth in a covert space mission, the team led by associate professor Zhang Jin wrote in a paper published in domestic journal National Defence Technology in October.

It also played a pivotal role in selecting and moulding the space warfare elite earlier this year. From September, more than 400 military cadets formed more than 70 teams for a fierce, two-month competition. Many participants agreed that these mock space skirmishes not only got them combat-ready but also gave them a first-hand taste of wielding weapons they had only read about in textbooks or technical documents.

“We were all thrilled,” one trainee said in Zhang’s paper.

01:09

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The official stance of the Chinese government aligns with that of most countries worldwide, which is a firm opposition to any form of space warfare.

On October 31, China and Russia joined together to submit a resolution to the United Nations, pledging not to be the first to wield space weapons and pushing for measures to quash the threat of an arms race beyond Earth’s atmosphere.

While the resolution attracted overwhelming support, there were opponents, with Washington and its cohorts voicing the loudest disapproval.

Zhang’s team paints a dire picture of what a space war would mean for the world. A conflict in space would affect all the infrastructure that orbits Earth plus the ground systems that support them, including rocket launch pads and large radar stations.

Planes would be blinded, ships would be lost at sea, there would be mayhem in cities and remote communities would be cut off from the world. Services that we take for granted in day-to-day life, such as weather forecasts or live international sports broadcasts, could be disrupted.

“Actions taken directly against satellites are seen by some as tantamount to igniting a nuclear war,” the team wrote in the paper.

A snapshot of the Chinese military’s space war game system. Photo: National University of Defence Technology

Amid the chaos happening down on Earth, space would become littered with debris from the conflict. Hurtling through the void with destructive velocity, those fragments could then collide, leading to an explosion of debris in the near-Earth orbit. This would pose a threat not only to still-operational facilities in space but also to humanity itself, potentially trapping us forever within our planet’s bounds.

The Chinese government has pointed an accusing finger at the United States, the nation that first established a space force, labelling it the instigator and primary driver of the ongoing space military race. The Chinese military, on the other hand, claims its own preparations for space warfare are a mere counter to the moves by the US and its allies.

The space war game developed by Zhang’s team is fundamentally different from any war-gaming system previously used by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

One of the most notable features of the system is that it can make the Earth transparent in the operation interface, meaning users in the eastern hemisphere can clearly observe situations in the western hemisphere in real time.

In the conventional realm of war-gaming, military units typically assault neighbouring enemy targets, with even the longest-range missiles confined by their specific limits. However, in space warfare, a satellite can circle the Earth multiple times in a short period. Tactics that once proved effective in traditional warfare might be futile or even detrimental in space, according to Zhang’s team.

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In space, the slightest changes can wield immense influence in a war. For instance, in traditional conflicts, the marshalling of troops banks heavily on a commander’s intuition and ability to gauge the horizontal distance between friend and foe. But in space, another layer is added – the altitude of orbits. It is a mere addition from a geometrical perspective, but one that massively magnifies the intricacies of war, the researchers said.

Also, as the movement of objects in space can often surpass the grasp of human minds, the military may need to rely more heavily on machines to guide decisions and carry out commands. This places huge demands on the architects and creators of war-gaming systems. The swiftness and precision of these systems not only impact the quality of daily drills but could well determine the outcome of an epic space battle, they said.

The researchers also listed a number of challenges they encountered during the development of the space war-gaming system. War in space, they said, offered no real battles as examples. Despite cold war tensions and recent close calls between China and the US in orbit, no true fight has broken out. This, they noted, was a test for all scientists.

They also wrote of the struggle to secure weapon data. Space weapons are closely guarded secrets, and any misstep in this data could send military strategy astray.

Then there was the matter of the user interface. How to show commanders with no aerospace background the intricacies of war in space consumed much of their time.

China has accused the US, which was the first country with a space force, of being the primary driver in the space military race. Photo: EPA-EFE

Meanwhile, to ensure the system would run smoothly even in the most challenging moments of war, researchers had to consider computational complexity while making sure the calculations could be performed on a mobile military computer.

To achieve this, the scientists employed parallel computing technologies typically used only in supercomputers, improving computational efficiency and enabling inferior military-grade CPUs to produce simulation results within a short time frame.

Zhang’s team cautioned that the war game was still young, and extensive functional expansions and performance optimisations would be necessary in the future to meet the PLA’s demands for addressing growing space threats.

The US military has also used war-gaming systems to help train soldiers and develop strategies. Its army’s Space Wargaming Analysis Tool – SWAT – extends into the realm of space weaponry, yet its essence remains tethered to the Earth, bound by maps of terrain and tactics.

Meanwhile, the Space Delta 10 unit of the US Space Force is responsible for developing and practically applying the most advanced space war-gaming system, though details have not been disclosed.

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Chinese officials labelled Elon Musk’s SpaceX as an “unprecedented challenge”. The company has launched thousands of Starlink satellites into space and plans to continue launching tens of thousands more in the coming years.

Chinese military researchers have openly stated that as a result of their use in the Russia-Ukraine war, Starlink satellites and the launch sites of SpaceX would be targeted by China’s hypersonic weapons, as these satellites could potentially be used to collide with high-value Chinese assets, such as military satellites and space stations.

The Chinese military is actively developing a new generation of anti-satellite weapons, including high-power microwave emission devices and laser guns. Additionally, the Chinese government plans to launch nearly 13,000 low-Earth orbit internet satellites equipped with military payloads to establish a counter-deterrent against the US.

Some military experts see this as a reflection of the increasingly fierce military competition in the space domain, with countries seeking to protect their space assets while diminishing their adversaries’ space capabilities.

They said the international community needed to engage in deeper discussions and negotiations on regulations and restrictions for space activities to ensure the safe and sustainable use of space.