Late in January, we learned that Communist “Chinese satellites and space debris forced SpaceX’s Starlink fleet to execute a large number of collision avoidance maneuvers” in 2025.
This was a reversal of the usual litany against Starlink. For instance, earlier in the same month, Beijing called Elon Musk’s Starlink constellation a “crash risk.”
Perhaps this Starlink-danger news genre started in 2021 when the CCP lodged complaints against the firm with the United Nations, claiming two “close encounters.”
Greater risks
Even if we credit those complaints, Starlink poses risks that are greater—for the Chinese Communist Party—than mere collisions with Beijing space objects.
First, if Starlink’s satellites were positioned over Red China (currently they are not), there would be the risk of public access to unauthorized foreign Internet content. At the start of the war with Russia, Musk made access free for Ukrainians. He could provide the same boon to the people of China.
Second, if its satellites were positioned over China, Starlink could support U.S. military operations in and around that region in the way it has been supporting Ukraine’s military operations.
As of November 2025, Beijing had 1,301 satellites in orbit. It plans “to have around 38,000 satellites across three of its low earth orbit internet projects, known as Qianfan, Guo Wang and Honghu-3.” For these 38,000 dreams to come true, the communists would need a reusable rocket…and they do not have one. They tested one in December, and it failed. Meanwhile, by October 2025 Starlink had launched its 10,000th satellite.
So when the South China Morning Post writes that “both sides complained of safety challenges from rival internet megaconstellations,” we must keep in mind that there is no communist megaconstellation to challenge anyone. That remains a dim possibility in an unknown future.
Likewise, when U.S. press outlets suggest that China is aggressively challenging Starlink by developing low-earth-orbit constellations—file that claim under sci-fi. The CCP’s aggressive, massive propaganda is challenging the judgment of reporters.
Party game
Meanwhile, the Reds are dreaming along other lines. Communist “Chinese government and military scientists, concerned about Starlink’s potential use by adversaries in a military confrontation and for spying, have published dozens of papers in public journals that explore ways to hunt and destroy Musk’s satellites, an Associated Press review found.”
It’s like a party game for communist academics. “How would you destroy Starlink satellites?”
The scenarios get specific at times:
Targeting individual Starlink satellites is deemed inefficient; instead, China has explored disruptive technologies, including the Relativistic Klystron Amplifier, a high-power microwave weapon capable of disabling sensitive satellite electronics. However, deploying such systems faces challenges, including satellite overheating and energy demands.
Additionally, China has created sophisticated directed-energy weapons such as solid-state lasers mounted on satellites and is exploring the potential of X-ray lasers—ideas originating from the US’s Strategic Defense Initiative—to take out several satellites in a single attack. This approach aims to reverse the cost-exchange imbalance of traditional anti-satellite weapons.
Assuming that Beijing is serious about crippling Starlink, what can Musk and Starlink do? Reference to “collision avoidance maneuvers” suggests a certain amount of mobility, so they have that going for them.
So you see, there is anti-satellite research and then there is anti-anti-satellite research.
Space Force
The Americans in charge of the anti-anti-satellite mission are in Space Force, which is chronically short of money.
“We are not adequately funded for new missions that I’ve been given in space superiority,” [Chief of Space Operations] Gen. Chance Saltzman told lawmakers [in May 2025]. “Despite the dramatic rise in threats and increasing importance of space over the last few budget cycles, the Space Force has experienced shrinking resources. This disconnect between value and investment creates risk for our nation. Further exacerbating the situation, the Space Force has been asked to accept new responsibilities and missions forcing tough choices between delayed readiness, reduced capacity and vulnerabilities.”
Let’s put numbers on this complaint:
The White House is requesting $26.3 billion for the service, according to budget documents released [in May 2025]. That’s about 13 percent less, in real terms, than the $29.4 billion requested by the Biden administration for 2025. It’s down from the $28.7 billion actually appropriated under the full-year continuing resolution passed in March [2025]. And it’s down from the 2024 total of $29 billion, which represented the fourth year of growth for the young service.
Perhaps this is all moot given the fact that Space Force’s priorities, which it cannot afford to meet, do not extend beyond protecting government assets. What part of the U.S. government is responsible for protecting private property in space? None, apparently.
Musk should develop his own anti-anti-satellite tech. Sounds crazy, but no one is going to do it for him, not soon anyway. And he has a lot of capital at stake. □
James Roth works for a major defense contractor in Virginia.
