There has been a report recently that China has fired high-power lasers at U.S. spy satellites flying over its territory in what experts see as a test of their ability to blind the spacecraft, according to sources. It remains unclear how many times the ground-based laser was tested against U.S. spacecraft or whether the tests were successful. It is uncertain when China first used lasers to attack American satellites. Sources would only say that there have been several tests over the past several years.

As first reported by DefenseNews.com, China’s efforts and advances in Russian satellite jamming capabilities have thereby underscored the vulnerabilities of U.S. space networks. According to experts, lasers — depending on their power level — could potentially blind electro-optical satellites such as the aging U.S. Keyhole spacecraft or even interfere with radar satellites such as the Lacrosse. It has been said that blinding, differs from disabling, given the huge amount of power required to shoot a laser through the dense lower atmosphere and reach a fast-moving satellite in space. Though hardware on a spacecraft cannot be changed once in orbit, software changes could conceivably enable surveillance satellites to withstand such attacks.

It is known that the Russians have jamming systems. In fact, the Air Force destroyed such a system in Iraq to prevent American GPS-guided bombs from locating their targets during 2003. The site was destroyed by GPS-guided bombs.

As part of a program to avoid upsetting the Chinese government, Pentagon officials have kept quiet regarding China’s efforts. The White House directed the Pentagon to confine its report so that it merely acknowledges that the ability to blind U.S. satellites, thanks to a powerful ground-based laser capable of firing a beam of light at an optical reconnaissance satellite to prevent it from taking pictures as it passes overhead.

If the reports are true, it would confirm that China’s anti-satellite capabilities are further evidence of Beijing’s focused military strategy that aims not to engage the United States in direct confrontation, but through asymmetric means, according to a source at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington.

The United States operates three large optical reconnaissance satellites of the Keyhole-series by Lockheed Martin that were introduced some three decades ago. The loss of any of the three would prove a blow to U.S. space capabilities, sources said, which is why they will be replaced by a large constellation of spacecraft under the Future Imagery Architecture program that is being developed by Boeing and Lockheed.

The general view with regard to military efforts in the laser domain is that with the military so bogged down in Iraq, expenditures, at present, in the laser sector are meager, at best.