Inside SpaceX’s plans to build a network of spy satellites as the US Space Force tries to tackle China’s ‘deadly web’

SPACEX is reportedly building a fleet of spy satellites with defense giant Northrop Grumman as part of a secret deal with a US intelligence agency.

It follows comments made by a senior Space Force commander earlier this month about China’s monstrous network of tracking satellites.

These satellites are believed to be monitoring Western military operations on the ground – capabilities that the US aims to match.

China’s rapid advance into space has prompted the Space Force to begin work on its first off-planet military exercise, to test how it could ward off adversaries’ “in-orbit aggression.”

According to Reuters, SpaceX is building hundreds of spy satellites under its Starshield division as part of a secret $1.8 billion contract.

Several contractors are being used alongside SpaceX.

This is so that the unnamed US intelligence agency can avoid a scenario in which a company – and a boss – has access to a large amount of highly sensitive information relating to the top-secret program.

“It’s in the government’s interest not to fully invest in a company run by one person,” said one of the news agency’s sources, likely referring to SpaceX founder Elon Musk.

Northrop – one of the world’s largest defense contractors – will provide sensors for at least 50 satellites in the constellation.

All spy satellites will be tested at Northrop facilities before being launched into orbit, Reuters reported.

Sources said the program would significantly increase the ability of the White House and the US military to detect and track “targets” anywhere in the world.

These satellites are rumored to be imaging satellites, so operators can capture activity on the ground from a distance.

The program’s timeline is unclear, so it’s impossible to determine when the new satellite network might come into operation.

But about a dozen prototypes have been launched since 2020, among other satellites on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets, three of the sources said.

SpaceX and Northrop Grumman occasionally conduct classified payload missions to space.

Northrop’s next secret mission, dubbed NROL-174, is scheduled to launch later this month.

The US National Reconnaissance Office – the Department of Defense’s satellite-building branch – has not acknowledged allegations of SpaceX’s involvement in the program.

Instead, a spokesperson said: “The National Reconnaissance Office is developing the most capable, diverse and resilient space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system the world has ever seen.”

INFLUENCE OF CHINA

Under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, China has spent about $14 billion (11.2 billion) on its ambitious space program in 2023, according to Statista.

Speaking to reporters at the 39th Space Symposium earlier this month, General Stephen Whiting of US Space Command said: “Frankly, China is moving at impressive speed.

“Since 2018, China has more than tripled its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites in orbit.

“And with these systems, they built a web of destruction over the Pacific Ocean to find, repair, track and, yes, target U.S. and allied military capabilities.”

The U.S. Marine Corps defines a “web of destruction” as “a dynamic network that seamlessly integrates intelligence and warfare capabilities across multiple domains, including land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace.”

The country has “built a range of counterspace weapons, from reversible jamming to hit-and-kill, direct-ascension and co-orbital kinetic ASATs,” according to Whiting.

As part of global efforts to establish permanent habitation facilities on the Moon, China has also revealed plans to take its “all-seeing” Skynet surveillance off the planet.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has been outspoken about his fears surrounding China’s activities in space – which Beijing says are purely scientific.

Nelson warned this week that China is hiding other military projects in space, which could lead Beijing to try to claim parts of the Moon as its own territory.