PDB Afternoon Bulletin | May 16th, 2025: China Develops Space-Based 'Kill Web' To Defeat The U.S. & Israel's Secret Talks With Syria's Islamist Regime
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What are China's advancements in space-based warfare?
It's Friday, the 16th of May. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. Up first on today's bulletin, America's Space Chief, which honestly might be the coolest job title, has issued a grave warning about Russian and Chinese advances in space-based warfare, including Beijing's KillWeb satellite network, Moscow's intention to put a nuclear weapon into orbit, and their joint project, between China and Russia, to build a permanent moon base by mid-2030. We'll have the details. Later in the show, in a surprising development, we're learning that Israel is engaged in secret talks with the new Islamist regime in Syria on the possibility of joining the Abraham Accords in a potential bid to further erode Iran's strategic interests in the Middle East. Now, that would be in the top 10 geopolitical developments of 2025. But first, today's afternoon spotlight.
We'll begin today with a look at the final frontier of warfare as the US, Russia, and China vie for military supremacy in space. America's space chief sounded the alarm on Thursday on the emerging threat posed by Russia and China in the vast beyond, warning that what's referred to as Beijing's satellite kill web poses the biggest risk to US forces. Speaking at Politico's Security Summit on Thursday, General B. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations, said it's imperative for America to move swiftly to disrupt the efforts of America's top adversaries to weaponize space before they gain an edge over U.S. capabilities. China's growing satellite network is of particular concern to Saltzman, who said it can precisely target the location of US forces, preemptively giving, of course, the communist regime valuable intelligence about American troop positions and operations before military objectives can be met. This network reportedly puts forces in the Indo-Pacific region at the greatest risk.
Saltzman said, quote, the PRC has developed what we've kind of, you know, tongue in cheek called a kill web. Doesn't sound tongue in cheek. And it's nothing more than a series of hundreds of satellites that are a sensor network that provide real time updates targeting quality information of our force. He continued, quote, this is a huge problem. That's why we have to build our capabilities to try to disrupt that so that when we're trying to achieve military objectives, our soldiers, sailors, and airmen are safe and not under this umbrella of a very accurate, very long-range set of weapons. But it's not just China. America's space chief warned that Russia is demonstrating similar strength in this arena, pinpointing three major areas of concern in Moscow's space technology development. First, he points to what he described as their kinetic kill capability.
What are the implications of China's 'Kill Web' satellite network?
Back in November 2021, Russia used a direct-descent anti-satellite missile to intentionally destroy a defunct Soviet intelligence satellite, creating a massive debris field in low-Earth orbit that posed risks to the International Space Station and other satellites. Second, he noted that Russia launched a crippling cyberattack on American commercial satellite internet company Viasat just one hour before mounting their invasion of Ukraine, causing outages for several thousand Ukrainian customers and disrupting wind farms and internet services throughout Central Europe. Finally, and most ominously, Saltzman warned of the Kremlin's intention to put a nuclear weapon into orbit. As you may recall, reports started circulating back in February of 2024 that the Putin regime was pursuing a space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapon that could shut down everything from military communications to civilian phone-based services and apps. U.S.
intelligence officials said the weapon could trigger an electromagnetic pulse across low Earth orbit. that would disable dozens of critical satellites and have a catastrophic effect on any ground-based devices that rely on satellite connectivity.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What are China's advancements in space-based warfare?
0:12–3:08
2
What warning did America's space chief give about Russia?
3:08
3
What secret talks is Israel having with Syria?
1:14–2:17
4
What are the implications of China's 'Kill Web' satellite network?
2:17–5:07
5
How is Russia planning to weaponize space?
5:07–6:37
6
What is the significance of the joint lunar project with Russia and China?
6:37–8:34
7
What is the advanced energy weapon technology developed by China?
8:34–15:41
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from The President's Daily Brief
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