Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/23973244 (121810ZDEC25) Notable: Russian “Invisible” Satellite and Chinese Stealth Tests Alarm US Space Force
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Russian “Invisible” Satellite and Chinese Stealth Tests Alarm US Space Force
Updated Dec 12, 2025 16:22
China and Russia are actively testing stealth-related technologies designed to make their satellites harder to detect with radar and optical sensors, a senior US Space Force official said, warning that space surveillance is increasingly turning into a game of concealment rather than confrontation, according to Breaking Defense on December 11.
Speaking at the Space Force Association’s Spacepower 2025 conference, Chief Master Sergeant Ron Lerch, the senior enlisted advisor to the deputy chief of space operations for intelligence, said recent activity suggests both countries are investing in ways to reduce the radar and visual signatures of spacecraft, particularly in low Earth orbit.
“In years past, we’ve talked about this cat and mouse game that was happening at GEO [geosynchronous Earth orbit]—Chinese, Russian, US satellite, sort of stalking each other,” Lerch said.
“This past year has really been more of a hide-and-seek game that we’ve seen at LEO [low Earth orbit].”
China testing stealthy satellite shapes
According to Breaking Defense, Lerch pointed to China’s Shiyan-24 satellite trio—Shiyan A, B, and C—which conducted synchronized maneuvers in low Earth orbit earlier this year, activity previously described by Space Force Vice Gen. Michael Guetlein as “dogfighting in space.”
According to Lerch, each satellite exhibited a different radar cross-section, with each successive spacecraft becoming harder to detect.
“That suggests,” he said, “that the Chinese are moving forward with what we’ve seen as a decades-long plan and research to potentially use some stealth applications in space.”
Post too long. Click here to view the full text.