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Space War Weekly Roundup: China Satellites, Orbit Jammers, Starlink

Our first space war weekly roundup: the DIA’s China warning, orbital jammers, the Starlink probe refusal, a Stoke Space loan and Vulcan’s return.

ByPeter
Illustrated graphic of satellites orbiting above Earth with signal jamming arcs
Graphic: Peter's World

This is the first Space War weekly roundup from Peter’s World. It covers the four Space War daily reports published from Oct. 28 to Oct. 31, 2026, the theater’s first week; no Space War report was published on Nov. 1. It pulls the week’s main threads together, then adds our analysis. Each fact appears once, with its source, and the full daily list is at the end.

The week in brief

The DIA’s warning on China’s space forces

China’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites “contained more than 510 systems, having more than tripled since 2018,” the Defense Intelligence Agency said in its 2026 report, Challenges to Security in Space. The DIA press release announced the report on Oct. 26. The report shows China’s uncrewed spaceplane and says that on one mission the craft “released and interacted with an object.” Todd Harrison of the American Enterprise Institute counts the fleet differently, saying China’s surveillance and weather satellites grew from 141 in 2018 to 541 while the US fleet grew from 298 to 643, Breaking Defense reported.

The report goes further than earlier editions, Air & Space Forces Magazine reported. It says China “is developing space-based technology, including on-orbit counterspace weapons, capable of holding space systems at risk,” and that Chinese firms are developing jammers against radar imaging satellites, where the 2022 edition said China was only “probably” doing so. It also says Iran has jammed satellite communications and navigation signals around the Strait of Hormuz, and that North Korea may be developing jammers effective against military GPS signals. China’s Shenlong spaceplane, on its fourth mission, is making passes over the United States through early November, Space.com reported.

Satellites in Ukraine’s war

The Pentagon’s inspector general declined a request from nine senators to investigate disruptions to Starlink and Starshield service in Ukraine, saying the Air Force was better placed to answer, the Associated Press reported, according to Ukrainska Pravda. Fire Point’s chief executive said the Ukrainian company’s missiles and drones can now finish missions without a satellite link, though at only 15% to 20% of what Starlink access would allow, Ukrainska Pravda reported. Ukrainian startup Himera and Denmark’s GomSpace began testing a small satellite meant to seed a communications network under Ukraine’s own control, SpaceNews reported. Vladimir Putin said Russia’s Rassvet network, its version of Starlink, has “three dozen spacecraft” in orbit, by the account of the state news agency TASS.

US launch, cislunar plans and contracts

The Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital signed a $150 million conditional loan commitment with Stoke Space, which plans a second launch pad at Cape Canaveral, the department said. United Launch Alliance said its Vulcan rocket, grounded since a February booster problem on a Space Force mission, will fly again on Nov. 13, Air & Space Forces Magazine reported. Air Force researchers recovered cargo pods from the Pacific after a flight on SpaceX’s Starfall capsule, a step toward rocket cargo delivery, according to a war.gov news story.

The Space Force wants equipment for cislunar space, the region beyond geosynchronous orbit out to the Moon, ready to launch as soon as 2029, Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy said, Air & Space Forces Magazine reported. The Air Force Research Laboratory plans to fund 15 small business contracts of $2 million each under a challenge called Cislunar Prime, the same magazine reported. The Space Force also plans a sole-source contract worth up to $945.9 million for Boeing to maintain military communications satellites, SpaceNews reported. More than a dozen Space Force program offices met with companies at a Space Enterprise Consortium meeting in Los Angeles, Space Systems Command said.

Hacking, treaties and other launches

A newly identified hacking group used a patched Cisco flaw to plant key-stealing malware at space companies, defense firms and policy groups, Cisco Talos said, BleepingComputer reported. Vietnam became the 78th country to sign the Artemis Accords, the State Department said. India launched a new navigation satellite on Oct. 30 to strengthen NavIC, its regional alternative to GPS, Space.com reported.

What changed this week

Analysis (Peter’s World’s view): The DIA’s report moved several warnings from “probably” to stated fact, most of all the finding that China is building weapons that work in orbit, not just from the ground. That set the tone for the week. On the US side, the answers were money and schedules: a loan for a new launch pad, a return date for Vulcan, and a 2029 target for cislunar hardware.

Why it matters

Analysis (Peter’s World’s view): Satellites now sit inside active wars. Ukraine’s drone and missile forces depend on a private network the Pentagon’s own watchdog will not review, and Fire Point’s estimate puts a number on what losing it costs. Russia is building its own version, and China’s surveillance fleet gives it the means to track US forces across the Pacific. Space is no longer a support layer; it is part of the battlefield in both theaters.

What to watch next week

  • Nov. 13: whether Vulcan flies on schedule, and when it carries Space Force payloads again.
  • Whether the Air Force answers the senators’ Starlink questions after the inspector general declined.
  • Shenlong’s passes over the United States and any sign of another object release.
  • The two cislunar requests for information that Purdy described as coming soon.
  • New releases from Space Command and the National Reconnaissance Office, which published none this week.

This week’s daily reports

For every report in this theater, see Space War reports or the War Room dashboard.

Sources

Additional sources

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