China, Russia experiment with stealthy satellites, Space Force official says

China and Russia are experimenting with stealth technologies aimed at making it harder for radar and telescopes to find their satellites, according to a senior Space Force official.

“In years past, we’ve talked about this cat and mouse game that was happening at GEO [geosynchronous Earth orbit] — Chinese, Russian, U.S. satellite, sort of stalking each other. This past year has really been more of a hide and seek game that we’ve seen at LEO [low Earth orbit],” Chief Master Sergeant Ron Lerch, senior enlisted advisor to the deputy chief of space operations for intelligence, said.

For example, he said, the three LEO-stationed Shiyan-24 satellites (Shiyan A, B and C) involved in synchronized maneuvers that Space Force vice Gen. Michael Guetlein back in March dubbed as “dogfighting in space” each had a different radar cross section — the second being smaller than the first and third smaller still.

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