Robots, AI, Quantum Computing: How China Is Preparing for a New Generation of War

In written testimony prepared for a hearing held Tuesday by the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, William Carter, the deputy director for CSIS' technology policy program, said: China sees offensive cyber capabilities, anti-satellite weapons, electronic warfare tools, hypersonic weapons, artificial intelligence, and quantum technologies as key to enabling the PLA [People's Liberation Army] to win wars in future, high-tech conditions and offset the advantages of the U.S. military, and has made significant strides in all of these areas. Specifically, China is already able to "significantly disrupt, degrade, and even destroy the ICT [information and communication technology] infrastructure on which our military depends," namely satellites, Carter told lawmakers, suggesting that by doing so Beijing could essentially take down the American armed forces. "We may have more and better aircraft carriers, tanks, and missiles than the PLA, but without access to data and connectivity many of these systems are ineffective or even inoperable," warned the CSIS expert. He went on to note that China considers satellites to be the U.S. military's "Achilles heel," adding: The PLA has tested a range of anti-satellite weapons, including conventional ground-based kinetic kill vehicles, directed energy weapons, jamming and spoofing capabilities, and "kill-satellites" designed to disable or destroy other satellites on orbit. They have expanded their electronic warfare capabilities, testing their capabilities to jam radar and communications and spoof GPS systems.