U.S. Air Force Secretary warns China’s space gains are driven by more than copying

ORLANDO, Fla. — U.S. Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink cautioned that the United States should not assume China’s accelerating progress in space and missile technology is simply the result of copying American systems, arguing Beijing is demonstrating significant independent innovation.

Speaking Dec. 11 at the Spacepower conference, Meink said he recently toured Space Force launch facilities at Cape Canaveral and was struck by how closely China’s newest launch complexes resemble U.S. ranges. “You actually look at some of the videos that just came out, it actually looks like some of our factories down the road,” he said, referring to Florida Space Coast manufacturing sites.

Senior Space Force leaders and outside analysts have increasingly pointed to China’s improving industrial base, launch cadence and technology development cycles. Meink echoed those concerns. “How they’re trying to catch up with launch is super impressive,” he said. For decades the United States dominated global launch, “and now you can see they’re making massive improvements, trying to really catch up.”

“They are copying us in many ways,” he added. “But don’t let that confuse you. They are very, very innovative as well. It’s not just copying us. They are super innovative in how they’re operating, which puts even more pressure on us to innovate faster.”

Missile advances add to pressure

Meink also pointed to China’s progress in missile development as part of a broader trend. “It’s just amazing how quickly the Chinese and other adversaries are advancing in missiles,” he said. Missiles must be validated through repeated, reliable testing, he noted, adding: “They didn’t steal all from us. They’re doing a lot themselves. So we have to, again, move faster.”

China’s expanding missile inventory includes conventional ballistic missiles, hypersonic glide vehicles and anti-satellite systems, according to U.S. defense assessments. These capabilities underpin Beijing’s strategy for countering U.S. forces in the Indo-Pacific and complicating American access to contested regions.

Scaling advantage 

A central concern, Meink said, is China’s ability to manufacture and field systems at far greater scale than the United States. “Nobody’s ever really seen, to be quite honest, the numbers of those systems, it’s just phenomenal how quickly they’re moving.”

In contrast, U.S. defense production lines tend to operate in small batches and face supply-chain constraints and slower acquisition cycles. Defense officials have said the Pentagon is trying to shift to more responsive manufacturing and procurement models, but long-standing industrial bottlenecks remain.

Meink, a former senior intelligence official and deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office, noted that China once developed systems at roughly half the speed of the United States. At the time, he said, some observers dismissed the threat, assuming Beijing was “just stealing it from us” and would remain generations behind. “However, that is just not true at all,” he said. China has since closed the gap “not just in space, but across the board.”

China as the pacing threat

The Chinese are a concerning adversary, Meink said. “But the bottom line is that if you deal with that threat, you can deal with most all threats. They’re not the only threat that we have to worry about, but they are obviously the driver. If you can’t deal with that, you’re gonna have a bad day.”

His comments align with repeated Pentagon assessments labeling China as the United States’ “pacing challenge” in space, where Beijing is deploying reconnaissance constellations, maneuverable satellites and counterspace systems while expanding military-civilian industrial partnerships.

Meink’s warning comes as the Pentagon and the defense industrial base are looking to accelerate development timelines, adopt more agile acquisition practices and increase production capacity.