Pentagon spends $15.9 billion to upgrade surveillance of China’s subs, satellites

The Pentagon plans to spend an additional US$12.6 billion (S$15.9 billion) to improve surveillance of China’s military maneuvers, submarines and satellites as the US tries to counter the “unprecedented Chinese military buildup” in Asia, according to a budget document sent to Congress.

The funds, approved by Congress outside of the normal budget process, are designed to improve US military readiness, offensive cyber capabilities and surveillance efforts across the Indo-Pacific. It will also help expand operations of a classified Boeing spacecraft. 

The China-focused expenditures are detailed in a new 85-page document sent to Congress earlier in February that spells out how the Department of Defense (DoD) plans to allocate almost US$152 billion passed in the 2025 massive tax-and-spending package.

That is separate from the formal US$893 billion fiscal 2026 defence spending measure Congress passed in January.

The document says the new funds “are dedicated to improving critical DoD efforts in the US Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility to counter the unprecedented Chinese military buildup and the growing threats to US security interests and economic prosperity in the region”.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning criticised the funding plan at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Feb 27.

“Using the so-called China threat as a pretext to strengthen military deployments in the Asia-Pacific does not contribute to peace and stability in the region and does not serve the regional countries’ interests,” she said.

The new spending and hawkish tone contrast with January’s US National Defense Strategy, which took a softer line on China than in years past, in keeping with President Donald Trump’s calls for closer trade ties with Beijing.

The new strategy calls for deterring China “through strength, not confrontation” and is more focused on threats posed by migration and narcotics in the Western Hemisphere than on traditional US foes like Russia and North Korea.

Still, the spending document obtained by Bloomberg Government features a variety of intelligence and surveillance improvements aimed mostly at keeping a close eye on China’s increasingly sophisticated military buildup.

It has US$1 billion to improve classified “offensive cyber operations”. There’s another US$1 billion of unspecified expenditures for the US Space Force’s operation of Boeing’s classified X-37B “Orbital Test Vehicle,” although there has been little public explanation of its mission.

The document lists US$528 million to support the expansion of the Silent Barker constellation of early warning spy satellites. They are designed to track Chinese or Russian spacecraft that could disable or damage orbiting American systems.

The new funding also has US$143 million to improve US anti-submarine sonar efforts – as part of the so-called Integrated Undersea Surveillance Systems – that include sensors at the bottom of the ocean that provide continuous surveillance of enemy submarines. BLOOMBERG