While the U.S. Air Force says its robotic X-37B spaceplane, which recently landed in California after 15 months in orbit, is testing satellite technologies, China is deeply suspicious of the vehicle and its secretive mission, according to a Space.com report.
China sees the X-37B “as a perfect example of the U.S. developing a space weapon program while stating in public that they’re doing no such thing,” said Brian Weeden, a technical adviser with the Secure World Foundation and a former orbital analyst with the Air Force.
China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency, reporting on the spaceplane, cited “industry analysts” who said “the spacecraft could be a precursor to an orbiting weapon, capable of dropping bombs or disabling enemy satellites as it circles the globe.”