Looking for ships or groups of ships on the open sea is a difficult task. Large areas must be surveilled on a regular basis and coverage must be arranged so that the time between overflights is less than the speed of the ships to move out of range. Monitoring a particular area of ocean is easier. China has sought to extend its surveillance capabilities, which have been limited to date by the need to use either ground or aerial platforms, and will probably use any new space-based assets to watch the sea areas around Taiwan. U.S naval forces could still retain an element of surprise the further away they are from the Island. This may require positioning ships further out and launching aircraft at a greater range, which will increase aerial refueling requirements and complicate aircraft recovery. Stealth is not an option for aircraft carriers, so the U.S. may also have to rely more on the use of submarine forces. Spoofing capabilities for ships or for battle groups may also be necessary. This could be the use of false radar signals to confuse satellite sensors and to degrade data (a spoof transmission might persuade a satellite that a carrier was several miles from its actual position, for example).

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Lewis, James A. "China as a Military Space Competitor." Perspectives on Space Security. Ed. Audrey M. Schaffer. Washington, D.C.: Space Policy Institute, December 2005. [ 8 quotes ] [ page 110 ]