TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The US Air Force estimates that China has 900 short-range ballistic missiles capable of reaching Taiwan and expressed concern about the longer range of the PLA's missile arsenal and “kill web” from space.

On Thursday, the US Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee held a hearing on the 2026 budget request for the Air Force and Space Force, per CNA. In their written testimony, the heads of the two military branches expanded on the capabilities the PLA Rocket Force has developed as part of its long-term modernization plan.

Beyond the missiles aimed at Taiwan, they said the Rocket Force has 400 ground-launched cruise missiles that can strike anywhere in the first island chain. The Rocket Force also fields approximately 1,300 medium-range ballistic missiles that can reach the second island chain, 500 intermediate-range missiles able to strike parts of Alaska and Australia, and more than 400 intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear warheads globally.

Air Force Secretary Troy E. Meink said China's deployment of the DF-17 medium-range missile system equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle will continue to reshape the Rocket Force. This system could replace some older short-range missiles and be used to strike foreign military bases and fleets in the Western Pacific.

“My biggest concern is that the kill web, that we call it, the PRC has put in place," said Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman in response to questions about threats facing the Space Force. He explained that the kill web allows the PLA to “track and target at great range the rest of the joint force and all the other domains.”

Saltzman said that the PLA has already deployed a powerful intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance network in orbit. To protect the joint force, the US must be able to mitigate the effects of China’s kill web, he said.

When Senator Dick Durbin asked whether this related to the Golden Dome missile defense system promoted by US President Donald Trump, Saltzman replied that dome focuses more on homeland defense. In contrast, the Space Force must be capable of defending the joint force from space-enabled attack worldwide, a capacity Saltzman described as “space superiority.”