Originally Posted By xd341:
the A10 is like.....tis but a flesh wound!

Originally Posted By Sub_Arctic_Son:


That's it?

To hear the media and N_Ts talk you'd think we've lost hundreds of irreplaceable aircraft.

Iran has destroyed fewer aircraft in a full blown war than the military loses every year to accidents.

In other words, we hurt ourselves worse every year by accident, than Iran has been able to take out in a full blown war

Originally Posted By Cypher214:
...

Considering the op tempo and the number of aircraft operating in a live combat zone, it is absolutely fucking incredible that more equipment and lives haven't been lost.  No other military in the world can do what we do, not even close.

Originally Posted By Cypher214:
Those KC-135's were lost to an unfortunate incident that could have just as easily happened during training.  Shit happens.

Considering the op tempo and the number of aircraft operating in a live combat zone, it is absolutely fucking incredible that more equipment and lives haven't been lost.  No other military in the world can do what we do, not even close.

Originally Posted By jpk33:
File this under things that will never happen.... I believe Trump should sit down on national tv before the mid terms and layout to the American people (and the rest of the world) why we are engaged with Iran. I believe (as many have stated) that this event is the culmination of 50 years of failed US policies and us (and allies (?) in the region) of kicking the can down the road. He can easily make this case against previous administrations of both parties, as well as our mid east allies and "other" nations in the region.
Nobody in their right mind would want a doomsday cult to have a functioning nuclear weapon with world wide implications. Trump needs to be honest in the fact that he doesn't like armed conflicts, but firm that this needs to be dealt with harshly, and we will not relent until identified goals (this will be the hard part as I am not sure they are actually identified) and objectives are met.

There are some very smart people in this administration, the civilian negotiators are not in this league.

The two prong military and economic strangulation takes time (especially if you want to limit US casualties) but half-ass measures are not going to solve this anytime soon.

Originally Posted By phillip42184:


He already told us why he is in this war. It’s because of Israel. Israel is the deep state. They are the enemy. They control him.

Originally Posted By phillip42184:


He already told us why he is in this war. It’s because of Israel. Israel is the deep state. They are the enemy. They control him.

Originally Posted By stone-age:


Surf sweeper? That's a pretty good name.

Originally Posted By AR-1556:




Yeah that guy is out there with his push broom minding his own business, cleaning up the worlds oceans and stuff, then those assholes have to go fuck with him... Not cool IRGC!

Originally Posted By Cypher214:
Those KC-135's were lost to an unfortunate incident that could have just as easily happened during training.  Shit happens.

Considering the op tempo and the number of aircraft operating in a live combat zone, it is absolutely fucking incredible that more equipment and lives haven't been lost.  No other military in the world can do what we do, not even close.

Originally Posted By jpk33:
File this under things that will never happen.... I believe Trump should sit down on national tv before the mid terms and layout to the American people (and the rest of the world) why we are engaged with Iran. I believe (as many have stated) that this event is the culmination of 50 years of failed US policies and us (and allies (?) in the region) of kicking the can down the road. He can easily make this case against previous administrations of both parties, as well as our mid east allies and "other" nations in the region.
Nobody in their right mind would want a doomsday cult to have a functioning nuclear weapon with world wide implications. Trump needs to be honest in the fact that he doesn't like armed conflicts, but firm that this needs to be dealt with harshly, and we will not relent until identified goals (this will be the hard part as I am not sure they are actually identified) and objectives are met.

There are some very smart people in this administration, the civilian negotiators are not in this league.

The two prong military and economic strangulation takes time (especially if you want to limit US casualties) but half-ass measures are not going to solve this anytime soon.

Originally Posted By MFP_4073:
WSJ reporting :

----------------------------------------


Iran Is Producing Ballistic Missiles Again

Intelligence findings say Tehran is assembling stockpiled components into weapons in underground facilities

By    Anat Peled, Summer Said and Michael R. Gordon     Sept. 10, 2026 12:34 pm ET

U.S. and Middle East officials said Iran has resumed producing ballistic missiles in underground facilities using stockpiled components.

Iran has resumed its production of ballistic missiles using stockpiled components and working in underground facilities, officials from the U.S. and Middle East familiar with the matter said, eroding what the U.S. and Israel have touted as a major achievement of the war.

Despite heavy attacks on its missile sites and industrial facilities during the initial phase of the war, Iran has been busy assembling liquid-propellant missiles, which have to be fueled just before launch, as well as solid-propellant missiles, which can be stored ready to fire, some of the officials said.

Intelligence points to activity at several underground sites, including the Khojir missile facility in southeastern Iran, those officials said. Iran is also attempting to build new underground assembly points to avoid getting struck again, they said.

So far, Iran is mainly assembling the new missiles from existing components in more limited quantities than before the war, the U.S. and regional officials said. The U.S. and Israel damaged a number of industrial facilities needed to produce missile components and missiles themselves, and the naval blockade has complicated imports of parts and ingredients for solid fuel.

The renewed production underscores the difficulty of fully dismantling Tehran’s missile program, a goal of the war the U.S. and Israel launched on Feb. 28. It also extends Iran’s ability to hold on in the war of attrition that pits its supplies of the weapons against shrinking U.S. and Gulf stockpiles of missile interceptors.

“When there are no bombings of the facilities, you can replace damaged infrastructure, and you can buy new components from other countries and store them in the facilities,” said Tal Inbar, a senior analyst at the U.S.-based Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance. “You have to be extremely naive to think that Iran is not rebuilding its missile-production capabilities.”

The office of Israel’s prime minister didn’t reply to a request for comment.

A White House official didn’t directly address the question of whether Tehran had resumed production of ballistic missiles but said that Iran’s nuclear facilities had been obliterated and its military forces severely degraded. “Iran is weaker now than ever before, and President Trump will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” the official said.

Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, said the U.S. had “destroyed up to 90% of Iran’s drone, ballistic missile, and naval industrial base” and “significantly degraded” Iran’s ability to launch missiles and drones.

The U.S. and Israel severely diminished Iran’s missile program early in the war with thousands of strikes aimed at production sites, storage facilities, missiles and launchers. But Iran has used the period of calm this summer to rebuild its military capabilities with the belief that the ceasefire is unlikely to hold.

A U.S. official said Iran probably resumed low-rate production after signing a preliminary deal with Trump in mid-June to open the Strait of Hormuz and begin talks to wind down the war. Tehran was believed to have the ability to assemble at least a couple of hundred missiles from components it had on hand, the official said.

Before the war, Iran stockpiled components including finished warheads, airframes, and guidance and control systems, said Jim Lamson, a visiting research fellow at King’s College London and former CIA analyst who specialized in the Iranian military.

He pointed to older photos and videos released by Iran that show many such components lined up against the walls of underground facilities. The number of new missiles that Iran can produce depends on the depth of those stockpiles and how many underground facilities are operative.

“We could be talking about hundreds of missiles or possibly thousands of missiles,” Lamson said.

Iran ran down its stockpiles of finished missiles during the war, leading it to reduce the volume of its attacks, but it still has a lot of capacity. Inbar assessed that Iran still has thousands of ballistic missiles in its arsenal.

Iran continues to fire missiles at U.S. bases across the Middle East, showcasing the diversity of its arsenal. Some missiles used, like the Kheibar Shekan missile, are considered mobile, accurate and relatively cheap to produce.

On Wednesday, it launched a heavy salvo at an air base in Jordan that houses U.S. troops. Videos showed that the projectiles had cluster warheads, a type of missile that had been frequently fired at Israel earlier in the war to challenge air-defense systems.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in April that Iran’s missile program had been “functionally destroyed” and that it lacked the means to make new missiles.

“You are digging out your remaining launchers and missiles with no ability to replace them,” Hegseth said. “You have no defense industry, no ability to replenish your offensive or defense capabilities.”

Arab and Israeli officials are bracing for continued fighting and the possibility Iran will escalate as the U.S. economic chokehold tightens. In recent days, Iran has launched a series of attacks on U.S. warships that resulted in close calls, though none was hit.

Satellite imagery shows Iran is rebuilding everything from bridges and roads to production sites at a pace that is worrying Israeli officials, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Iran has restored access to tunnel entrances for missile bases that had been collapsed by U.S. and Israeli airstrikes. Weapons stored inside those underground sites are likely to be well-preserved, according to Israeli military assessments.

Challenges to returning to full-scale missile manufacturing include damage to chemical facilities needed to make liquid propellants and industrial mixers for producing solid fuel, Arab officials said.

Lacking a modern air force, Iran established its missile program in the 1980s during the war with Iraq and has increasingly relied on the weapons to deter its foes.

Tehran demonstrated its ability to rebuild its missile program after the 12-day war with Israel in June 2025. Though Israel targeted the missile program with its attacks, Iran was able to rebuild its stockpiles faster than expected, leading Israel to warn before the end of the year that more strikes on Iran might be needed.

“You can try to destroy facilities, you can try to destroy the missiles themselves, but it actually has quicker regenerative capacity than the nuclear program, and it’s pretty dispersed,” said Nicole Grajewski, an expert on Iranian strategy at Sciences Po in Paris. “The reason Iran created such elaborate missile infrastructure was because they were worried about this.”

Anat Peled is a reporter for The Wall Street Journal covering Israel and the Palestinian territories, with a focus on security, politics, and society.

Summer Said is a correspondent covering energy and Saudi Arabia from The Wall Street Journal's Middle East bureau.

Michael R. Gordon is a national security correspondent for The Wall Street Journal.

====================================

Originally Posted By Rick-OShay:


Gee.  You know who else was assembling ballistic missiles underground from stockpiled components?


The Third Reich.


It wasn't because they were winning .....

Originally Posted By foursixty:


Most of what we destroyed has been rebuilt according to some reports.

I can tell you for sure the American taxpayer is not winning.

Originally Posted By bensonmum:

Lol, can you tell me when the American taxpayer was winning?

Originally Posted By phillip42184:


He already told us why he is in this war. It’s because of Israel. Israel is the deep state. They are the enemy. They control him.

Originally Posted By Rick-OShay:


Gee.  You know who else was assembling ballistic missiles underground from stockpiled components?


The Third Reich.


It wasn't because they were winning .....

Originally Posted By Plutonius:


Trump is a life time Democrat. Why are you afraid to admit he has failed?

Just because the other side is worse does not make your guy good. Partisan politics really can warp the mind.

AFP: The Houthis have completed their takeover of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world's most important strategic shipping routes, after seizing control of Perim Island (Miyoun) in the heart of the strait.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Houthi forces have reached Duba, a coastal city located in the strait.

The Israeli source explains that the Houthis will be able to fire at ships. Unlike their patrons in Iran, they will not need to use radar and sophisticated systems: "They will simply see the ships with their eyes and will be able to send out suicide boats or take control of them.

This is a huge drama that gives the terrorist organization enormous power"

Originally Posted By Dance:
The Middle East needs to take care of their own problems.

We need to just buy their natural resources them to only use US currency for transactions.

Originally Posted By atavistic:

The election bots start earlier every year.

Originally Posted By HiramRanger:


The Jew haters cannot be reasoned with. I stopped trying.

Originally Posted By AR-1556:



FIFY


We don't depend on their products.

Originally Posted By blueballs:



The human version of bots  are called "useful idiots".  It's amazing how many gleefully go forward to shit post on the internet daily whatever moronic talking point is being pushed by their chosen side without considering they are just as shitty as the useful idiots on the other side.  The propaganda wars of messaging and demoralization are a disappointing reality of the human condition.

Originally Posted By Some_Beach:
But we do, particularly west coast refineries. And for Group 3 bases. Maybe not in the future at some point, but for now we do.

Originally Posted By phillip42184:


He already told us why he is in this war. It’s because of Israel. Israel is the deep state. They are the enemy. They control him.

Originally Posted By Gunslinger808:


I employ "partisan politics", my candidate may not live up to your expectation of "good", but he still represents more of my ideals than his liberal opponent.
And no, he hasn't "failed" because he hasn't done EXACTLY what I voted for, instead you might want to consider his positives rather than focus on the media driven negatives.

Originally Posted By AR-1556:



We've got a kitchen at home, we don't need their take out crap.


We are only there to occupy and control the cash flow.

Originally Posted By Some_Beach:
You're either trolling or oblivious

The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that the drones that targeted the East-West pipeline were indeed launched from Iraq, confirming Iranian-backed non-state actor (NSA) involvement in the strikes.

Notably, while the statement says that Saudi Arabia retains the right to respond to such acts, it also says that they have chosen not to respond at this time, seemingly deferring to the Iraqi government, who has dragged their feet on reigning in Iraqi Iranian-backed NSAs.

Originally Posted By Dance:
The Middle East needs to take care of their own problems.

We need to just buy their natural resources.

Originally Posted By MFP_4073:



you don't improve by standing around high fiving your bros about all the good shit you did.   certainly some positivity is warranted.

but you improve by taking a hard look at what you AREN'T doing well.   admitting your underperformance (some self-awareness required) and seeking self-improvement is not a flaw.  

that goes for anything in life -- being a good leader, employee, husband, father, athlete -- whatever.  

Originally Posted By Chaingun:
Entirely wrong

Both the US, under Carter, and France created the Iran we have today

It's not a ME problem it's our problem

Originally Posted By jpk33:
File this under things that will never happen.... I believe Trump should sit down on national tv before the mid terms and layout to the American people (and the rest of the world) why we are engaged with Iran. I believe (as many have stated) that this event is the culmination of 50 years of failed US policies and us (and allies (?) in the region) of kicking the can down the road. He can easily make this case against previous administrations of both parties, as well as our mid east allies and "other" nations in the region.
Nobody in their right mind would want a doomsday cult to have a functioning nuclear weapon with world wide implications. Trump needs to be honest in the fact that he doesn't like armed conflicts, but firm that this needs to be dealt with harshly, and we will not relent until identified goals (this will be the hard part as I am not sure they are actually identified) and objectives are met.

There are some very smart people in this administration, the civilian negotiators are not in this league.

The two prong military and economic strangulation takes time (especially if you want to limit US casualties) but half-ass measures are not going to solve this anytime soon.

The US has asked tankers travelling through the Strait of Hormuz to sail only at specific times to guarantee military protection after Iran stepped up attacks on ships travelling at night.

Washington has been offering air-based defence since May to ships wanting to sail via a route hugging the Omani coast on the strait’s southern side, in an effort to defy Iranian attacks and keep some oil flowing out of the Gulf.

Shipowners had to apply to the US naval co-ordination centre (Naval Cooperation and Guidance for Shipping, or NCAGS), which then gave mariners co-ordinates to follow and permission to sail through during broad time windows overnight, during which they would be protected by US aircraft.

That period was cut down to two specific time slots daily around the start of September, according to emails sent by NCAGS to maritime advisers seen by the FT.

Vessels have been told to start their journey at specified times, such as 9am.

“We are now providing recommended transit times that vary by day. Your vessel is not required to go during these times, but it is encouraged in order to receive the best support,” one email said.

“Transiting during a period of darkness has not proven to be the most secure time of day,” given threats to merchant shipping, it said in another.

US Central Command (Centcom), which oversees Washington’s military operations in the Middle East, said the NCAGS messages spoke for themselves.

Iranian forces have attacked dozens of vessels trying to pass through the contested waterway in an effort to assert control since the US and Israel attacked Iran in February.

The adjustment of US support to specified times of the day or night has come just as both sides stepped up their attacks on commercial shipping.

Iran said early on Wednesday that it had targeted two US vessels and eight oil tankers in response to American strikes on five Iranian tankers.

Those attacks came in response to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeting an American warship with ballistic missiles early in the week, the US military said.

Further Iranian attacks on tankers just off the coast of Dubai and Iraq were reported by UK Maritime Trade Operations on Wednesday.

Joshua Tallis, naval analyst at the US security research organisation CNA, said the request for ships to transit at specific times was likely “an effective means to manage the costs associated with a persistent and indefinite US defence of the southern Strait of Hormuz route”.

Tallis said it can cost anywhere from $25,000 to $75,000 to fly an advanced US military aircraft for one hour.

Concentrating resources into smaller time slots rather than a 12-hour period overnight would mean that the US had “more military capability in order to protect better”, said a maritime security adviser working with ships in the Gulf.

Transiting the strait takes around seven hours for a commercial ship going at slow to moderate speed.

The IRGC has been known to send out small patrol boats to try to detect ships using the Omani route, which usually travel at night with their GPS signals and lights off.

More than 70 commercial vessels have been attacked since the conflict began on February 28.

Iran on Monday said it planned to introduce a “restricted zone” in the strait.

Mohsen Rezaei, head of the country’s Supreme National Security Council, said this zone would “begin from the line of the US naval blockade, extend towards the Strait of Hormuz, and from this side continue into the Persian Gulf”.

Any ship sailing into that zone would be subject to “sanctions”, Tehran said, although it has not spelled out what these would involve.

It also said a preliminary agreement with Oman over the future management of the strait was close to being finalised.

But shipbroker Clarksons said on Monday that it still did not expect the disruption to traffic through the waterway to ease until at least the second half of 2027.

Retired vice admiral John Miller, who formerly commanded US naval forces in the Middle East, said of the schedule change: “As we settle in for something that could be a process that we’re doing for a while, it’s going to be important to husband the assets in a way that allows us to be able to sustain the activity.”

Providing air cover 24/7 “would be really hard to do over an extended period of time” so the US is “going to have to put some guidelines on it”, he added.

For the first time in two months since the de-facto cessation of the Memorandum of (Mis?)Understanding, the aggregate exports of crude oil out of the US Blockade Line by Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Oman have been averaging north of 10 million barrels per day.

Iranian crude oil exports continue to remain at zero.

Even with pipeline transmission now impacted, Saudi crude oil exports have been trending higher over the past couple of weeks after having picked up significantly from the kingdom's heavyweight eastern terminals.

Those exports depart via the SoH under US CENTCOM protection. Red Sea shall likely export from storage in the meantime. This is not their first rodeo.

Before Iran carried out its attack that killed three U.S. troops in July, Tehran acquired high-resolution satellite images of the base in Jordan from Chinese entities, according to U.S. officials familiar with details of the incident.

It is the clearest evidence so far that Chinese support for Iran during the war has had lethal consequences for U.S. forces, according to the officials, who say the U.S. has connected the imagery to the attack.

The U.S. officials declined to identify the Chinese entities that supplied the imagery to Iran and didn’t allege direct involvement by Beijing.

Tehran procured the images both before and after the attack.

But the finding could deepen U.S.-China tensions ahead of the planned summit between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Sept. 24, after months of frustration with Beijing’s rejection of U.S. warnings about Chinese companies providing imagery to Iran.

Senior U.S. officials raised the imagery linked to the July 17 attack with their Chinese counterparts, who pushed back and demanded proof, the U.S. officials said.

China has repeatedly dismissed Washington’s concerns, refusing to acknowledge that any Chinese companies are engaged in such activity, the officials said.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington didn’t address the specific U.S. allegations. Spokesperson Liu Chang said unnamed critics were “maliciously linking and smearing other countries” by exploiting the conflict, and said China’s cooperation with Iran complied with international law.

In the July 17 attack, Iranian ballistic missiles struck a housing area at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in northeastern Jordan where American troops had been sleeping.

Three soldiers were killed and four others were wounded and medically evacuated. Iran also targeted manned and unmanned aircraft at the base, other U.S. officials said.

The attack was one of three separate missile strikes on the base in 24 hours and marked a significant escalation in the war. The strike resulted in the first U.S. deaths since an April ceasefire, and exposed the difficulty of protecting U.S. forces even at a heavily defended installation.

It also raised alarms about Iran’s improved ability to hit American targets.

The strikes on the base came after senior Trump officials spent months warning their Chinese counterparts that Chinese companies were providing satellite imagery Iran could use to target U.S. personnel and assets in the region, officials say.

The Trump administration sanctioned several Chinese companies in May, saying that supplying satellite imagery to Iran “threatens American and partner personnel.”

Within three days of the July attack, Iran released high-resolution images showing damage to three separate areas of the base.

Publicly available lower-resolution satellite imagery analyzed by The Wall Street Journal showed damage to more than 20 structures across the three areas of the base.

Trump has told his team that it is a priority for him to maintain good relations with China and Xi in particular. Senior U.S. officials have responded by trying to avoid public confrontations with Beijing that could overshadow or derail plans for the summit.

A White House official said no assistance Iran was receiving from outside actors had enhanced its ability to attack the U.S., without addressing the finding.

Publicly, senior Trump administration officials have played down the impact of any Chinese assistance to Iran. Days after the July 17 attack, Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Asked afterward if the Chinese were providing Iran with targeting information, he declined to answer directly, saying “nothing that China has done has in any way changed the trajectory of the conflict.”

Earlier in the war, U.S. attacks on Iranian radar, satellites and other equipment degraded the regime’s ability to see the battlefield.

Iran often hit locations of lesser military significance where nothing significant was located—an indication that Iran didn’t have a clear picture of U.S. bases.

However, the targeting appeared to improve over the summer, officials say.

Fresh, high-resolution images from Chinese sources could reveal recent changes at a base and help Iran “select the most impactful targets in a timely manner,” said Jim Lamson, a former CIA analyst who specialized in Iran’s military and weapons.

Post-strike imagery could help Iran assess the effectiveness of the strikes and decide whether and where to attack again.

The imagery likely would have been one of several intelligence streams used by Iran, analysts and former officials say.

Iran’s military also draws from its own satellites and human sources, as well as intelligence and imagery from Russia, according to U.S. officials.

The imagery is part of a broader flow of Chinese technology and data used by Iran, including navigation services, and components used in drones and missiles.

Taken together, it “starts to look pretty substantial” in improving Iran’s long-range strike capabilities, says Lamson.

Unlike some of the other intelligence available to Iran, Chinese technology and imagery are areas Washington can try to disrupt through sanctions and pressure Beijing, officials say.

U.S. officials are also concerned that China could be helping Iran stalk American naval assets as well, according to people familiar with the matter.

In recent days, Iran has fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. aircraft carrier and other warships.

While Central Command said all the attacks failed, officials described some as close calls and said Iran’s ability to target moving ships appeared to be improving.

China’s satellite industry often blurs the line between commercial and state companies, U.S. officials and analysts say, because even ostensibly private companies operate under extensive government oversight, and many have links to the government or the Chinese Communist Party.

In May, the Trump administration sanctioned three Chinese companies—MizarVision, Earth Eye and Chang Guang—that it said were providing, collecting or publishing imagery that Iran could use to target U.S. forces.

State Department officials last year accused Chang Guang of providing satellite imagery that directly supported attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, calling the support “unacceptable.”

The administration has briefed lawmakers on the intelligence committees in recent weeks on the support both Russia and China are providing to Iran, according to congressional officials.

U.S.-China Tensions

As U.S. officials tracked Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, they found an alarming connection to China: a company, closely linked to the Chinese military and backed by government funding, was providing high-resolution battlefield images to Russian fighters.

That may just scratch the surface of Chang Guang Satellite Technology’s capabilities. As the firm builds out a network of hundreds of satellites, it is spurring alarm in Washington for its vast reach and, American officials say, its support of U.S. adversaries.

Chang Guang’s satellites can peer into every corner of the U.S., with some users in China claiming to have tapped the network’s capabilities to capture images of the U.S.’s latest stealth bomber, parked at an air base in California’s Mojave Desert.

Chang Guang’s growth and the increased scrutiny it is attracting from the U.S. reflect Beijing’s efforts to tap its vibrant civilian technology sector to enhance its defense industry.

It also highlights how China uses commercial firms to advance its strategic interests.

The U.S. State Department last week said Chang Guang was “directly supporting” attacks by the Houthis against U.S. interests.

The Biden administration imposed sanctions on Chang Guang in 2023 after its satellites were suspected of helping the Wagner paramilitary group in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“Their actions and Beijing’s support of the company, even after our private engagements with them, is yet another example of China’s empty claims to support peace,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said last week.

She didn’t say what specific support the U.S. suspects it provided to the Houthis or how the U.S. has raised the issue with Beijing.

Chang Guang didn’t respond to a request for comment. Responding to the latest U.S. accusation, the company told Chinese media it doesn’t have any business dealings with the Houthis or their backers in Iran, calling the State Department’s accusation a fabrication.

The company was founded in 2014 in the northeastern rust-belt province of Jilin with backing from the state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Even in its early days, the firm’s chairman, Xuan Ming, had ambitious goals.

“My customers are even more than Ma Yun’s—the entire world’s seven billion people,” he said, referring to the Chinese technology billionaire Jack Ma, who launched e-commerce giant Alibaba, according to a 2015 article in China’s state-run Science and Technology Daily.

By the end of last year, Chang Guang had launched 117 satellites as part of a network dubbed Jilin-1. Today, the company says the satellites can observe any point on Earth as often as 40 times a day.

It plans to have 300 satellites in the network in the coming years, which industry experts say would make it the biggest commercial system of its kind.

By comparison, San Francisco-based Planet Labs has about 200 satellites in orbit.

Chang Guang’s growth is part of a strategy in China known as “military-civil fusion.” Beijing has increasingly blurred the lines between academic research, civilian technology companies and R&D for defense purposes.

As part of that, officials want to break down barriers between state-owned defense contracting firms and innovative civilian technology startups, an effort that in some ways would make China’s defense industry look more like the U.S.’s.

While a significant portion of Chang Guang’s business is benign—such as using its satellites to monitor crops or the effects of natural disasters—its financial filings have also disclosed close ties to China’s military over the last decade.

In 2021, military-related customers made up nearly three-quarters of its operating revenues, the equivalent of more than $31 million.

“Remote sensing satellites can provide defense users with a series of decision-support services, from routine situational monitoring to early warning of potential crises and crisis management, through precise and timely Earth observation,” Chang Guang said in a 2022 filing.

On its website, customers can buy satellite images from around the world and trade insights through what Chang Guang calls a “knowledge sharing” platform.

One post on the platform from last year said the Jilin-1 captured images of a U.S. B-21 Raider stealth bomber—still under development—parked in front of a hangar at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

The Wall Street Journal couldn’t verify some of the claims in the post and the Pentagon declined to comment.

Chang Guang’s capabilities aren’t dissimilar to the services offered by U.S. satellite companies. But without the Chinese government’s help, it could be tough for the U.S. to exert influence over Chang Guang.

Beijing has been reticent to stop domestic firms from doing deals with customers the U.S. dislikes, such as permitting drone sales to Russian customers.

“The concern is that these will not be isolated incidents and that more countries or actors will draw upon” Chinese satellite firms, according to a report last year prepared for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a congressional advisory panel.

The report described the Jilin-1 satellite network’s capabilities as “impressive.”

Asked about the State Department’s accusation that Chang Guang is aiding the Houthis, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry last week said he wasn’t familiar with the specifics of the case, but said Beijing had been helping ease tensions in the Red Sea, where the Houthis have aimed missiles and drones at U.S. warships.

The U.S. began a campaign of airstrikes against the Houthis last month.

Chang Guang has grown quickly in recent years, with revenues reaching the equivalent of about $80 million in 2023, nearly double the level of two years earlier.

To support its growth, the company planned a share listing in Shanghai, but it has struggled to turn a profit and racked up more than $100 million in cumulative losses from 2019 to 2021 as it invested in expanding the Jilin-1 network.

The company ultimately scrapped its planned IPO last year after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Chang Guang over its suspected ties to Wagner.

The progress of building the Jilin-1 network also appears to have been delayed. The company had said 300 satellites would be in operation by the end of 2025, but state-run broadcaster CCTV said in August that Chang Guang expected that number by the end of 2026.

In April, Chang Guang’s chairman acknowledged the problems caused by the sanctions, but pledged to “sail forward ambitiously” through its current challenges, according to a statement on the company’s website.

Write to Brian Spegele at [email protected]