Day: October 29, 2025

• China’s rapid progress in developing space-based capabilities is alarming, a US official said recently.
• China has made dominating the space domain a top military priority.
• American military leaders have noted some of China’s recent game-changing technologies and developments.

A US Space Force general said recently that China is rapidly catching up on the space-based capabilities that enable modern armies to fight effectively.

“It is concerning how fast they’ve done it,” Brig. Gen. Brian Sidari, the deputy chief of space operations for intelligence with the US Space Force, said at Air & Space Forces Association’s Air, Space, Cyber Conference last month. China, he added, understands the importance of space because they have studied “how we enable the Joint Force with those space-based capabilities.”

China’s space launches have jumped more than 30% this year over last. After putting 200 satellites into orbit in 2023, it has now doubled its orbital payloads from last year, and it is also building two substantial low-Earth-orbit constellations similar in some ways to Elon Musk’s Starlink.

These are just a few examples of how China is speeding through its five-year national strategy for space. Launch vehicles have been expanded, satellites are continually being updated, and launch pads are being built for not just more but also faster missions. It has even tested experimental “dogfighting” satellites.

The US military says that China is prioritizing the ability to challenge rivals in space, developing systems that could disrupt or destroy satellites. These capabilities include co-orbital satellites, anti-satellite missiles, electronic warfare tools, surveillance platforms, reusable spacecraft, and directed-energy weapons, as the Department of Defense highlighted in its annual report on China’s military capabilities.

Beijing has spent years investing in its space operations, and a recent reorganization of the military branch that oversaw space — along with other strategic domains like cyberspace and information warfare — suggested an interest in a more streamlined approach to space-related missions.

The Pentagon said in its 2024 report on the Chinese military that China’s “space enterprise continues to mature rapidly and Beijing has devoted significant resources to growing all aspects of its space program, from military space applications to civil and commercial applications.”

In terms of where China is compared to the US, officials like Sidari believe it’s still not close. “But it is concerning once they figure out that reusable lift” for getting systems into space, he said.

Big satellite constellations are a concern, too, the general said. “They’ve seen how the mega-constellations provide that capability to the US Joint Force and the West, and they’re mimicking it, right? So that does concern me of how fast they’re going,” Sidari said.

US military officials say that China has been making significant advances in space. At the conference in September, Chief Master Sgt. Ron Lerch said that some of China’s recent space activities, like refueling activities on-orbit with the SJ-25 and SJ-21 satellites earlier this year, were “game-changing for them.” But it also highlighted limitations stemming from its inability to launch as frequently as the US. “They don’t access space as frequently as we do,” he said.

Other highlights for China’s development of space-based capabilities include last month’s launch of Yaogan-45, a remote sensing system that some experts speculate will be used for reconnaissance. China maintains that the Yaogan-45 will mainly be used for scientific experiments, land resource surveys, crop yield estimates, and natural disaster prevention and relief work.

China often develops military capabilities through a strategy of civil-military fusion, whereby civilian technologies, resources, workforces, and organizations are leveraged to support military objectives.

China’s “very unusual” placement of its Yaogan-45 system in medium-Earth orbit, along with some other activity, “starts to paint a picture of that they value remote sensing to the point where they want resiliency and layers of it,” Lerch said.

The satellites China has in space range in function from intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance to data transmissions to positioning, navigation, and timing. Systems like the Yaogan-45 could help boost Beijing’s situational awareness and support military operations, as well as track attacks on the US and its allies and partners.

The Pentagon expects China to continue its development of electronic warfare and ground-based anti-satellite weapons to use against enemy satellites, as well as navigation and communication systems.

“Counterspace actions are intended to deny or disrupt the adversary’s use of space that hinders military operations that the PRC deems counter to its national security interests,” DoD said in its most recent report on Chinese military capabilities, referring to China by the acronym for the People’s Republic of China.

Last month, Andrew Hanna and Kathleen Curlee wrote in the Council on Foreign Relations that in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, Chinese ground lasers could target US satellites needed to observe Taiwan, plan military actions, and communicate between the military and US allies and partners.

“Without them, US forces and their allies would struggle to coordinate or respond in the event of a Taiwan conflict, potentially fighting blind,” Hanna, a former congressional staffer with the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Curlee, a research analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, wrote.

Losing those capabilities could give China an advantage in the conflict that would “shape the outcome before it begins,” the authors wrote.

In April, the US Space Force set a goal for ensuring that the US military can achieve space superiority, meaning maintaining access to and using space-based capabilities while denying an enemy or adversary the ability to use theirs. The US needs longer-term strategies focused on investment and planning, technology, and partnerships to do that, though.

• More than 10 retail brands have said they’re closing US stores this year, totaling over 2,700 locations.
• Twice-bankrupt Party City is the largest chain on the list, with 700 stores facing closure.
• Carter’s is the latest company to announce store closures.

A Business Insider tally of disclosures from over a dozen retail chains found that more than 2,700 stores have closed or are set to close across the US in 2025 so far.

The current number is up slightly from last year’s total but down from 2023, when the collapse of Bed Bath & Beyond contributed to the shuttering of more than 2,800 locations.

UBS analysts last year estimated US retail closures could reach 45,000 stores by 2029, led largely by smaller stores going out of business.

Meanwhile, larger firms such as Walmart, Costco, Target, and Home Depot continue to expand.

Topping this year’s list is the twice-bankrupt Party City, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in late December with 700 stores facing closure.

See the list of major closures below.

GameStop: A ‘significant number’ of stores will close

GameStop said in a March financial filing that it plans to close a “significant number” of stores in 2025, following an “optimization review” that took into account individual store performance.

The review is ongoing, so the exact number of stores closing this year isn’t yet set. It’s the latest in a series of closings for the company — GameStop shut down 590 of its US stores in fiscal 2024.

Party City: 700 stores

Party City filed for Chapter 11 protection in late December, after CNN reported that the company was closing all of its stores.

Joann: 500 stores

The fabric and craft chain is closing roughly 500 locations across the US this year after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection twice in under 12 months.

After the closures, about 350 Joann stores will remain in the US.

Big Lots: 480 stores

Big Lots received a last-minute lifeline to remain in operation after bankruptcy, but its new owners are selling the leases to 480 stores.

Walgreens: 450 stores

Walgreens said it is on track to close 450 locations through the end of 2025 as part of its multi-year effort to reduce its store fleet.

Family Dollar: 370 stores

Dollar Tree said it will close 370 locations as leases expire, following last year’s closure of 600 stores as it leans away from the Family Dollar brand and expands the Dollar Tree footprint.

Carter’s: 150 stores in 3 years

Carter’s, one of the largest children’s and baby apparel retailers in North America, said on October 27 that it plans to close 150 stores in the region over the next three years, including about 100 during its 2025 and 2026 fiscal years. That total is an increase from the roughly 100 stores the company previously said it would close.

The company announced the closures when it reported earnings for its third quarter of 2025.

Carter’s also said it plans to shrink its office-based workforce by about 15%, or 300 positions, by the end of year.

Starbucks: over 100 stores

Starbucks said Thursday that it planned to close about 1% of its 11,453 corporately owned stores in the US.

The closures will affect locations where the company says it has been “unable to create the physical environment our customers and partners expect” or where it doesn’t “see a path to financial performance.”

Macy’s: 66 stores

Macy’s has identified 66 stores across 22 states that will close this year. These are the first of 150 locations that the retailer plans to shutter through 2026. Following the closings, there will be about 350 Macy’s left.

Kroger: 60 stores

Kroger said in June that it planned to close about 60 stores nationwide over the next 18 months. The supermarket giant did not identify which specific stores would be shuttered. According to SEC filings, as of February 1, Kroger operated 2,731 supermarkets across 35 states and the District of Columbia.

CEO Ron Sargent said during a first-quarter earnings call that the chain also plans to expand into “high-growth geographies.”

Rite Aid: at least 54 stores

Rite Aid said on its website in early October that all remaining stores had been closed. The company entered bankruptcy in May with roughly 1,250 stores and sold most to its rival pharmacy chains.

An archived version of the company’s website showed 54 locations in the US as of September 21.

Kohl’s: 27 stores

Kohl’s said it will close 27 locations across 15 states, which represent a small fraction of the company’s overall 1,150-plus store fleet, which it says is healthy, strong, and profitable. The closures are expected to be completed by April.

JCPenney: 8 stores

JCPenney has announced relatively few closures, with eight stores expected to shutter by the middle of the year. The retailer also recently announced that 120 of its stores were going up for sale.

• Future wars may “be won and lost in the synthetic environment,” a Royal Air Force officer said.
• Militaries are investing in synthetic training using AI and virtual reality.
• Air Vice-Marshal James Beck said the victor of future wars may only be “validated on the battlefield.”

Future wars may be fought and won in virtual and augmented reality before they are ever fought on the battlefield, a Royal Air Force officer said recently.

Militaries increasingly see advantages in who can model, simulate, and learn faster — not just who can build more tanks or fighter aircraft. Air Vice-Marshal James Beck, the RAF’s director of capabilities and programs, said that it’s “possible that the future will be won and lost in the synthetic environment and it’s simply validated on the battlefield.”

The UK, like most of Europe, is worried about Russia and anxiously watching its war against Ukraine. Beck called Russia the UK’s “pacing threat” and said it “must be our primary focus for many years to come.”

Speaking at the UK’s Royal United Services Institute event last week, he said that in the future, the UK will “need to live every minute thinking how we’ll behave, operating at wartime levels of risk.” As a result, he continued, “much will need to be undertaken in the synthetic environment, and this is why the RAF will remain at those developing synthetic systems.”

“We must assume that our military is being watched all the time. They can see what we can do,” he said.

The synthetic environment is a simulated, digitally-created space used for training, planning, and experimenting. The UK has invested heavily in this technology, and the Royal Air Force has a system called Gladiator in a purpose-built facility.

Gladiator completed its first major international exercise in 2023 and is integrated with systems like the Eurofighter Typhoon and F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, who was the RAF’s chief of the air staff at that time, said in February 2023 that it would “enable our forces to trial, test, and practice their tactics in a secure environment, linked across all operational domains.”

“It is an invaluable training tool for the next generation of warfighters across air, space, land, cyber, and sea, he added, explaining that it wouldn’t replace live exercises but would complement them.

The US military, likewise, has been investing in this kind of capability. A key project for Army Futures Command, now merged with Army Training and Doctrine Command, was the Synthetic Training Environment. Prototypes have been put to the test by soldiers.

Brig. Gen. George C. Hackler, then the commander of Army Operational Test Command, said after a 2024 test of training systems for armored vehicle crews that the advantage of the Synthetic Training Environment system is that “we can put people in simulated aircraft, ground vehicles, dismounts, and units can train and hone their warfighting skills.”

Marwane Bahbaz, the chief technology officer for the US Army’s Program Executive Office Simulation, Training and Instrumentation, said previously that the STE project aims “to revolutionize Army training” by merging live, virtual, constructive, and gaming platforms “into an interoperable training experience that provides real-life immersion for combat training.”

The Army said that this kind of training reduces wear and tear on equipment and also lets soldiers practice high-risk moves, like flying a plane, “with more confidence and less risk than in real life.”

NATO has also recognized its importance for training.

Gen. Philippe Lavigne, then NATO’s supreme allied commander for transformation, said last year that the way the alliance’s Joint Warfare Center housed simulations and “360-degree synthetic scenario generation” showed how it was mixing “training, conceptual advances, new ways of thinking, experimentation, doctrine, and wargaming — all contributing to the Alliance’s strength and safety.”

These, he said, work “to make NATO better!”

NATO has also launched its Distributed Synthetic Training project to link synthetic training systems among allies so they can train on them together, something that is easier and more cost-effective than the real, physical events.

Beck said that the UK and its allies “will need to evolve. We will need to deliver more” as the capabilities of adversaries have advanced dramatically, from drones to missiles. “To meet these challenges, we must remain agile and adapt at pace,” he said.

While militaries have invested heavily in developing synthetic training solutions, realism and integration remain stubborn hurdles. Systems can be hard to link, can be unrealistic in combat effects, and are sometimes constrained by security demands. Such challenges haven’t deterred efforts to modernize training, though.

Beck said the Royal Air Force’s new chief of the air staff “wants a searing spotlight on fine-tuning what we already have, to maximize our lethality today.” At the same time, he shared, “he’s equally focused on accelerating modernization, such that we can credibly deter.”

“It needs to be done at pace and within this decade,” Beck said, adding that “time is our most pressing threat.”