In the hypothetical case that China were to strike at Taiwan, it’s a safe bet that Beijing would try to disrupt the Pentagon’s communications links in East Asia.

That would likely mean neutralizing U.S. satellites. If communications were blocked, what good could the U.S. Seventh Fleet do as it sailed from bases in Japan to Taiwan’s aid?

So here are the questions: If China can knock out a U.S. military satellite or two, would we (the civilian news consumer) ever know about it? And just how good is China’s capability to destroy satellites?

It’s an issue the Pentagon is floating these days, according to this news article.

China may be just three years away from being able to disrupt U.S. military satellites in a regional conflict, a senior U.S. military leader said Aug. 14, citing a recent antisatellite test and other advances.

The warning came amid calls at a conference in Alabama for intensified efforts to ensure U.S. aerospace superiority in the wake of China’s shootdown Jan. 11 of one of its own satellites with a ballistic missile.

“It is not inconceivable that within about three years we can be challenged at a near peer level in a region,” said Lt. Gen. Kevin Campbell, head of the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command. “That means taking out a number of communications capabilities over a theater of war,” he added in a speech to an audience of defense contractors in Huntsville, Ala.

So is he just saying this because Space Command wants more money to cling to global superiority? Or are they really afraid?