Yaogan series

China's expansive military ISR satellite constellation — optical, SAR, and ELINT triplets that form the space backbone of the PLA's anti-ship missile kill chain across the Western Pacific.

Overview

The Yaogan series is the People’s Liberation Army’s principal space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) system, blending electro-optical (EO) imaging, synthetic-aperture radar (SAR), and signals-intelligence payloads into one proliferated low-Earth-orbit constellation. Its most distinctive element is a set of co-orbiting ELINT triplets that mirror the US Naval Ocean Surveillance System (NOSS), designed to detect, identify, and geolocate surface vessels by their radio-frequency emissions. Open-source orbit trackers catalogue approximately 179 active Yaogan satellites as of late 2025, according to satellitemap.space, and the broader Chinese ISR architecture — which includes dedicated military comsats and experimental platforms — has grown to over 510 satellites per the US Department of Defense, making it the fastest-expanding reconnaissance fleet in the world.

🔒 The full Yaogan series file is for BattlePolicy Pro members. Below the line: development history, design and capabilities, variants, the combat record, advantages and limitations, comparable systems, outlook, the full specifications table, our sourcing, and the analyst assessment — procurement, suppliers and the BattlePolicy verdict. Unlock the full file with BattlePolicy Pro →