Air Force says China Aerospace Studies Institute will continue, despite civilian cuts

China Aerospace Studies Institute playing cards rest on a table during the Understanding China’s Aerospace event at Joint Base Andrews, Md., April 21, 2025. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Gianluca Ciccopiedi)

WASHINGTON — The Air Force is eliminating civilian staff roles for a service-run organization dedicated to studying Chinese airpower, but is not closing shop on the research entity, according to an Air Force spokesperson.

In a statement to Breaking Defense, the spokesperson said that in response to “an ongoing civilian restructure within” the Air Force’s Air Education and Training Command, civilian staff “will no longer be assigned to China Aerospace Studies Institute (CASI).” The spokesperson added that CASI’s “mission continues” and will be executed by “leveraging assigned military service members to accomplish its objectives.”

Affected civilian employees “will continue in their current positions until further notice and will be evaluated for reassignment,” the spokesperson said.

CASI is a premiere, government-run think tank that regularly publishes research on Beijing’s air and space forces. The entity shares its findings within the US military and the broader defense community to promote understanding of China’s military prowess, with the goal of shaping policy and strategy.

The organization’s most recent work was published Monday. The paper, entitled From Vision to Vigilance: How Beijing’s Space-Science Roadmap Builds a Real-Time Kill Webb , explores how technologies ostensibly geared toward space exploration could instead “support persistent, multi-spectral coverage across the Pacific with near-real time refresh,” the paper’s introduction reads. Those technologies could then be used for military purposes to aid what defense officials call a “kill web,” essentially a network of integrated sensors that can provide multiple ways to track and strike a target.

Trouble at CASI first surfaced on Monday when a civilian staffer posted online about their role being eliminated, including that the Air Force planned to “shutter” the institute. The move, coming the week that Chinese President Xi Jinping is slated to visit the United States, prompted questions about similar study projects run by the Army and Navy.

The Naval War College told Breaking Defense that “[t]here are no anticipated changes to manning or capacity at the China Maritime Studies Institute at the U.S. Naval War College.” Army University did not respond to a request for comment about the status of the China Landpower Studies Center, which is run by the US Army War College.

Three exercises that proved a new approach to C-UAS

Architecture that linked sensors, C2, RF effects, and lasers into a distributed c-UAS kill chain.

The reduction at the CASI mirrors moves championed last year during the height of the Department of Government Efficiency effort, where an analysis by Breaking Defense and the American Enterprise Institute found tens of thousands of civilian positions were axed across the Defense Department. Steep cuts have since prompted the Air Force to seek thousands of new hires, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine .

Diana Stancey in Washington contributed to this report.

2025年4月21日，在马里兰州安德鲁斯联合基地举行的“了解中国航空航天”活动上，中国航空航天研究所的扑克牌摆放在桌子上。（美国空军照片/高级空军兵詹卢卡·西科皮迪）

华盛顿——据空军发言人称，空军正在裁减一个专门研究中国空军力量的军方运营机构的文职人员职位，但不会关闭该研究机构。

发言人在致《防务新闻》的一份声明中表示，由于空军教育训练司令部“正在进行文职人员重组”，文职人员“将不再被派往中国航天研究院（CASI）”。发言人补充说，CASI的“使命仍在继续”，并将“通过调配现有军人来完成其目标”。

发言人表示，受影响的文职雇员“将继续留在目前的岗位上，直到另行通知，并将接受重新分配工作的评估”。

中国航空航天研究所（CASI）是一家顶尖的政府智库，定期发布关于北京空军和太空力量的研究报告。该机构与美国军方及更广泛的国防界分享其研究成果，以增进对中国军事实力的了解，从而影响相关政策和战略。

该组织最新研究成果于周一发表。这篇题为《从愿景到警戒：北京空间科技路线图如何构建实时杀伤网络》的论文探讨了表面上用于太空探索的技术如何能够“支持在太平洋地区实现持续的多光谱覆盖，并实现近乎实时的更新”，论文引言中写道。这些技术随后可用于军事用途，以辅助国防官员所称的“杀伤网络”，该网络本质上是一个集成传感器网络，能够提供多种方式来跟踪和打击目标。

CASI的麻烦最早于周一浮出水面，当时一名文职人员在网上发帖称，他们的职位将被取消，空军计划“关闭”该研究所。此举正值中国国家主席习近平即将访美之际，引发了人们对陆军和海军类似研究项目的质疑。

美国海军战争学院告诉《防务新闻》，“美国海军战争学院中国海事研究所的人员配备或能力预计不会有任何变化。”美国陆军大学没有回应关于中国陆军研究中心（由美国陆军战争学院运营）现状的置评请求。

三个演习证明了反无人机系统（C-UAS）的一种新方法。

将传感器、C2、射频效应和激光连接成分布式 c-UAS 杀伤链的架构。

CASI的裁员与去年政府效率提升计划高峰期推行的举措如出一辙。当时，《防务新闻》和美国企业研究所的一项分析发现，国防部裁减了数万个文职岗位。据《空军与太空部队杂志》报道，大幅裁员促使空军寻求招聘数千名新员工。

华盛顿的戴安娜·斯坦西对本报道亦有贡献。