Home | News | European Company Likely Provided Satellite Imagery of U.S. Military Assets to China Before Iran Operation

European Company Likely Provided Satellite Imagery of U.S. Military Assets to China Before Iran Operation

Image Showing the Prince Sultan Air Base with American military aircraft identified in red highlights. (Photo: Select Committe on China)

By Select Committe on China

April 19, 2026
2:43 am
Los Angeles, CA

Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar has sent a letter to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth concerning the operations of Airbus Space due to its role in likely providing satellite imagery of U.S. military assets to MizarVision, a Chinese entity, days before the commencement of Operation Epic Fury. “While commercial satellite imagery may serve public interest purposes in some cases, unconstrained imagery provision exposing U.S. forces to heightened risk crosses a dangerous threshold,” Moolenaar begins in the letter. “Near-real-time publication of precise, annotated imagery identifying the exact type, number, and location of specific high-value military assets at an active forward operating base—while those assets are actively engaged in combat operations—is targeting data for enemy forces.” “The Select Committee’s independent analysis tracked the positions and flight paths of four

“While commercial satellite imagery may serve public interest purposes in some cases, unconstrained imagery provision exposing U.S. forces to heightened risk crosses a dangerous threshold,” Moolenaar begins in the letter. “Near-real-time publication of precise, annotated imagery identifying the exact type, number, and location of specific high-value military assets at an active forward operating base—while those assets are actively engaged in combat operations—is targeting data for enemy forces.”

“The Select Committee’s independent analysis tracked the positions and flight paths of four Airbus satellites over the area of interest across a 48-hour window. For each moment in that window, three conditions had to be met for collection to be considered feasible: (1) the satellite had to be in the right position to see the area, (2) its camera had to be capable of pointing in the right direction, and (3) there had to be enough daylight to take an optical photograph. Moments that passed all three tests were flagged as plausible collection opportunities,” he continues.

“These documented facts present a troubling scenario: 1. A Chinese firm with undisclosed satellite sourcing published precise, annotated imagery of U.S. military assets at a specific base. 2. That imagery identified the exact aircraft types that were subsequently destroyed in a precise Iranian strike. 3. A technical analysis suggests Airbus Space satellites were the most plausible sources for that imagery,” concludes Moolenaar.

The Select Committee has previously investigated aerospace companies’ ties to China. In December, Moolenaar wrote a letter to Hegseth concerning Airbus’s role in advancing China’s military-civil fusion.

Note: The House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the U.S. and the Chinese Communist Party (known as the Select Committee on the CCP) is a bipartisan body created in 2023. Its primary function is to research and develop strategies to address the economic, technological, and security threats posed by the Chinese government.

Airbus Defence and Space is the Airbus Group division specializing in the aerospace, defense, and security industry. It is a leader in Europe and worldwide in the manufacture of satellites, space systems, launch vehicles (Ariane), and military aircraft, covering everything from Earth observation to space exploration.