The United States has publicly acknowledged for the first time that it has deployed weapons in Earth’s orbit, marking a significant development in Washington’s military posture in space.
US Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said the United States now has ‘on-orbit space control weapons’ capable of protecting US and allied forces against hostile actions, but declined to disclose the systems involved or provide details about their capabilities.
Meink made the disclosure during the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, saying the deployment was intended to strengthen US readiness as threats in space evolve. He later pointed to advances by China and Russia in explaining Washington’s decision to develop capabilities to protect its operations in orbit.
The US Space Force said “space control” capabilities can involve both kinetic and non-kinetic means and can serve defensive or offensive purposes, although officials have not identified what weapons are currently in orbit.
The announcement comes amid growing competition among major powers over military capabilities in space. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty prohibits placing nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit, but does not impose a blanket prohibition on all conventional weapons in space.
At the Air, Space and Cyber Conference, Meink said the government and air force ‘continue to ensure we remain ready to meet the challenges of evolving threats wherever they exist’.
“This is why the United States now has on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action,” Meink said.
“The US has warned about Russian and Chinese weapons testing and operationalisation since 2007,” a Space Force spokesperson told ABC News. “Due to their actions, it is no longer a question that space is a warfighting domain. Open communication strengthens deterrence, prevents adversary miscalculation, and normalises space operations alongside the other services.”
Following the comments, China’s Foreign Ministry spoke out against the move, warning the US against the ‘weaponisation of outer space’.
“We urge the US side to stop expanding its military capabilities and preparing for war in outer space,” ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said in a news briefing, according to Istanbul news outlet Daily Sabah.
Meanwhile, Russia is pushing to keep space ‘free of any weapons’.
A Kremlin spokesperson said the country is ‘counting on broad international consolidation to continue working toward the complete demilitarisation of space.”
While it’s unclear what weaponised capabilities the US has in space, the Heritage Foundation says the US has systems like the Advanced Extremely High Frequency and Wideband Global SATCOMs, which are used for military operations.
Other items track and characterise objects and potential threats in Earth’s orbit.
“It is critically important that we maintain our dominance not only in the air but in space, and so we’ve had to take steps to make sure that when we’re threatened, we can take care of that,” Meink said.
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