US confirms deploying space weapons, says they’re needed to counter ‘evolving threats’

WASHINGTON, DC: The United States has for the first time publicly confirmed that it has deployed weapons into orbit.

Air Force Secretary Troy Meink made the announcement when he addressed attendees at the Air, Space, and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. Meink said the "on orbit" weapon was necessary to safeguard US forces against hostile adversaries.

"Today we continue to ensure we remain ready to meet the challenges of evolving threats wherever they exist," Meink told attendees.

"This is why the United States now has on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversary action."

US reveals details of orbital weapons deployment

Meink said the US was ready for "evolving threats", but did not elaborate on the weapon's capabilities or when it was put into orbit.

Senior military leaders have previously said they planned to boost military capabilities in space, citing Russian and Chinese programs developing ways to attack and disrupt US satellites in a future conflict.

Meink did not go into any details about the weapons and declined to elaborate further. It is unknown when the weapons were put into orbit or how they work. 

A US Space Force spokesperson described the overall mission in a more generic sense, saying, "space control encapsulates the mission areas required to contest and control the space domain, employing kinetic and non-kinetic means to affect adversary capabilities through disruption, degradation and even destruction, if necessary," adding that such capabilities "can be employed for offensive and defensive purposes at the direction of combatant commands."

China responded by warning against an "arms race" in space.

"We urge the US side to stop expanding its military capabilities and preparing for war in outer space," AFP quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying. 

An expert on military uses of outer space noted that "precious little" was publicly known about the technology and told the BBC there could be a "whole range of different weapons systems".

1967 treaty limits weapons in space

The Trump administration has said that space-based capabilities and interceptor missiles are a crucial part of its planned "Golden Dome" defense system to protect the US from missiles and other airborne threats.

Last year President Donald Trump issued an executive order underlining the US Space Force's role in not only defending assets, but also supporting offensive capabilities.

A 1967 treaty banned weapons of mass destruction in orbit.

Since then, key powers, including the US, Russia, and China, have been exploring other capabilities outside of the treaty, such as targeting rivals' satellites - which are key for military communications, surveillance, and navigation.

The US separately committed in 2022 to ending testing of "direct-ascent" anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons, which are fired from the ground towards a satellite, but that does not extend to other classes of ASAT, including ones using a spacecraft to get up near the target and destroy it, something Swope said Russia has worked on since the Soviet era.

Russia and China expand space warfare capabilities

In early February, it emerged that two Russian satellites had probably intercepted the communications of at least a dozen European ones since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. 

Interceptions could have enabled the Russian security agencies to read the sensitive information they carry, or potentially even take control of them.

In 2024, the US said Russia had launched a satellite, which they believe may be able to attack other such probes. Russia made no public comment on the matter.

The US Space Force says China "develops and operates space and counterspace capabilities as part of a military modernization strategy," while Russia "views space as a warfighting domain and believes space supremacy will be a decisive factor in future conflicts."

Meink separately said that a US space-based interceptor program had moved "from initial contract to flight-ready hardware in less than one year," without offering further detail.

The US Space Force, the first new branch of the US military for more than 70 years, was launched in 2019 as a way to protect American assets in space, including hundreds of satellites used for communication and surveillance.