US has deployed a space weapon, air force secretary says
US Secretary of the Air Force says the space weapon is necessary to safeguard US forces against hostile enemy action.
The US has confirmed that it has deployed a space weapon in Earth’s orbit, marking the first time it has acknowledged possessing such offensive capabilities.
US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink said the “on orbit” weapon was needed to protect US forces from hostile enemy action.
Speaking at the Air, Space and Cyber Conference on Monday, Meink said the US was prepared for “evolving threats,” but he did not give details about the weapon’s capabilities or say when it was placed into orbit.
Senior military officials have previously said they intended to expand military capabilities in space, pointing to Russian and Chinese programmes that are developing ways to attack and disrupt US satellites in a future conflict.
The Trump administration has said space-based capabilities — along with interceptor missiles — are a key part of its planned “Golden Dome” defence system, designed to shield the US from missiles and other airborne threats.
A 1967 treaty banned weapons of mass destruction from orbit. Since then, major powers including the US, Russia and China have been pursuing other capabilities outside the treaty, such as targeting rival satellites, which are vital for military communications, surveillance and navigation.
Last year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order emphasizing the US Space Force’s role not only in defending assets, but also as an attacking force.
The US Space Force — the newest branch of the US military in more than 70 years — was created in 2019 to protect American assets in space, including hundreds of satellites used for communication and surveillance.
A US Space Force spokesperson said: “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.
“These capabilities can be employed for offensive and defensive purposes at the direction of combatant commands.”
In early February, it was disclosed that two Russian satellites have likely intercepted the communications of at least a dozen European ones since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Those interceptions may have enabled Russian intelligence services to read the sensitive data being transmitted, or, hypothetically, even to seize control of the satellites.
In 2024, the US said Russia had launched a satellite that it believed could be capable of attacking other such probes. Russia did not publicly respond to the allegation.
The US Space Force says China “develops and operates space and counterspace capabilities as part of a military modernisation strategy,” while Russia “views space as a warfighting domain and believes space supremacy will be a decisive factor in future conflicts”.