The U.S. Space Force now has “on-orbit space control weapons” capable of defending the joint force against hostile action, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink disclosed at the Air and Space Forces Association’s conference in National Harbor, Maryland. The remarks amount to the first widely reported public acknowledgement that the United States has deployed weapons in orbit.
Meink did not identify the systems, when they were placed in orbit or whether they are kinetic or non-kinetic. The disclosure was described as deliberate, with the Pentagon choosing to confirm the capability while withholding technical details. The term “space control” covers measures used to protect friendly space assets and to deny an adversary use of the domain.
The statement comes as Washington faces growing concern over counterspace capabilities developed by China and Russia, and as the administration pushes ahead with the Golden Dome missile-defence effort. Meink also pointed to progress on space-based interceptors, a separate line of work aimed at missile defence from orbit. The Outer Space Treaty bans weapons of mass destruction in space, but it does not prohibit all weapons in orbit.