US Confirms It Has Deployed First-Ever 'On-Orbit' Weapon In Space

The United States has weapons deployed in space, the US Space Force said in the first-ever acknowledgement of possessing such offensive capabilities. US Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said the "on-orbit" weapon was necessary to safeguard American forces against hostile enemies, in a not-so-subtle warning to China and Russia.

Meink, who made the announcement at the annual Air, Space, and Cyber Conference at National Harbour in Maryland, did not specify what type of US weapon is in space. But he hinted that it will be used for "space control" against "evolving threats."

Meink's remarks came as the Trump administration rushed to build outer space capabilities for its "Golden Dome" missile defence system to protect the US from missiles and other airborne threats. 

The Space Treaty

The militarisation of space is as old as the space race itself -- as soon as Sputnik was launched into orbit in 1957, Washington and Moscow began exploring ways to both arm and destroy satellites.

The biggest worry was once about nuclear weapons in space, but the superpowers and other countries signed the Outer Space Treaty in 1967, banning weapons of mass destruction in orbit.

Since then, global powers like the US, Russia, China, and India have been trying to develop capabilities outside the treaty, like ways to target rivals' satellites -- a key to military communications, surveillance and navigation.

What the US Said

"The US has on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action," a US Space Force spokesperson said in a statement that did not provide specifics on the weapons.

"Space control encapsulates the mission areas required to contest and control the space domain -- employing kinetic and non-kinetic means to affect adversary capabilities," the statement said, adding that "these capabilities can be employed for offensive and defensive purposes."

What Russia and China Are Doing

Both Russia and China -- the two main geopolitical rivals of the United States -- pose potential threats to US interests in space.

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," according to the US Space Force.