The United States has acknowledged for the first time that it has deployed weapons in space, as Washington faces growing military competition from China and Russia in orbit.
U.S. Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink said the country now has space-control weapons in orbit capable of protecting American and allied forces from hostile actions.
Speaking at a conference of the Air and Space Forces Association in Maryland, Meink declined to identify the weapon or provide details about its capabilities. He said keeping those details classified was important for maintaining a credible deterrent.
Meink stressed that the United States must be able to “operate freely” in space, describing the domain as increasingly important to both national security and the American economy.
His comments come as the Trump administration accelerates efforts to develop space-based capabilities for its planned Golden Dome missile defense system. Meink said the military now has flight-ready hardware for space-based interceptors, which are expected to form a key part of the system by targeting incoming missiles from orbit.
Growing concerns over a space arms race
The announcement has raised concerns among space-security experts, who warn that openly acknowledging an orbital weapon could encourage other countries to expand their own military capabilities in space.
The U.S. Space Force defines “space control” as defensive or offensive activities intended to counter adversaries and establish superiority in the space domain. Its operational framework includes both kinetic weapons, which can physically destroy targets, and non-kinetic systems designed to disrupt or interfere with space-based capabilities.
Space control can involve actions both in orbit and on Earth. These could include attacking ground stations used by satellites or disrupting satellite communications, according to space-security experts.
However, Clayton Swope, deputy director of the Space Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former CIA technical intelligence officer, argued that Meink’s comments were too vague to serve as an effective deterrent against China and Russia.
The disclosure comes at a time when the major powers are increasingly treating space as a critical arena for future military competition, raising fears that the next phase of global rivalry could extend well beyond Earth.
