The U.S. military has for the first time acknowledged that it deployed space weapons into Earth’s orbit.
U.S. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink, who oversees the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force, said in a speech Monday that the military has “on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action.”
Meink did not say what the weapons are, what they do, or how many of them have been deployed, but his phrasing was reportedly intentional and “very well thought out.”
When reached about the disclosure, an Air Force spokesperson told TechCrunch that the weapons are designed to defend the U.S. military “against space-enabled attack.”
Asked about the threats that the Air Force was responding to by launching the weapon, the spokesperson said that the U.S. had been warning about Russian and Chinese weapons testing in space since 2007.
“Due to their actions, it is no longer a question that space is a warfighting domain. Space control is part of how the Joint Force protects national security interests,” the spokesperson said. “The space domain is contested, and we must be able to secure our nation’s interests in space — that is why the Space Force was established as the 6th military service.”
“Open communication strengthens deterrence, prevents adversary miscalculation, and normalizes space operations alongside the other services,” the spokesperson told TechCrunch.
The deployment comes as China is long known to have operated spacecraft capable of causing damage to other satellites. The U.S. Space Force says Russia is currently developing a satellite “designed to carry a nuclear weapon.”
According to The Times, the U.S. had long disavowed the destruction of satellites in space, as attacks can leave debris that is harmful to other space objects and astronauts.
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