The US has confirmed it has placed a space weapon in Earth orbit, the first time it has acknowledged such offensive capabilities. US Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said the orbiting weapon was necessary to protect US forces from hostile enemy action.
The BBC writes that senior military leaders have previously said they plan to increase military capabilities in space, citing Russian and Chinese programs that are developing ways to attack and disrupt US satellites in a future conflict. The Trump administration has said that space capabilities and interceptor missiles are a crucial part of its planned defense system to protect the US from missiles and other aerial threats.
A 1967 treaty banned weapons of mass destruction in orbit. Since then, major powers including the United States, Russia and China have explored other capabilities outside the treaty, such as targeting rivals’ satellites that are essential for military communications, surveillance and navigation. Last year, President Donald Trump issued an executive order outlining the role of the U.S. Space Force not only in asset protection but also as an offensive force. The U.S. Space Force, the newest branch of the U.S. military in more than 70 years, was launched in 2019 as a way to protect American assets in space, including hundreds of satellites used for communications and surveillance.
“Space control encompasses mission areas necessary to counter and control the space domain, using kinetic and non-kinetic means to affect an adversary’s capabilities through disruption, degradation, and even destruction, if necessary,” a U.S. Space Force spokesman said. In early February, it was revealed that two Russian satellites have likely been intercepting the communications of at least a dozen European satellites since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Such interceptions could have allowed Russian intelligence services to read the sensitive data they transmit, or hypothetically, even take control of the satellites.
In 2024, the US said Russia had launched a satellite it believed could be capable of attacking other such probes. Russia has not commented publicly on the matter. The US Space Force says China is developing and operating space and counter-space capabilities as part of a military modernization strategy, while Russia sees space as a battlefield and believes space supremacy will be a decisive factor in future conflicts.
