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. 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.
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.
