The United States has confirmed for the first time that it has deployed a weapon in Earth’s orbit, signalling a new phase in its military capabilities in space.
US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink said the “on orbit” weapon was necessary to protect American forces from hostile action.
Speaking at the Air, Space and Cyber Conference on Monday, Meink said the US was prepared to respond to “evolving threats” but did not disclose what the weapon can do or when it was placed in orbit.
The announcement comes as US military leaders seek to strengthen America’s ability to operate in space, citing Russian and Chinese programmes aimed at attacking or disrupting US satellites during a future conflict.
China responded on Tuesday by warning that the deployment could fuel an arms race in space.
“We urge the US side to stop expanding its military capabilities and preparing for war in outer space,” a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said, according to reports.
US officials have not disclosed details of how the weapon operates.
A US Space Force spokesperson said the military’s space-control mission includes both offensive and defensive capabilities.
“Space control encapsulates the mission areas required to contest and control the space domain – employing kinetic and non-kinetic means to affect adversary capabilities through disruption, degradation and even destruction, if necessary.”
The spokesperson added: “These capabilities can be employed for offensive and defensive purposes at the direction of combatant commands.”
Experts say there is little public information about the technology involved.
Dr Bleddyn Bowen of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) said the weapon could involve several types of technology, although he stressed that he was “totally guessing”.
Bowen said it could be an electronic warfare or radio-jamming platform capable of disrupting communications.
“There could be a whole range of different weapons systems.”
Bowen said such a system could be based on technology already used on Earth to interfere with radio communications.
He also suggested a more physically destructive possibility: a kinetic weapon capable of striking and destroying another satellite.
“A kinetic kill vehicle of some sort – so a vehicle that would release a projectile of some sort that would ram into a satellite and destroy it.”
Bowen said that option was less likely because destroying satellites with a physical weapon could generate large amounts of debris in orbit.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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