The US has confirmed it has deployed weapons in space, in a rare public announcement that analysts warn will speed up a dangerous arms race with Russia and China in Earth’s orbit. US Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said Washington had active “on-orbit” weapons, meaning they have been deployed and are circling the globe. “Today, we continue to ensure we remain ready to meet the challenges of evolving threats wherever they exist,” Meink said Monday at the annual Air, Space, Cyber conference. “This is why the United States now has, on-orbit, space-control weapons.” Meink declined to give specifics about the weapons. However, a US Space Force spokesperson said space control could mean “employing kinetic [combat] and non-kinetic means to affect adversary capabilities.” The statement added that “these capabilities can be employed for offensive and defensive purposes.” In response to the US announcement, China’s foreign ministry said Washington was “preparing for war in outer space” and warned against turning space “into a battlefield, as well as an arms race there.” In Moscow, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia believed “that space must be free of any weapon” and called for “the complete demilitarisation of space.” It has been an open secret that the US, Russia and China are developing space weapons, which could include signal jammers to disable other satellites or more “kinetic” options such as those that fire projectiles. Still, space experts warn that publicly confirming such capabilities in orbit for the first time could accelerate a risky arms race. Astronomer Jonathan McDowell, who has spent decades compiling a list of rocket launches, told the Guardian it was reasonable to assume Washington had such weapons in space, probably jammers, since it had already deployed several satellites with secret payloads. He said that after the announcement, Russia and China would now “respond in kind” and deploy their own weapons. “In the long run, I find it questionable whether this is in the US national interest, and for sure we will see comparable systems from China, if they don’t already have them,” he said. Even radio jamming would be a major escalation of military activity in space, said McDowell, who worked at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics until he retired this year. Victoria Samson, the Secure World Foundation’s chief director of space security and stability, told the Defence One website that the US now had to accept that the Chinese and Russians would do the same. “Well, that’s huge, because I don’t think any US government official has ever said that before,” she said. While the militarisation of space began in the 1950s with both Washington and Moscow exploring ways to destroy satellites, there have been attempts over the decades to keep the space around Earth peaceful. In 1967, superpowers and other countries signed the outer space treaty, which banned weapons of mass destruction in orbit, although the text does not generally prohibit placing conventional weapons in Earth orbit. The end of the cold war in 1989 brought a moment of cooperation – including the in-orbit assembly of the International Space Station by multiple nations – but in the 21st century space has gradually become a potential battlefield. Russia drew international criticism in 2021 when it struck one of its defunct satellites in orbit in a test of a ground-based anti-satellite missile. The blast created thousands of pieces of orbital debris. As satellites zip around the Earth at thousands of miles an hour, the fear is that an orbital confrontation will lead to a domino effect where the space near Earth becomes cluttered with tiny, high-speed bits of metal. McDowell said that in the US, the mentality of working towards the solely peaceful use of space was changing.“The US now sees conflict in space as normal, while 20 years ago it was ‘no, we would never want to do that,’” he said. “I think this is wrong,” he added. “I also think it is still not too late to change course. To work mainly with China, because they are the real competitors in space now. I hope the US establishment takes a step back and rethinks some of this.” Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of frequently asked questions about the US confirmation of space weapons deployment
Beginner Questions
What exactly did the US confirm
The US government confirmed that it has deployed weapons systems in space This means they have placed military technology in orbit around Earth that can be used for defense or offense
What kind of weapons are in space
The confirmed weapons are primarily jammers and other electronic warfare devices These are designed to disrupt or disable enemy satellites not to blow things up like in a scifi movie
Why would the US put weapons in space
The main reason is to protect its own satellites and to be able to disable an enemys satellites during a conflict Modern militaries rely heavily on satellites for communication navigation and intelligence
Is this the first time any country has done this
No The US Russia and China have been developing and testing antisatellite technologies for years Whats new is the US formally confirming the deployment of these specific systems
Does this mean there will be fighting in space
Not necessarily The goal of these weapons is mostly to deter conflict If one country can disable anothers satellites it makes the other country think twice before starting a fight
Advanced Questions
What is the difference between an antisatellite weapon and a spacebased weapon
An ASAT is any weapon designed to destroy or disable satellites It can be launched from the ground from a plane or from space A spacebased weapon is a weapon that is physically stationed in space orbiting the Earth
What is a jamming weapon and how does it work
A jammer sends out powerful radio signals on the same frequency that a satellite uses This overwhelms the satellites receiver blocking it from hearing legitimate signals from the ground or other satellites
What are the main risks of deploying these weapons
The biggest risks are escalation and the creation of dangerous space debris If a satellite is physically destroyed it creates thousands of pieces of shrapnel that can hit other satellites potentially causing a chain reaction known as the Kessler Syndrome
How does this affect the Outer Space Treaty of 1967
The treaty bans weapons of mass destruction in space like nuclear bombs It does not explicitly ban conventional or electronic weapons The US argues its new deployments are defensive and do not violate the treaty
