The United States announces the deployment of weapons in space for the first time

US Air Force Secretary Troy Mink announced on Monday that his country has deployed weapons in space and will use them to defend the army.

This is the first public acknowledgment that Washington possesses such capabilities in orbit, and a potential message to those who may pose threats in this area.

“Today we continue to ensure our readiness to meet the challenges of evolving threats wherever they exist,” Mink told attendees at the Air, Space and Cyber ​​Forces Conference, an annual gathering hosted by the Air and Space Forces Association in National Harbor, Maryland. “For this reason, the United States now has space-based control weapons in orbit capable of protecting joint forces from hostile action by an adversary.”

Mink did not disclose specific details about these weapons, and when asked to clarify more, he refused to provide any additional details, and it is not known when these weapons were placed in orbit.

If the disclosure was intended to be deterrence — warning adversaries of the United States' ability to respond forcefully to threats in space — the ambiguity of Mink's statements may limit their effectiveness, said Clayton Swope, deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a bipartisan nonprofit, who previously worked for more than a decade at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

"This revelation is still important because it's not a topic we've discussed in this way before but this chain of reasoning that goes beyond just this revelation needs to be carefully thought through," Sope added.

For such detection to be an effective deterrent, Suppe said U.S. adversaries must understand “what exactly the destructive potential of this weapon is, and what exactly we don't want them to do, so that if they knew it, they wouldn't do it.”

"Militarization of space"

US President Donald Trump praised the US Space Force, which he created in 2019 under the umbrella of the Air Force, as a “historic step towards strengthening the country’s defense capabilities” amid an escalating arms race in which China and Russia challenge America’s dominance in space.

“China is developing and operating space and counter-space capabilities as part of a military modernization strategy,” the US Space Force says on its website, while “Russia views space as a battlefield and believes space superiority will be a decisive factor in future conflicts.”

US military officials have repeatedly warned that the two countries are testing new offensive space capabilities, citing examples such as training missions on Russia's satellite constellation, which Washington says could demonstrate "offensive and defensive tactics" for future combat, and China's development of a partial-orbit hypersonic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

While the 1967 Outer Space Treaty prohibits nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction in orbit, it does not prohibit the use of conventional weapons in space or the use of ground-based weapons against space assets, leaving room for interpretation.

It is not clear what type of weapon the United States may have deployed.

There are many possibilities, including satellites capable of jamming enemy communications, weapons capable of leaving orbit, and targeting and destroying ground equipment, Sup stated.

It is possible that Mink was referring to an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon, which is used to search for and physically destroy an enemy satellite in orbit, and the United States, China and Russia have previously tested the technology.

But they are widely considered one of the most dangerous and damaging types of space weapons, because debris from exploded satellites can remain in orbit for years, setting off a series of random collisions with any nearby satellites.

CNN has reached out to the Space Forces for comment.

Sup pointed out that the United States committed in 2022 not to test “direct ascension” anti-satellite weapons, referring to the types of anti-satellite weapons that are launched from the ground to target a satellite.

But Sup explained that the precise wording of the commitment does not rule out testing or deploying another type of anti-satellite weapon, such as a “co-orbit” anti-satellite weapon.

This type of weapon can use a spacecraft to directly approach an enemy satellite in orbit.

“Since the Soviet era and the Cold War, the Russians have shown an interest in developing what I call co-orbital anti-satellite weapons, which are satellites that fire some type of projectile or other munition at the target satellite to disable it,” Sope added.

"Maintain our dominance"

As sources told CNN in 2024, US intelligence indicates that Russia has also made efforts to develop a space-based nuclear weapon that would use a massive energy wave — known as an electromagnetic pulse — to disable a wide range of commercial and government satellites; This is an allegation denied by Moscow.

Such a weapon could have broad and devastating repercussions, such as disrupting the satellites that the world relies on to predict weather and respond to disasters, or even affecting global navigation systems used for various purposes, including banking services, shipping goods, directing ambulances, and even requesting ride-sharing services.

Mink said on Monday: “It is crucial that we maintain our dominance not only in the air but also in space, and so we had to take steps to ensure our ability to deal with any threat we may face.”

In December, Trump signed an executive order in which he described “American superiority” in space as “a measure of national vision and willpower,” with a focus on developing next-generation missile defense technologies and ensuring the ability to counter threats, including “any deployment of nuclear weapons in space.”

This executive order came as a step towards the “Golden Dome” missile defense system proposed by Trump. It is an ambitious, multi-billion-dollar plan inspired by the Israeli "Iron Dome" system, and officials say it will allow the United States to intercept missiles coming from anywhere in the world.

The United States has remained ambiguous about its plans to develop this missile shield, which Trump expressed hope will be completed by 2028. As sources previously reported to CNN, the Pentagon has set a date for the first major test of the shield just before the 2028 elections, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The Golden Dome proposals include, among other elements, the deployment of interceptor missiles that can remain in Earth's orbit until they can be used to destroy enemy missiles while they are in flight.

In his statements Monday, Mink also indicated that a US space-based interceptor missile program had moved “from the initial contracting stage to the flight-ready stage in less than one year,” without revealing further details.