The United States has confirmed that it has deployed a space weapon in Earth orbit. This is the first time that the United States has admitted that it has such advanced offensive capabilities.
U.S. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said this "on-orbit" weapon is necessary to protect U.S. military forces from the threat of hostile action.
Meinke told the Air, Space and Cyber Conference on Monday (September 14) that the United States is ready to respond to "evolving threats," but did not elaborate on the weapon's capabilities or the timing of its deployment into orbit.
Senior military leaders have previously said they plan to bolster military capabilities in space, saying Russia and China are advancing plans to develop ways to attack and disrupt U.S. satellites in future conflicts.
China responded on Tuesday (15th) that it should avoid an "arms race" in space.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said: "We urge the United States to stop its arms expansion and war preparations in outer space and take concrete actions to safeguard global strategic stability."
U.S. officials have not disclosed details about how the weapon would operate.
A spokesman for the US Space Force said: "Space control encompasses the mission spectrum required to compete and control the space domain, using kinetic and non-kinetic means to achieve goals by disrupting, degrading, and even destroying adversary capabilities when necessary."
"These capabilities can be used for both offensive and defensive purposes as directed by the combatant command."
An expert on the military use of outer space pointed out that there is "very little" relevant technical information publicly available to the outside world. He told the BBC this could cover "a variety of different weapons systems".
Dr Bleddyn Bowen of the Royal United Military Institute (RUSI) told the Today programme, BBC Radio 4, that he was "completely speculating" but that the US could be referring to "some kind of electronic warfare or radio jamming platform".
Bowen said such weapons already exist on Earth and can interfere with radio communications.
Another possibility is "some kind of kinetic energy kill vehicle, that is, a vehicle that can release some kind of projectile to hit the satellite and destroy it."
But Bowen added that this was less likely because such physically destructive tools could generate large amounts of space debris.
The Trump administration says space-based capabilities and interceptor missiles are an important part of its planned "Golden Dome" defense system to protect the United States from missiles and other aerial threats.
Last year, President Trump signed an executive order emphasizing that the U.S. Space Force is not only responsible for defense assets, but also assumes the role of an offensive force.
The U.S. Space Force is the first newly established branch of the U.S. military in more than 70 years. It was established in 2019 to protect U.S. assets in space, including hundreds of satellites used for communications and surveillance.
A 1967 treaty bans the deployment of weapons of mass destruction in orbit. Since then, major powers including the United States, Russia and China have been exploring other capabilities beyond the scope of the treaty, such as targeting adversary satellites that are critical for military communications, surveillance and navigation.
In early February this year, it was revealed that since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, two Russian satellites are likely to have intercepted the communications of at least a dozen European satellites.
Such interceptions could allow Russian intelligence services to read sensitive data transmitted by satellites or even theoretically take over those satellites.
