United States confirms deployment of space weapons to protect military forces

The United States has put weapons in space. And for the first time, it’s saying so out loud. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink confirmed on September 14 during a keynote at the Air, Space and Cyber Conference that the US Space Force has deployed “on-orbit space control weapons” designed to protect American and allied forces from hostile actions by adversaries. What we know, and what we don’t Meink declined to elaborate on the specific capabilities of the deployed systems, their exact timing, or how many are currently in orbit. What experts have been able to piece together suggests these are likely non-kinetic systems. Think electronic warfare tools or jamming capabilities rather than missiles that physically smash into enemy satellites. Kinetic anti-satellite weapons generate enormous clouds of debris that endanger every spacecraft in their orbital neighborhood. China demonstrated this problem in 2007 when it destroyed one of its own satellites and created a debris field that’s still causing headaches nearly two decades later. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which the US, Russia, and China have all signed, explicitly prohibits placing weapons of mass destruction in orbit. It says nothing...