WASHINGON (AP) The United State acknowledged for the first time that it has deployed weapons in space.
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told the Air and Space Cyber Conference in Maryland on Monday that the U.S. has fielded “on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action.”
He didn’t say what the weapons are or how they work. In 2024 the U.S. said Russia was developing a new anti-satellite weapon that could be launched from space. At the time the White House said the danger wasn’t imminent, but it raised concerns about threats to U.S. infrastructure that depends on satellite communications.
Meink, who has overseen the Space Force, predicted the service would look “radically different” by 2032 — for example, with one-way attack drones replacing artillery as the “primary killer.”