Air Force secretary confirms US has deployed weapons in space

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The United States acknowledged on Monday that it has stationed weapons in Earth’s orbit, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said.

It was the first public admission by a Pentagon official as the U.S. military works to counter potential deployments by adversaries such as Russia and China, The New York Times reported.

“We are increasing readiness against existing threats, and the United States has on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action,” he Meink said during the Air, Space and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, according to a news release published on the Air Force’s website.

Meink did not share details about the type of weapons that are in space, or when they had been deployed, the Times reported. The Space Force did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Monday.

President Donald Trump has praised the U.S. Space Force, which he created in 2019 as part of the Air Force, as a historic step toward bolstering American defense capabilities, CNN reported.

Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, said on Tuesday that China opposed an “outer space arms race,” according to the Times.

“We urge the U.S. side to stop expanding its military force and preparing for war in outer space,” he said in a regular news briefing.

A source told ABC News that the weapons can be used for offensive and defensive purposes.

“The U.S. has warned about Russian and Chinese weapons testing and operationalization since 2007,” the source, who was not identified, told the news outlet. “Due to their actions, it is no longer a question that space is a warfighting domain. Open communication strengthens deterrence, prevents adversary miscalculation, and normalizes space operations alongside the other services.”

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