NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—Air Force Secretary Troy Meink acknowledged that the U.S. has space weapons, a public revelation that some experts said could accelerate an arms race in orbit.
“Today, we continue to ensure we remain ready to meet the challenges of evolving threats wherever they exist,” Mink said during his Monday morning speech at the Air, Space, Cyber conference here. “This is why the United States now has, on orbit, space-control weapons, capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversaries.”
Top service officials have typically been cagey when asked about U.S. space weapons, often citing national-security concerns. It also marks a major change in rhetoric. John Raymond, the service’s first chief of space operations, proclaimed in 2022 that “our primary purpose is to deter war.”
Defense experts were shocked by Meink’s admission on Monday morning, and said it will likely push the U.S. military’s main adversaries in space to acknowledge their capabilities, too.
“Well, that’s huge, because I don’t think any US government official has ever said that before,” said Victoria Samson, the Secure World Foundation’s chief director of space security and stability. “The US also now has to accept the Chinese and Russians doing/saying the same. I don’t think that this is going to be in the interest of US national security.”
Meink did not provide additional details on what type of on-orbit weapons the U.S. possesses.
Kinetic weapons, such as missiles, can create debris by destroying a target. Numerous top military officials have warned against using such weapons.
“Our commitment to responsible space operations is fundamental to our mission assurance and our role as stewards of the space environment,” Maj. Gen. Chris Povak, deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office, said earlier this year.
Samson said that narrows her guess about what Meink was talking about.
“I’m going to guess what he’s talking about is not a kinetic space-control weapon due to multiple comments government officials have said about avoiding debris causing counter space,” she said. “So I’m going to go with my first guess: space-based jammers, electronic warfare.”
Meink also made several other space-related announcements in his speech. The Air Force secretary said prototypes for the space-based Airborne Moving Target Indicator satellite constellation will be launched this month.
Meink also said that space-based interceptors, the cornerstone technology of President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense system, are now “flight ready.”
Last month, Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein, Golden Dome’s direct-reporting program manager, warned that the missile defense project would be in dire straits if Congress can’t prioritize additional funding for the effort. The four-star general also said that initial development on space-based interceptors is underway and that the service has executed two “phenomenally successful” tests.
“All of the providers that are part of the competition are progressing exceptionally well,” Guetlein told reporters at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium.
“As everybody knows, there have been many who are developing capabilities to take those away from us, to threaten those things,” Meink said. “So, it is critically important that we maintain our dominance not only in the air but in space, and so that we’ve had to take steps to make sure that when we’re threatened, we can take care of that.”
