US acknowledges for first time that it has deployed weapons in space

On Monday, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink announced that the United States has deployed weapons in space for the first time, a groundbreaking disclosure following warnings about potential weaponization of space by countries like Russia. Speaking at the Air and Space Cyber Conference in Maryland, Meink disclosed that the U.S. possesses "on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action."

However, the Secretary refrained from elaborating on the specifics of these weapons, their operational mechanisms, or whether they targeted objects in space or on Earth. The U.S. had earlier cautioned two years ago that Russia was developing a new space-based anti-satellite weapon, though the White House deemed the threat as not imminent at that point.

Nonetheless, concerns about potential space threats from Russia and China persisted, considering the critical reliance of U.S. infrastructure on satellite communications. The U.S. has also previously shown capabilities to destroy satellites from Earth.