WASHINGTON: The U.S. acknowledged for the first time Monday that it has deployed weapons in orbit, a disclosure that space security experts say marks a significant shift in how openly the world's major powers discuss the militarization of space.
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told the Air and Space Cyber Conference that the U.S. has "on-orbit space control weapons," describing them as part of a broader effort to modernize the Air Force and Space Force in response to advances by U.S. adversaries, artificial intelligence and the growing use of autonomous weapons.
He did not specify what kind of weapons had been deployed or when, according to the official Air Force account of his remarks.
"It's a strategic consideration to not disclose what exactly this is," Juliana Suess, a space security expert at the German Institute of International and Security Affairs, told CNBC.
Suess said the weaponry's capability could range from reversible interference, such as jamming, to kinetic, permanently destructive effects.
"This could be anything. The only thing that we know is that it is based in space, so this is not a sort of missile based on Earth that could hit a satellite in orbit," she said.
Even so, Suess said Meink's acknowledgement matters because it marks the official disclosure of a U.S. orbital weapon capability. It comes after years of counterspace development and testing by the U.S., China and Russia, she added.
Russia and China could respond by demonstrating their own space capabilities, as they have done previously, though Suess said she expects their immediate response will be diplomatic, accusing the U.S. of militarizing space and preparing for conflict.
"With the U.S. sort of becoming more open about it, it's now a question of will these states follow suit in that sense and respond and be more open also about their own activity?" she said.
In his address Monday, Meink described a rapidly accelerating threat environment facing the U.S., saying adversaries were exploiting new technologies. He argued the U.S. needed to increase combat power faster and more affordably, including through autonomous systems and cheaper weapons.
"We will dramatically increase our combat power by adding large numbers of highly autonomous systems," he said. "Because of the steps we're taking today, we'll have a radically different-looking Air Force by 2032."
His comments came as governments reassess what weapons and defense systems they will need to defend against an increased threat from hybrid attacks. The fighting in Ukraine in particular has highlighted how warfare is moving more toward autonomous systems, AI and drones.
Meanwhile, investors are increasingly looking to place bets on the growing commercial space economy, boosted by the successful public listing of SpaceX earlier this year — the largest IPO ever.
