US Confirms Deployment of Space Control Weapons in Earth Orbit

The United States has acknowledged deploying space control weapons in Earth’s orbit, a step experts say could turn Earth’s orbit into a contested military domain.

Air Force Secretary Troy Meink confirmed on Monday at the Air, Space and Cyber Conference that the country now has “on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action.” He framed the disclosure as a message to rivals China and Russia but gave no details on when the weapons were placed, where they are positioned, or what they are designed to do.

Meink described space control as employing “kinetic and non-kinetic means to affect adversary capabilities,” adding that the systems “can be employed for offensive and defensive purposes.”

Victoria Samson, chief director of Space Security and Stability at the Secure World Foundation, said the disclosure was a departure from past US language. “That’s the first time any official has acknowledged an actually designed weapon has been placed in space,” she told Al Jazeera. “It’s always been ‘systems with capabilities’ prior.”

Analysts expect the deployed weapon is more likely a non-destructive system than one that physically strikes targets. Bleddyn Bowen, an associate professor in astropolitics at Durham University, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he would expect “some kind of electronic warfare or radio-jamming platform,” a non-destructive anti-satellite tool. He said a kinetic kill vehicle that rams and destroys a satellite was less likely, as was a close-inspection or grappling satellite.

Satellites provide GPS, communications, reconnaissance and missile-launch detection for military forces and civilian infrastructure, making them potential targets in orbital conflict. Kinetic strikes carry an added risk: fast-moving debris that endangers other objects in orbit.

Russia and China have increased rendezvous and proximity operations, manoeuvring close to Western satellites. Rod Thornton, a reader in Russian defence and security studies at King’s College London, said such satellites could theoretically become “hunter-killer” craft by colliding with targets or nudging them out of orbit. China has demonstrated a “space tug” capability able to grapple a satellite and move it to a different orbit, which can also remove space junk.

Thornton said Russia has ground-based and air-launched anti-satellite missiles able to strike targets in low Earth orbit, and can launch nuclear weapons into space to disable unhardened satellites over a wide area.

The US Space Force, created in December 2019, operates and protects military satellites and monitors threats in orbit under US Space Command, headquartered at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.

The 1967 Outer Space Treaty bans nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in orbit and prohibits military bases and weapons testing on the moon and other celestial bodies. It does not expressly prohibit conventional weapons from being placed in Earth’s orbit.

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