Air Force Secretary Confirms US 'On-Orbit' Space Weapons — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Troy Meink confirmed in a Monday speech at the Air, Space, Cyber conference in National Harbor, Md. that the U.S. now has 'on orbit, space-control weapons, capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversaries.'
- Top military officials had previously avoided acknowledging their existence, with the Space Force's first chief of space operations, John Raymond, saying in 2022 that 'our primary purpose is to deter war.'
- Victoria Samson, chief director of space security and stability at the Secure World Foundation, called Meink's admission 'huge' and the first time a U.S. official has publicly confirmed such weapons, warning the U.S. 'now has to accept the Chinese and Russians doing/saying the same.'
- Samson speculated the program involves space-based jammers and electronic warfare rather than kinetic weapons, citing repeated warnings from officials like Maj. Gen. Chris Povak of the National Reconnaissance Office against debris-causing operations.
- Meink also announced prototypes for the space-based Airborne Moving Target Indicator satellite constellation will be launched this month, and that space-based interceptors for President Trump's Golden Dome missile defense system are now 'flight ready.'
- Gen. Michael Guetlein, Golden Dome's direct-reporting program manager, warned last month the missile defense project would be in 'dire straits' without additional congressional funding.
Why it matters: By publicly naming capabilities the U.S. had previously kept quiet, Meink hands Beijing and Moscow the diplomatic cover to legitimize their own counter-space programs, as Samson warned. The 'flight ready' Golden Dome interceptors now sit at the mercy of the congressional appropriations fight Guetlein flagged, making funding the decisive variable for both programs.
Ask SkimNews
