US acknowledges deployment of space weapons for first time

The United States has acknowledged publicly for the first time that it has put weapons into orbit, a capability aimed at defending American forces against hostile action, BBC reported.

Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said Monday the US Now has “on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversary action.” He spoke at the Air, Space and Cyber Conference in Maryland.

Meink did not say what type of weapons had been deployed, their capabilities or when they were put into orbit. The information was important for deterrence, he said, but more details could undermine that purpose.

“The space environment is critical for military and economic security and we need to make sure that the US can operate freely there,” Meink said.

The announcement comes amid increasing warnings from Washington about Chinese and Russian military activity in space, including technologies that could interfere with or target satellites. US officials have also been building space-based systems under the Trump administration’s planned Golden Dome missile defence programme.