The US says that it has used space weapons for the first time.

For the first time, the United States has admitted to having an offensive space weapon in Earth’s orbit. According to US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink, the “on orbit” weapon was required to protect US soldiers from hostile enemy activity.

Meink stated that the US was prepared for “evolving threats” when speaking at the Air, Space, and Cyber Conference on Monday. However, he did not go into detail about the weapon’s capabilities or when it was launched into orbit. Senior military officials have already stated that they intend to increase military capabilities in space, citing Chinese and Russian programs that are creating means of attacking and interfering with US satellites in the event of a future conflict.

In response, China cautioned against a “arms race” in space on Tuesday. A spokesman for the foreign ministry stated, “We urge the US side to stop expanding its military capabilities and preparing for war in outer space,” according to a news report. US officials have not provided information on the weapon’s operation.

A US Space Force spokesperson said: “Space control encapsulates the mission areas required to contest and control the space domain – employing kinetic and non-kinetic means to affect adversary capabilities through disruption, degradation and even destruction, if necessary.

“These capabilities can be employed for offensive and defensive purposes at the direction of combatant commands.” Speaking to Radio 4’s Today programme, Dr Bleddyn Bowen, from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), said he was “totally guessing” but that the US could have been referring to “some kind electronic warfare or radio jamming platform“.

According to Bowen, such kind of weapon might interfere with radio communications and is already present on Earth. An alternative would be “a kinetic kill vehicle of some sort – so a vehicle that would release a projectile of some sort that would ram into a satellite and destroy it”.

However, Bowen noted that this was less plausible because such a physically damaging tool would be able to produce a lot of debris. According to the Trump administration, interceptor missiles and space-based capabilities are essential components of the “Golden Dome” defence system that will shield the US from missiles and other airborne threats.

The US Space Force, established in 2019, aims to safeguard American space assets like satellites for communication and surveillance. Despite a 1967 treaty prohibiting weapons of mass destruction in orbit, nations such as the US, Russia, and China are developing capabilities to target adversary satellites.

Recent reports indicated Russian satellites intercepted communications from European satellites since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, potentially compromising sensitive data. In 2024, the US noted Russia launched a satellite capable of targeting other probes. The US Space Force asserts that both China and Russia view space as a crucial military domain, with Russia emphasizing space supremacy as vital for future conflicts.