The US acknowledged for the first time that it has on-orbit space-control weapons
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said on Monday at a Maryland conference that the United States now has on-orbit space-control weapons capable of defending the joint force against hostile action. The BBC called it the first public acknowledgment of an offensive capability in orbit. ABC carried the same sentence. A Space Force spokesperson said the capabilities can be used for offensive and defensive purposes at the direction of combatant commands. The type of system was not named.
Geopolitics··Morning
Meink: space-control weapons are on orbit
The BBC said Meink spoke on Monday at the conference in Maryland and that it was the first time the United States had publicly acknowledged an offensive capability in orbit. ABC News, dated 14 September 2026 at 20:45, quoted him saying the United States now has on-orbit space-control weapons capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversary action. ABC called it the first public acknowledgment of a capability long assumed to exist. Meink also said Golden Dome interceptors are flight ready.[1], [2]
Offensive and defensive, at combatant-command direction
A Space Force spokesperson told the BBC that space control includes kinetic and non-kinetic means to disrupt, degrade or even destroy adversary capabilities, for offensive and defensive purposes at the direction of combatant commands. The spokesperson told ABC the capabilities can be employed for offensive and defensive purposes at the direction of combatant commands, and that open communication is meant to strengthen deterrence after years of warning about Russian and Chinese testing.[1], [2]
What is on orbit was not named
Meink also said space-based interceptors, a core element of President Donald Trump's Golden Dome missile-defence plan, are flight ready. A 1967 treaty bans weapons of mass destruction in orbit; Meink did not say what the current systems are. ABC said it is unclear what kind of weapons are in orbit or how long they have been deployed.[1], [2]
