US confirms space weapons deployment, breaking long-held peaceful-use norm

The United States has confirmed for the first time that it has deployed weapons in space, marking a major shift in a domain long covered by treaties that say it should be used only for peaceful purposes. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said the US has fielded “on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action”.

Meink did not say what the weapons are, how they work, or whether they are aimed at objects in space or targets on Earth. The disclosure comes as President Donald Trump’s administration puts greater focus on space, including through the proposed Golden Dome missile defence system and plans for space-based interceptors.

The US had warned two years ago that Russia was developing a new space-based anti-satellite weapon, although the White House had said at the time that the danger was not imminent. Concerns over such weapons have reflected longstanding worries about threats from Russia and China, especially because much US infrastructure depends on satellite communications. The US has also previously shown that it can shoot down satellites from Earth.

Speaking at the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference, Meink also said the Air Force was adding more autonomous systems and predicted the service would look “radically different” by 2032. He said one-way attack drones could replace artillery as the “primary killer”. “We are increasing readiness against existing threats,” he said.

Trump created the Space Force as a separate military branch in 2019 during his first term. In his second term, he announced the Golden Dome missile defence system, which includes plans to place US weapons in space. Trump said last year that he expected the system would be “fully operational before the end of my term”, which ends in January 2029, and able to intercept missiles “even if they are launched from space”. He also directed the Pentagon in an executive order during the first week of his presidency to pursue space-based interceptors. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the space-based parts of Golden Dome alone could cost as much as USD 542 billion over the next 20 years.

The Biden administration said in 2024 that Russia was developing a space-based nuclear weapon that could remain in space for long periods before releasing a burst that would disable nearby satellites. That led to renewed debate at the United Nations over weapons in space. In April 2024, Russia vetoed a joint US-Japanese resolution calling on countries not to develop or deploy nuclear arms or other weapons of mass destruction in space, as already banned under a 1967 treaty signed by both the US and Russia. The treaty also said outer space was a global commons to be used only for peaceful purposes. Russia called the resolution hypocritical and a double standard, and proposed its own resolution to ban all weapons in space “for all time”, but that effort failed. Russia had argued that the US and its allies opposed a complete ban because they planned to deploy weapons there. The latest US confirmation brings those concerns and disputes into sharper focus.