US military confirms it has deployed weapons in space

The United States has deployed weapons in space and will use them to defend American forces, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said Monday – the first public acknowledgment of such capabilities in orbit and a deliberate signal to those that pose potential threats in the domain.

“Today we continue to ensure we remain ready to meet the challenges of evolving threats wherever they exist,” Meink told the Air, Space and Cyber Conference, an annual gathering hosted by the Air & Space Forces Association in National Harbor, Maryland. “This is why the United States now has on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversary action.”

Meink did not provide specifics on the weapons and, when asked to expand, refused to provide additional details. It’s unknown when the weapons were put into orbit.

President Donald Trump has touted the US Space Force, which he created in 2019 as part of the Air Force, as a historic step toward bolstering US defense capabilities amid an advancing arms race in which China and Russia have challenged America’s space dominance.

Stringer/Reuters/File

Exclusive: Russia attempting to develop nuclear space weapon to destroy satellites with massive energy wave, sources familiar with intel say

“China develops and operates space and counterspace capabilities as part of a military modernization strategy,” the US Space Force says on its website, while “Russia views space as a warfighting domain and believes space supremacy will be a decisive factor in future conflicts.”

US military officials have repeatedly warned the two countries are testing new offensive space capabilities, citing examples such as Russian satellite constellation training missions that Washington says could demonstrate “attack and defend tactics” for future combat and China’s development of a nuclear capable partial-orbit hypersonic missile .

As CNN reported in 2024, US intelligence suggests Russia has also made efforts to develop a space-based nuclear weapon that would use a massive energy wave, known as an electromagnetic pulse, to potentially knock out a large swath of commercial and government satellites – a claim Moscow has denied.

Such a weapon could have broad, devastating impacts – for example, upending satellites the world relies on to predict the weather and respond to disasters, or even potentially affecting global navigation systems used for everything from banking and cargo shipping to hailing a ride share and ambulance dispatch.

“It is critically important that we maintain our dominance not only in the air but in space, and so we’ve had to take steps to make sure that when we’re threatened, we can take care of that,” Meink said Monday.

CNN has reached out to the Space Force for comment.

While the 1967 Outer Space Treaty bans nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction in orbit, it does not prohibit the use of conventional weapons in space or the use of ground-based weapons against assets in space – leaving room for interpretation.

Last December, Trump signed an executive order calling US superiority in space “a measure of national vision and willpower,” with an emphasis on developing next-generation missile defense technologies and ensuring its abilities to counter threats, including “any placement of nuclear weapons in space.”

Last look: Trump’s lofty plan to weaponize space

The executive order was a step toward Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense system, an ambitious multibillion-dollar plan inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome that officials say would allow the US to intercept missiles from anywhere in the world.

The US has remained vague on its plans for developing the missile shield, which Trump said he hopes to be completed by 2028. As CNN earlier reported, the Pentagon has scheduled its first major test for just before the 2028 election, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Speaking Monday, Meink also said a US space-based interceptor program had moved “from initial contract to flight-ready hardware in less than one year,” without revealing further details.

CNN’s Rashard Rose, Simone McCarthy, Natasha Bertrand and Zachary Cohen contributed to this report.

美国空军部长特洛伊·梅因克周一表示，美国已在太空部署武器，并将利用这些武器保卫美国军队——这是美国首次公开承认在轨道上拥有此类能力，也是向该领域潜在威胁发出的一个明确信号。

“今天，我们继续确保随时准备应对不断演变的威胁，无论这些威胁出现在哪里，”梅因克在马里兰州国家港举行的航空航天网络会议上说道。该会议是由美国空军和太空部队协会主办的年度盛会。“正因如此，美国现在拥有在轨空间控制武器，能够保护联合部队免受敌对势力的攻击。”

梅因克没有提供关于这些武器的具体信息，当被要求详细说明时，他拒绝提供更多细节。目前尚不清楚这些武器何时被送入轨道。

唐纳德·特朗普总统吹捧他于 2019 年创建的美国太空军（隶属于空军），称其是加强美国国防能力的历史性一步，以应对日益激烈的军备竞赛，中国和俄罗斯都对美国的太空主导地位提出了挑战。

特约摄影师/路透社/档案照片

独家消息：据知情人士透露，俄罗斯正试图研发一种核太空武器，利用巨大的能量波摧毁卫星。

美国太空部队在其网站上表示：“中国发展和运营太空及反太空能力，是其军事现代化战略的一部分。”而“俄罗斯将太空视为作战领域，并认为太空优势将是未来冲突的决定性因素。”

美国军方官员多次警告称，两国正在测试新的进攻性太空能力，并举例说明，例如俄罗斯的卫星星座训练任务，华盛顿方面称这可能展示未来作战的“攻击和防御战术”，以及中国正在研发可携带核弹头的偏轨道高超音速导弹。

据 CNN 2024 年报道，美国情报部门表示，俄罗斯也曾努力研发一种天基核武器，该武器将利用被称为电磁脉冲的巨大能量波，有可能摧毁大量商业和政府卫星——莫斯科否认了这一说法。

这种武器可能会造成广泛而毁灭性的影响——例如，颠覆世界赖以预测天气和应对灾害的卫星，甚至可能影响全球导航系统，而这些系统被用于从银行和货物运输到叫车和救护车调度等各种用途。

“保持我们在空中和太空的优势至关重要，因此我们必须采取措施，确保在受到威胁时，我们能够应对，”梅因克周一表示。

CNN已联系太空部队寻求置评。

虽然 1967 年《外层空间条约》禁止在轨道上使用核武器或大规模杀伤性武器，但它并未禁止在太空中使用常规武器或使用地面武器攻击太空中的目标——这留下了解释的空间。

去年 12 月，特朗普签署了一项行政命令，称美国在太空领域的优势是“衡量国家远见和意志力的指标”，重点是发展下一代导弹防御技术，并确保其有能力应对威胁，包括“在太空部署核武器”。

最后回顾：特朗普将太空武器化的宏伟计划

这项行政命令是特朗普提出的“金穹顶”导弹防御系统计划的一部分，这是一项雄心勃勃的数十亿美元计划，其灵感来自以色列的“铁穹”系统。官员们表示，该计划将使美国能够拦截来自世界任何地方的导弹。

美国对其导弹防御系统的研发计划一直含糊其辞，特朗普曾表示希望该系统能在2028年之前完成。正如CNN此前报道，据两位知情人士透露，五角大楼已将首次重大测试安排在2028年大选前夕。

梅因克周一表示，美国一项天基拦截器计划“在不到一年的时间内，从最初的合同发展到可飞行的硬件”，但他没有透露更多细节。

CNN的拉沙德·罗斯、西蒙娜·麦卡锡、娜塔莎·伯特兰和扎卡里·科恩对本报道亦有贡献。