In what can only be described as something of a surprising development, the Secretary of the Air Force, Troy Meink, announced on Monday that the United States has already fielded on-orbit space defense weapons.
"Today, we continue to ensure we remain ready to meet the challenges of evolving threats wherever they exist,” Mink said during his Monday morning speech at the Air, Space, Cyber conference here. “This is why the United States now has, on orbit, space-control weapons, capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversaries.”
Top service officials have typically been cagey when asked about U.S. space weapons, often citing national-security concerns. It also marks a major change in rhetoric. John Raymond, the service’s first chief of space operations, proclaimed in 2022 that “our primary purpose is to deter war.”
The nature of the weapons was not revealed, but the statement that they are "...capable of defending the joint force" implies that they are defensive in nature or, at least, are intended to be used in defense. A weapon is a weapon, however, and one used for defense today can be used for offense tomorrow.
Best guess as to the nature of the weapons described is that they are some form of electronic warfare devices, possibly jammers, with the slight chance of them being a directed-energy weapon, like a laser.
The announcement did come as a surprise.
Defense experts were shocked by Meink’s admission on Monday morning, and said it will likely push the U.S. military’s main adversaries in space to acknowledge their capabilities, too.
“Well, that's huge, because I don't think any US government official has ever said that before,” said Victoria Samson, the Secure World Foundation's chief director of space security and stability. “The US also now has to accept the Chinese and Russians doing/saying the same. I don't think that this is going to be in the interest of US national security.”
Here's the thing: These may indeed be in the interest of U.S. national security. Russia and China don't need any prompting from the United States to start placing some kinds of weapons in orbit. This may prompt America's geopolitical rivals to work faster, but a key to winning any contest is, as the old saying goes, "getting there the firstest with the mostest," and that would appear to be the meaning of this development.
Secretary Meink also announced developments on the United States' next-generation Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), which is in line to replace the aging Minuteman III missiles.
On a separate front, he also announced during his remarks to the conference on Monday morning that the U.S. military is making significant advances on next-generation intercontinental ballistic (ICBM) missile development capable of firing nuclear weapons around the world.
Specifically, Mr. Meink said that the Sentinel rocket — a modern replacement for the Minuteman (ICBM) — will have its first launchpad test in 2027.
At present, there are 400 operational Minuteman III ICBMs in the American arsenal, each capable of carrying a W78, 335-kiloton warhead, or a W87, 300-kiloton warhead. The Minuteman III was designed to carry multiple warheads, but each was reduced to carry only a single device to comply with various arms-reduction agreements. Presumably, the Sentinel will have similar capabilities.
We do indeed live in interesting times. Now, the Space Force has more to do than model their new prospective uniforms.
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