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The U.S. Air Force publicly confirmed for the first time that American weapons are already stationed in Earth's orbit, a capability long suspected but never officially acknowledged.
- Officials have not disclosed whether the weapon is a jamming device, an interceptor, or something else entirely, and Russia and China both responded within a day, accusing Washington of pushing an arms race into space.
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The disclosure arrives as the Space Force seeks a fiscal 2027 budget of roughly $71 billion, more than double its current funding, with billions earmarked for the Golden Dome missile-defense program.
For decades, U.S. officials talked around the question of whether America had already put weapons into orbit, leaning on careful phrases about readiness and future options rather than a straight yes. That changed Monday, when U.S. Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink told a room full of defense officials in National Harbor, Maryland, that the country now has armed systems circling the planet right now.
