Experts brood over potential US space weapon after surprise announcement

The United States’ announcement that it has deployed a space weapon in Earth’s orbit has raised questions about what weaponry is already present in space and what role it could play as major powers compete for dominance in the domain.

Washington has provided few details about the system when US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink spoke on September 14. He merely gave away that the “on orbit” weapon was necessary to protect US forces from hostile action but did not disclose its capabilities or when it was placed in orbit.

Space has been a militarised domain since the beginning of the space age, with governments launching military satellites for a range of purposes, including reconnaissance, secure communications, missile-launch detection and precise positioning for targeted strikes.

The presence of actual weapons in space has been speculated about for years, although no definitive reports have emerged. Following the US announcement, experts have been assessing what type of weapon Washington could have deployed.

Dr Bleddyn Bowen, an associate fellow in military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute and associate professor in astropolitics at Durham University, told the BBC that he could only speculate about the system.

“I would expect there to be some kind of electronic warfare or radio-jamming platform, possibly, this would be a non-destructive kind of anti-satellite weapon,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Such systems already exist on Earth and can disrupt satellite communications, he said. “If you take out the radio links then your satellite is very useless.”

Bowen also did not rule out a riskier and more disruptive type of weapon that could cause debris and destruction.

“Less likely would be a kinetic kill vehicle of some sort, so a vehicle that would release a projectile that could ram into a satellite and destroy it,” he said.

“A type of close inspection and grappling satellite would be another possibility as well.”

International race for space

While the weapon placed in orbit may be unusual, the US, Russia and China have had weapons capable of targeting objects in space for years, including air-launched anti-satellite missiles (ASATs).

“The United States, Russia and China and also India have all developed different kinds of anti-satellite or counter-space weapons, and Russia and China have put a lot of technologies in space which have a lot of weapons potential,” Bowen said.

The 1967 Outer Space Treaty, signed by 115 countries, including the major spacefaring nations, bans nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction from being placed in orbit. However, it does not prohibit conventional weapons in space or ground-based weapons targeting assets in orbit, leaving room for interpretation.

Both Russia and China have condemned Washington following the reveal, accusing Washington of “preparing for war in outer space” and urging that “ space must be free of any weapon”.

In an analysis published by CNN, the outlet speculates that Meink could have been referring to an anti-satellite weapon, or ASAT, which can be used to locate and physically destroy an enemy satellite in orbit.

Such weapons are widely considered among the riskiest and most disruptive types of space weaponry because debris from destroyed satellites can remain in orbit for years, potentially triggering a chain of collisions involving nearby satellites.

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

Last December, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order describing US superiority in space as “a measure of national vision and willpower,” while emphasizing the development of next-generation missile defence technologies and the ability to counter threats, including “any placement of nuclear weapons in space.”

By Nazrin Sadigova