Washington: The United States has weapons deployed in space, the US Space Force said on Monday, confirming the presence of such capabilities in orbit for the first time.
"The US has on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action," a US Space Force spokesperson said in a statement that did not provide specifics on the weapons.
"Space control encapsulates the mission areas required to contest and control the space domain — employing kinetic and non-kinetic means to affect adversary capabilities," the statement said, adding that "these capabilities can be employed for offensive and defensive purposes."
Both Russia and China — the two main geopolitical rivals of the United States — pose potential threats to US interests in space.
China "develops and operates space and counterspace capabilities as part of a military modernisation strategy," while Russia "views space as a warfighting domain and believes space supremacy will be a decisive factor in future conflicts," according to the US Space Force.
The militarisation of space is as old as the space race itself — as soon as Sputnik was launched into orbit in 1957, Washington and Moscow began exploring ways to both arm and destroy satellites.
The biggest worry was once about nuclear weapons in space, but the superpowers and other countries signed the Outer Space Treaty in 1967, banning weapons of mass destruction in orbit.
Since then, Russia, the United States, China and India have explored ways to fight in space outside of that treaty, including by targeting rivals' satellites, which are key for military communications, surveillance and navigation.
Russia called on Tuesday for weapons to be kept out of space, after the US Space Force confirmed it had deployed "on-orbit space control weapons" for the first time.
"We believe that space must be free of any weapon," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"We are counting on broad international consolidation to continue working toward the complete demilitarisation of space," he added.
Russia's ally China also on Tuesday slammed Washington's move, and urged the United States to "stop preparing for war in outer space".
The United States confirmed on Monday it had weapons deployed for the first time.
"The US has on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action," a US Space Force spokesperson said in a statement that did not provide specifics on the weapons.
"Space control encapsulates the mission areas required to contest and control the space domain — employing kinetic and non-kinetic means to affect adversary capabilities," the statement said, adding that "these capabilities can be employed for offensive and defensive purposes."
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty — to which the United States, Russia and China are all parties — bans the deployment of nuclear weapons in space, but is not a blanket ban on military activity.
Song Zhongping, an independent military commentator based in Hong Kong and former Chinese army instructor, said the announcement was "no surprise at all" as the fact that the US possesses such weapons "has long been an open secret".
"The only difference is that the US used to keep it ambiguous, whereas now it has gone public, which shows that Washington is no longer trying to hide it," he added.
"China will not stand by and do nothing", he warned, noting Beijing already has its own space station in orbit.
"Whether China deploys weapons in space will depend entirely on whether the United States moves in that direction," he said.
The Wall Street Journal said Beijing supplied Iran with satellite imagery that enabled Tehran to precisely target military facilities and kill US service members in Jordan in July — a claim China has denied. — Agencies
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