The United States has deployed weapons in space capable of defending against hostile adversary action, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink confirmed on 14 September 2026 — marking the first direct public acknowledgement by the Pentagon that the US has stationed weapons in orbit. Meink made the announcement during his keynote address at the Air & Space Forces Association's Air, Space and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, framing the disclosure as part of a broader push to modernise the Air Force.
Meink said the weapons are necessary to safeguard US forces against hostile enemy action but declined to provide additional detail on the type of systems deployed, declining to specify whether they are kinetic or non-kinetic or whether they have been tested. He described the wording of the announcement as intentional and 'very well thought out', adding that discussing technical details would not benefit deterrence. A Space Force spokesperson told ABC News that 'these capabilities can be employed for offensive and defensive purposes at the direction of combatant commands' [Source: ABC News].
Meink also highlighted two programmes linked to the Golden Dome missile defence initiative: the Space-Based Interceptor programme and the Space-Based Air-Moving Target Indication constellation. He said the space-based interceptor programme had moved 'from initial contract to flight-ready hardware in less than one year' [Source: CNN]. The Space Force has said the space-based interceptor programme is expected to demonstrate an initial capability in 2028. In April 2026, the Space Force awarded 12 companies contracts worth up to $3.2 billion to develop prototypes for space-based interceptors under the Golden Dome plan. Among the publicly named awardees were Lockheed Martin (LMT), Northrop Grumman (NOC), RTX's Raytheon (RTX), General Dynamics (GD), Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH), and SpaceX and Anduril, alongside GITAI USA, Quindar, Sci-Tec, True Anomaly, and Turion Space.
The Golden Dome programme traces its origins to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on 27 January 2025 directing the Secretary of Defense to submit a plan for a missile defence system. Cost estimates for the programme vary significantly: the White House has cited a figure of $175 billion, while the Congressional Budget Office has estimated $1.2 trillion and the American Enterprise Institute has projected as much as $3.6 trillion, depending on the architectural details chosen. The Space Force began openly discussing its ability to conduct warfare in the space domain in 2025 and published a framework outlining its operational concepts. Under the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, to which the US, China, and Russia are parties, governments agree not to place nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit.
Sources: BBC News, Sky News, CNBC, CNN, ABC News, Defense One, Air & Space Forces Magazine, DefenseScoop, Fortune