Air Force Secretary Troy Meink revealed the US already has weapons in orbit but declined to identify them or explain how they operate.

The X-37b is everything you could want in an orbital surveillance, espionage and sabotage platform and it has existed for years…?

A good recent article on the x-37b

https://migflug.com/afterburner/fr/x-37b-space-force-mystery-spaceplane/

Officially, it tests reusable spacecraft technologies and carries experiments for the government. Unofficially, its knack for changing its orbit and vanishing from where trackers expect it has made it a favourite Cold-War-style headache for America’s rivals — a point a former Air Force secretary once made with unusual candour.

“It can do an orbit that looks like an egg, and when it’s close to the Earth it’s close enough to the atmosphere to turn where it is. Our adversaries don’t know where it’s going to come up next, and that drives them nuts. And I’m really glad about that.”

Heather Wilson — former U.S. Secretary of the Air Force (Aspen Security Forum, 2019)

  • ltxrtquq@lemmy.ml
    7·
    7 days ago

    Although it forbids establishing military bases, testing weapons and conducting military maneuvers on celestial bodies, the treaty does not expressly ban all military activities in space, nor the establishment of military space forces or the placement of conventional weapons in space.

    Well, I guess I never bothered to learn about it more than a general “don’t weaponize space” sentiment. It expressly forbids weapons of mass destruction in space, but I guess less powerful weapons are fine.