U.S. confirms it has weapons in orbit

… <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Part of that system is the Space Force&#8217;s Space-Based Interceptor program, which Meink said has already moved from initial contract to flight-ready hardware in under a year, backed by as much as $3.2 billion in agreements across a dozen companies. Meink also pointed to progress on the Space Data Network, a satellite backbone designed to keep sensors and weapons systems linked in real time.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, who served as Chief of Space Operations until Sept. 3, 2026, told the AFA Warfare Symposium in March 2025 that “space control encapsulates the mission areas required to contest and control the space domain — employing kinetic and non-kinetic means to affect adversary capabilities, from disruption to degradation to destruction.” In military terms, kinetic means involve physical destruction and violence, like conventional weapons, while nonkinetic means cause only psychological or technological damage. In short, Saltzman was signaling that for the U.S. to maintain dominance in space, weapons would need to be part of the equation — a statement that hinted at the very capabilities Meink has now confirmed.</p> …