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Monday, September 14, 2026

The U.S. has deployed orbital space-control weapons - Air, Space & Cyber Conference 2026

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Our latest reporting from the AFA Air, Space & Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Md.

U.S. has deployed space-control weapons in orbit, Air Force secretary says

By Sandra Erwin

U.S. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink on Monday revealed that the United States has deployed space-control weapons in orbit, while also disclosing new milestones for military satellite programs tied to missile defense and long-range targeting.

“The United States now has on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversary action,” Meink said in remarks Sept. 14 at the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air Space & Cyber conference.

The statement was unusually explicit for the Pentagon, which has increasingly discussed the need for weapons to defend U.S. satellites and counter adversary space capabilities but has disclosed few details about offensive or defensive systems operating in orbit. READ MORE

U.S. allies commit $302 million to complete funding for Space Force communications satellite

Ten U.S. allies have agreed to provide $302 million to cover launch, ground-system upgrades and operations for the U.S. Space Force’s next Wideband Global SATCOM satellite, completing a funding plan for the Boeing-built military communications spacecraft.

The agreement, announced by the Space Force Sept. 12, expands a longstanding arrangement under which allied governments help finance the U.S.-owned WGS constellation in exchange for access to its communications capacity.

Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland and the United Kingdom are participating in the latest agreement. Poland is the newest member of the multinational WGS partnership. READ MORE

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Pentagon seeks AI to turn space, missile data into decisions within seconds

The Pentagon is seeking an artificial intelligence system capable of turning a flood of space, missile and intelligence data into operational threat assessments within seconds, a demanding application that would move commercial AI closer to the military decision-making loop.

The Defense Innovation Unit opened a competition for what it calls a “Space Threat Intelligence Synthesis Engine,” software designed to fuse fragmented sensor and intelligence feeds fast enough to support human operators and automated command-and-control systems.

The Pentagon wants proposals by Sept. 24 for commercially developed software that can continuously ingest and correlate live video, satellite imagery, radar and other sensor feeds, geospatial information and classified intelligence. The system would use artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect, characterize and attribute threats and maintain an updated picture of the operating environment. READ MORE

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Space's billion-dollar club is getting bigger

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SpaceX may have left the unicorn club with its IPO this summer, but the ranks of private space firms valued at $1 billion or more continue to swell as the maturing industry attracts a broader mix of deep-pocketed investors.

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