Weapons in orbit are forcing old space laws into new struggles for power

On September 14, U.S. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink confirmed that the U.S. Space Force has “space control weapons” in orbit . The statement did not disclose what the weapons are, how many have been deployed, when they were placed in orbit or the circumstances in which they will be used.

The U.S. and other major space powers have long developed counter-space capabilities. Some are designed to protect satellites. Others can disrupt, degrade or destroy an adversary’s space systems. But why has this sparked a debate now?

‘Space control’ represents the ability to protect one’s own freedom of action while limiting an adversary’s ability to operate in space, and thus implies a strategic objective. As the U.S. economist Thomas Schelling noted in his 1966 book Arms and Influence, bargaining power is the power to hurt, and to exploit it is diplomacy — vicious diplomacy, sure, but diplomacy nonetheless.