By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. (AP) — American troops need to prepare for combat not only in Earth’s orbit but around the moon, President Donald Trump’s top military adviser said Wednesday, looking ahead to a new frontier in warfare after the U.S. revealed for the first time that it has deployed weapons in space.
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Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told service members and industry figures at the Air, Space and Cyber Conference outside Washington that the U.S. military should adapt now so it “is prepared to fight, endure and win … from the seabed to cislunar space.”
Space Force, the newest military service, which was created by Trump in 2019, is preparing to fight in space and around the moon because “humanity is advancing deeper into space — the Space Force’s job is to help be prepared to defend U.S. interests,” Lt. Gen. Gregory Gagnon, head of the force’s Combat Forces Command, told reporters separately.
The announcement that the U.S. military is ready to fight in the area between high Earth orbit and the moon itself comes days after Air Force Secretary Troy Meink revealed at the same conference that the U.S. has fielded “on-orbit space control weapons.”
The spate of announcements about space weaponry from military officials over recent days flies in the face of long-standing conventions and international understandings that have held outer space as only to be used for peaceful purposes and remain non-militarized.
Space Force says potential US foes may look to turn space into a battleground
While multiple nations, including the U.S., have demonstrated the ability to shoot down satellites in Earth orbit, those demonstrations have taken place from the ground against their own satellites.
However, according to Gagnon, “the intelligence community has been clear that potential adversaries have been seeking to extend warfare into space” and that the U.S. military needs to react.
“Our potential adversaries such as the PRC are actively pursuing activities in the system, in parts of space,” Gagnon said, referring to the People’s Republic of China, the country’s official name.
China established its own military space troops in 2024, charging them with boosting capability to manage space crises.
When asked about the U.S. announcement on deploying weapons in space, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters Tuesday that “China always upholds the peaceful use of outer space, maintains outer space security and opposes the weaponization, militarization and an arms race in outer space.”
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Guo also urged the U.S. to “stop expanding its military preparations in outer space.”
It is not clear whether deploying weapons in space or possible plans to use them around the moon will run afoul of international treaties that prevent the militarization of space.
Treaty signed by the US says space is for peaceful purposes
The Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which the U.S. and China have signed, says celestial objects such as the moon are to be used “exclusively for peaceful purposes,” nuclear weapons cannot be placed in space and countries are “liable for damage caused by their space objects.”
There was a renewed push two years ago to further bolster anti-militarization measures in the United Nations following U.S. reports that Russia was developing a space-based weapon.
Russia vetoed a joint U.S.-Japanese resolution that would have called on all countries not to develop or deploy nuclear arms or other weapons of mass destruction in space, as banned under the treaty. A rival Russian resolution to ban all weapons in space “for all time” also ultimately failed.
When asked about the 1967 treaty and other similar obligations, Gagnon said the U.S. Space Force “will continue to execute safe and responsible space operations in all the reaches of space.”
However, he would not say what Space Force or overall U.S. military policy was on the use of weapons like bullets or projectiles in space. He directed questions to the Pentagon, which did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Gagnon also says the U.S. aims to double the size of the Space Force over the next five years — to roughly 25,000 service members — and that about two-thirds of that growth would be focused on Combat Forces Command.
“We have capabilities in the military because we are preparing to defend the nation,” Gagnon said. “The reason we have the capabilities is to help create deterrence.”
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