Will the US start a space arms race? Northeastern University experts wonder.
Space could be the final frontier of war
The U.S. has long cautioned nations against putting weapons in space. Now it appears that America has done exactly that – a move that has angered rival nations Russia and China, and that some experts say could ignite a new Cold War style arms race – in Earth’s orbit.
The announcement which came last month from U.S. Secretary of the Air Force, Troy Meink, was scant on details. Speaking at the 2026 Air and Space Cyber Conference at National Harbor, Maryland, Meink revealed that the United States “has on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversary action.” He billed the move simply as the U.S. seeking to increase its readiness against existing threats.
At a time of widespread global instability, some experts believe that weaponizing space is a necessary deterrent against potential threat from adversaries. But others say it could actually trigger further competition among nations to stockpile arms.
“I don’t believe that China or Russia would say, ‘Oh, we’re scared,’ and take this passively,” said Peter Fraunholtz, an assistant teaching professor in History and International Affairs at Northeastern University’s College of Social Sciences and Humanities. He added that if these two nations were not developing such technology earlier, they might well be inclined to do so now.
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized the U.S. for “ignoring the catastrophic consequences for humanity of any armed conflict in orbit,” according to a statement on its website.
A 1967 United Nations treaty signed by the U.S., Russia and China, among other countries, banned nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in space.
But Daniel Aldrich, a Northeastern dean’s professor of Resilience at the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, pointed out that there’s wiggle room when it comes to other weapons, including anti-communications technology and systems.
So Moscow and Beijing may be calling foul, while making plans to launch their own arms into space, if they haven’t already done so, defense and security experts warned.
It’s unclear what type of weapons the U.S. might have deployed beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. The U.S. Department of Defense didn’t respond to a request from Northeastern Global News for further information. But some foreign policy observers said arming space could potentially be a smart strategy.
“There’s a great military advantage if you’re in space,” said Chris O’Meara, a research fellow with the D.C. thinktank the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “There’s the old war adage, take the high ground. Space is the ultimate high ground. You can really take down a country’s fighting ability”
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The 2026 Global Counterspace Capabilities Report, published by the nonprofit Secure World Foundation and based on publicly available information, helps provide an overview of potential space weapons, such as lasers, robotic arms or space guns or electronic jammers, according to the report.
The report lists five categories of counterspace capabilities. It examines systems being developed by 13 countries, among them the U.S., Russia, France, Iran, and Israel.
Two years ago, the U.S. announced that Russia was developing a space-based, anti-satellite weapon, though the White House said at the time that the danger wasn’t imminent. They might have since changed.
“We also believe that Russia has satellites that can jam others, and some have gotten suspiciously close to ours, perhaps demonstrating their physical capabilities,” O’Meara said.
The Global capabilities report also noted that in 2021 it was revealed that China had tested a satellite with a robotic arm that can maneuver to another space craft, grab it and move it out of orbit. In 2022, China used such a system for the first time to tow one of its dead satellites out of orbit, according to the report.
China has claimed its technology is only intended for peaceful purposes. But experts say it could be used to attack.
“This is a very old problem, an arms race to keep up with what you know or believe your adversaries have,” Aldrich said. “We might have been in this for years and the public doesn’t know.”
And the consequences could be vastly destructive.
A war satellite-against-satellite war in space could devastate a nation’s economy by freezing financial markets and bank accounts, crippling navigation, aviation, weather forecasting and pulling the plug on cell-phone communications, Aldrich said.
O’Meara noted that a small nuclear weapon detonated in orbit would make a large swath of low Earth orbit unusable for new satellites because of the debris from other destroyed satellites.
Such actions could cost the economy billions if not more, Aldrich said, and disrupt everyone’s lives.
But no one knows what the U.S. has, he said.
And that lack of clarity could be the point, explained Aldrich.
“You’re deliberately vague so opponents will keep guessing if we have the capability or not,” he said.
Either way, said Fraunholtz, ”the danger is that we could be creating a race to weaponize space.”
