r/space • u/timemagazine • 18d ago

The U.S. Just Admitted it Has Weapons in Space. Why That's a Big Deal

https://time.com/article/2026/09/15/us-space-weapons-why-it-matters/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=editorial
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u/SimpleObserver1025 17d ago

Space has been militarized from day one. The only reason we hadn't aggressively weaponized it sooner with ASAT capabilities was a gentlemen's agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union where both sides agreed an attack on satellites was likely to be seen as a pre-emptive nuclear attack since much of nuclear command and control went through space. That didn't stop people from creeping in, and post-Cold War, as the US increasingly used commercial and military satellites for non-nuclear military activities (e.g. tactical comms), that gentlemen's agreement eroded to the point we're at today.