- Since Reagan’s SDI program, the Republican think-tank Heritage Foundation (wrote Project 2025) has advocated for spaced-based weapons to “ensure peace through American strength”. In 2024, Heritage issued video clips and new publications calling for a spaced-based interceptor “overlayer” as part of an “impenetrable missile defense shield” based on Starlink. In 2022, the former Trump Administration director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Mike Pompeo explicitly called their new effort for space-based missile defenses “Strategic Defense Initiative II”.
- Gwynne Shotwell, was asked at a U.S. Air Force symposium in 2018 whether SpaceX would launch offensive weapons into orbit, to which she answered, “If it’s for the defense of this country, yes, I think we would”.
- President Donald Trump has strongly encouraged putting offensive weapons in space. As part of his 2024 reelection campaign announcement, Trump said “the United States must also build a state of the art next-generation missile defense shield to protect from the unthinkable threat of nuclear weapons.” and he said that “we actually have the technology and we’re going to build it.” Trump has also said that space-based interceptors will be a “very big part of our defense and obviously of our offense.”
- Mike Griffin, offered the SpaceX CTO role by Elon, was previously the Deputy of Technology at Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative. he created the Space Development Agency which funds satellites focused on communication, missile detection and tracking, Griffin and others have said that including space-based interceptor weapons in later layers will be "relatively easy" as he now works with SpaceX employees and major primes on re-entry warheads. The SDA expects to field and maintain a constellation of at least 1,000 satellites in orbit by 2026.
Some choice excerpts:
- Since Reagan’s SDI program, the Republican think-tank Heritage Foundation (wrote Project 2025) has advocated for spaced-based weapons to “ensure peace through American strength”. In 2024, Heritage issued video clips and new publications calling for a spaced-based interceptor “overlayer” as part of an “impenetrable missile defense shield” based on Starlink. In 2022, the former Trump Administration director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Mike Pompeo explicitly called their new effort for space-based missile defenses “Strategic Defense Initiative II”.
- Gwynne Shotwell, was asked at a U.S. Air Force symposium in 2018 whether SpaceX would launch offensive weapons into orbit, to which she answered, “If it’s for the defense of this country, yes, I think we would”.
- President Donald Trump has strongly encouraged putting offensive weapons in space. As part of his 2024 reelection campaign announcement, Trump said “the United States must also build a state of the art next-generation missile defense shield to protect from the unthinkable threat of nuclear weapons.” and he said that “we actually have the technology and we’re going to build it.” Trump has also said that space-based interceptors will be a “very big part of our defense and obviously of our offense.”
- Mike Griffin, offered the SpaceX CTO role by Elon, was previously the Deputy of Technology at Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative. he created the Space Development Agency which funds satellites focused on communication, missile detection and tracking, Griffin and others have said that including space-based interceptor weapons in later layers will be "relatively easy" as he now works with SpaceX employees and major primes on re-entry warheads. The SDA expects to field and maintain a constellation of at least 1,000 satellites in orbit by 2026.
-