U.S. Military Puts the Moon Inside Its Operating Area
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. forces must be prepared to fight, endure and win "in global contested environments, from the seabed to cislunar space." He made the remarks at the Air, Space and Cyber Conference outside Washington, in comments reported Sept. 16, 2026. Defense One
Cislunar space is the region between Earth's surface and the Moon. Caine's wording places the Moon, the routes to reach it, and the orbits around it inside the Joint Force operating area, alongside undersea and land areas. Think of it as extending air-traffic control maps all the way out to the Moon.
Lt. Gen. Gregory Gagnon, head of the Space Force's Combat Forces Command, said the Space Force is preparing to fight in space and around the Moon to help defend U.S. interests. The Guardian
U.S. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said at the same conference that the U.S. has fielded on-orbit space control weapons. He did not publicly detail system types, orbits, or rules of engagement in the reported remarks.
The U.S. Space Force aims to double in size over the next five years to roughly 25,000 service members, with about two-thirds of the growth focused on Combat Forces Command. The Space Force was created by Donald Trump in 2019 as the newest U.S. military service.
The 2026 Air, Space & Cyber Conference featured more than 40 sessions with insights from leaders across the DOW and defense industry, and nearly 300 exhibitors filled the technology exhibit halls. AFA
Beijing responded quickly. China established its own military space troops in 2024 tasked with boosting capability to manage space crises. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun urged the United States to stop expanding its military preparations in outer space. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty, signed by the U.S. and China, states that celestial objects such as the Moon are to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes.
The broader context here is tension between operational plans and legal rules. Washington is talking about staying power across Earth orbit, the transit routes to the Moon, lunar orbits, and possibly the lunar surface. That requires tracking objects at much greater distances, supply lines that can run with less help from Earth, hardened communications, and weapons effects shaped by different timelines and physics than in low Earth orbit.
Looking at what this means for force development, three points stand out. First, Combat Forces Command would gain most of the new people, meaning more operators, planners and command-and-control capacity rather than headquarters expansion. Second, a public admission of weapons in orbit affects deterrence calculations and signaling, even without technical details. Third, naming the Moon directly tests what "peaceful purposes" means under the Outer Space Treaty, a point China has already raised diplomatically. Neither side has described shared rules for cislunar activity. The near-term questions involve who commands cislunar missions, how they link to missile warning and satellite communications, and how to coordinate with civil and commercial lunar projects. The statements from Caine, Gagnon and Meink do not settle those questions. They state the Pentagon will treat them as military problems.
