In remarks to reporters following his revelation on Monday that the U.S. has “space control weapons” in orbit, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink explained why it was done. “It is critically important that we maintain our dominance, not only in the air but in space,” he said. “So, we’ve had to take steps to make sure that when we’re threatened, we can take care of that.”

Meink claimed that the public acknowledgment was deliberate and that the terminology had been “very well thought out” to reinforce military deterrence. “Talking about the details of what we’re doing would actually not benefit that deterrence,” Meink said. “I would just say that the space environment is critical for military and economic security, and we need to make sure that the U.S. can operate freely there,” he added.

Chief of Space Operations Gen. Douglas Schiess, sworn into the job only two weeks ago, made clear that Russia and China are the main “threats” at which Meink was aiming. The U.S. deployment of weapons into orbit was made necessary, he claimed, by Russia and China. Deterrence remains the Space Force’s goal, but the service will pursue it from a “position of strength,” he said during a keynote address at the Air, Space, and Cyber Conference on Tuesday, reported Defense One.

“We’ve talked about, you know, them being able to grapple a satellite and move it to a different orbit,” he said. “So, I think at this point, we are trying to say that we also need capabilities to not only defend the joint force from space-enabled attack, but defend our assets. And so, I think it was time that within the Department of War we talked about it, and it’s time to talk about that we have the capabilities to make sure that we can do what the joint force needs.”