Latest / The President's Daily Brief / PDB Afternoon Bulletin | September 15th, 2026: U.S. Reveals Orbital Weapons & Military Stockpiles Run Low

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PDB Afternoon Bulletin | September 15th, 2026: U.S. Reveals Orbital Weapons & Military Stockpiles Run Low · The President's Daily Brief

• 0:12
  It's Tuesday,
• 0:13
  the 15th of September.
• 0:14
  Welcome to the PDB
• 0:15
  afternoon bulletin.
• 0:17
  I'm Mike Baker,
• 0:17
  your eyes and ears on the world stage.
• 0:20
  Alright,
• 0:21
  let's get briefed.
• 0:22
  First up,
• 0:23
  forget about theoretical arguments about the weaponization of space.
• 0:27
  The US
• 0:28
  has now announced publicly that they have weapons in orbit,
• 0:31
  and the Pentagon wants China and Russia to know it.
• 0:34
  I'll have the details
• 0:36
  later in the show.
• 0:37
  The Pentagon's own inspector General is now saying Operation Epic Fury.
• 0:41
  Has drained key US munitions stocks,
• 0:43
  raising concerns about how quickly America can rearm for the next conflict.
• 0:48
  But first,
• 0:49
  today's afternoon bulletin.
• 0:51
  For the first time,
• 0:52
  the US is publicly acknowledging that it has weapons deployed in space,
• 0:57
  not
• 0:58
  weapons that are being designed for possible future use in space.
• 1:02
  According to the Secretary of the Air Force,
• 1:03
  American space control weapons are already
• 1:06
  in orbit.
• 1:07
  Air Force Secretary Troy Mink made that disclosure on
• 1:10
  Monday during the Air and Space Forces Association's annual conference
• 1:14
  just outside of Washington DC
• 1:16
  Speaking about the growing military competition above the Earth,
• 1:19
  he said,
• 1:19
  quote,
• 1:20
  The Space Force
• 1:21
  now has On orbit space control weapons capable of
• 1:25
  defending the joint force against hostile adversary action,
• 1:29
  end quote.
• 1:29
  And apparently
• 1:30
  that language was no accident.
• 1:32
  When reporters pressed the secretary afterwards
• 1:35
  about whether he really intended to publicly acknowledge that
• 1:38
  the US already has weapons operating in space,
• 1:41
  he said the
• 1:42
  was very well thought out.
• 1:44
  In other words,
• 1:45
  the Pentagon
• 1:46
  wanted the world to hear this,
• 1:48
  especially China and Russia.
• 1:50
  But what it doesn't want them to know is exactly what those weapons are.
• 1:54
  No surprise.
• 1:55
  He wouldn't say how many systems are in orbit,
• 1:57
  where they're operating,
• 1:58
  or whether they're kinetic weapons capable of physically striking targets.
• 2:02
  And when the Pentagon uses the phrase
• 2:04
  space control,
• 2:06
  that can cover a very wide range of capabilities.
• 2:09
  We could be talking about systems designed to jam
• 2:11
  an enemy satellite or interfere with its communications.
• 2:15
  We could be talking about spacecraft capable of
• 2:17
  maneuvering close to another satellite and disabling it.
• 2:20
  There are also directed energy and electronic
• 2:23
  warfare systems that could potentially blind or
• 2:25
  disrupt or damage
• 2:27
  an adversary's equipment without blowing anything apart.
• 2:30
  And of course there's always the possibility of blowing something apart
• 2:34
  of a kinetic weapon designed to physically destroy a target.
• 2:37
  Right now the Pentagon isn't saying,
• 2:40
  but whatever these systems are,
• 2:41
  the important point is that the US acknowledged their existence.
• 2:45
  And the reason Washington is finally talking about them is increasingly clear.
• 2:49
  China and Russia
• 2:50
  have spent years developing their own ability to threaten American satellites.
• 2:55
  As we've discussed here on the PDB,
• 2:57
  China has tested anti-satellite weapons
• 2:59
  and built highly maneuverable spacecraft
• 3:02
  capable of operating in close proximity to other satellites.
• 3:06
  American military officials have also warned that Chinese
• 3:09
  satellites have practiced increasingly sophisticated maneuvers in orbit,
• 3:13
  the kind of activity that's sometimes compared to dogfighting in space.
• 3:17
  And Russia has pursued its own counter-space weapons.
• 3:21
  US intelligence has previously warned that Moscow
• 3:24
  was working on an especially alarming capability,
• 3:27
  a nuclear anti-satellite weapon
• 3:29
  that could potentially threaten large numbers of satellites all at once.
• 3:33
  And that matters because the American
• 3:36
  military is extraordinarily dependent on space.
• 3:39
  GPS,
• 3:40
  secure communications,
• 3:41
  intelligence,
• 3:42
  surveillance,
• 3:42
  missile warnings,
• 3:44
  targeting,
• 3:44
  navigation for ships and aircraft,
• 3:46
  all of it depends heavily on satellites.
• 3:49
  Take down the satellites and nearly every major
• 3:52
  American military operation becomes far more difficult.
• 3:55
  A future war with China,
• 3:56
  for example,
• 3:57
  may not begin with an attack on an American aircraft carrier or an Air Force base.
• 4:02
  It could begin hundreds or thousands of miles above the Earth
• 4:05
  with an effort to blind the US before the first conventional shots are fired,
• 4:10
  and Washington is increasingly preparing for exactly that possibility.
• 4:14
  Just last week,
• 4:15
  US Space Command conducted what was known as Apollo maneuvers 2026,
• 4:19
  its first major live orbital maneuver exercise.
• 4:23
  Actual spacecraft were used to practice operating in a contested environment,
• 4:27
  essentially
• 4:28
  training American forces to maneuver satellites
• 4:30
  against a potential adversary in space.
• 4:33
  One important distinction here,
• 4:35
  these are not necessarily the
• 4:37
  same systems being developed for President
• 4:40
  Trump's Golden Dome missile defense program.
• 4:43
  Golden Dome calls for future space-based interceptors
• 4:47
  designed to help destroy incoming missiles.
• 4:49
  The systems that the Air Force Secretary
• 4:51
  revealed this week are reportedly already operational.
• 4:56
  China quickly criticized the announcement,
• 4:58
  while,
• 4:58
  of course,
• 4:58
  accusing Washington of contributing to the
• 5:00
  militarization and weaponization of outer space.
• 5:03
  There's a lack of self-awareness there on their part.
• 5:07
  American officials see it differently.
• 5:08
  Their argument is that China and Russia
• 5:11
  have already spent years building systems
• 5:13
  capable of threatening American satellites.
• 5:16
  And that deterrence only works if your adversary
• 5:19
  knows that you have the ability to respond.
• 5:22
  Alright,
• 5:23
  coming up next,
• 5:24
  we've talked about the growing concern over potential shortages
• 5:26
  of critical munitions in the US arsenal here on the PDB.
• 5:30
  Now,
• 5:31
  the Pentagon's own inspector general is echoing those concerns.
• 5:35
  I'll be right back.
• 5:37
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• 5:37
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• 8:01
  Welcome back to the PDB
• 8:02
  afternoon bulletin.
• 8:04
  We now have a price tag for the opening months of Operation Epic Fury,
• 8:08
  the U.S.Iran conflict,
• 8:09
  and beyond the billions of dollars spent,
• 8:12
  the Pentagon's own watchdog is also warning that the war
• 8:15
  has left the US with shortfalls in its munitions.
• 8:19
  In mandatory reporting to Congress,
• 8:20
  the Department of War's Inspector General estimates that the war cost roughly
• 8:25
  $33 billion
• 8:27
  between 28th of February and the end of June,
• 8:30
  and about 2/3 of that went reportedly towards munitions.
• 8:34
  The US fired an estimated $22 billion worth of weapons in just over 4 months.
• 8:40
  According to the Inspector General,
• 8:41
  that expenditure has resulted in
• 8:43
  strategic inventory shortfalls
• 8:46
  and exposed industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply.
• 8:51
  That's notable because it comes after months
• 8:54
  of the Trump administration pushing back on concerns
• 8:57
  that the war was draining America's weapons stockpiles.
• 9:00
  Just two weeks ago,
• 9:01
  President Trump said America has
• 9:03
  virtually unlimited amounts of mid to high grade ammunition,
• 9:07
  far more than we could ever use for this
• 9:09
  or for any other war,
• 9:10
  while saying also that the US is producing munitions at
• 9:14
  levels never seen before,
• 9:16
  end quote.
• 9:17
  And we've heard similar assurances from the Pentagon,
• 9:20
  with top officials also denying claims
• 9:22
  that the US was facing munitions shortages before
• 9:25
  this report from the IG was released.
• 9:27
  So what does the Inspector General's warning
• 9:30
  actually mean?
• 9:31
  It doesn't necessarily mean that the US is about to run out of key munitions.
• 9:36
  A senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
• 9:40
  was asked by CBS News whether America has enough weapons to see the Iran war through.
• 9:45
  His answer was,
• 9:46
  quote,
• 9:47
  For a war against Iran,
• 9:48
  the answer is yes,
• 9:49
  end quote.
• 9:50
  That's quite the caveat.
• 9:52
  The bigger concern is over the potential for another conflict breaking out,
• 9:55
  particularly,
• 9:56
  of course,
• 9:56
  with China.
• 9:57
  In the Center for Strategic and International Studies analysis,
• 10:00
  the US would likely have enough munitions for the first month.
• 10:04
  However,
• 10:05
  keeping those supplies flowing for months,
• 10:07
  234,
• 10:09
  or more
• 10:09
  would be much more difficult.
• 10:11
  Modern missiles can take months or years to manufacture,
• 10:15
  relying on specialized materials,
• 10:17
  complicated supply chains,
• 10:18
  and
• 10:18
  production lines that can't simply double their output overnight.
• 10:22
  One example is the Patriot Interceptor.
• 10:25
  A munition that you've heard me mention many times here on the PDB.
• 10:29
  Lockheed Martin is currently producing roughly 750
• 10:32
  Patriots a year,
• 10:33
  with each missile
• 10:34
  costing around $4 million
• 10:37
  give or take a few dollars.
• 10:38
  Those missiles are designed to shoot down incoming ballistic missiles,
• 10:41
  exactly the kind of threat that American forces and their allies
• 10:45
  have endured from the Islamic Republic.
• 10:48
  While Secretary of War or Defense Pete Hegseth has rejected
• 10:51
  claims that the US is running low on munitions,
• 10:53
  he is still pushing the defense industry to accelerate production
• 10:57
  so the military can replenish what it's using,
• 10:59
  build its stockpiles,
• 11:01
  and keep up the pressure on Iran.
• 11:03
  But I want to point out that the Pentagon
• 11:05
  IG's report details more than just munitions shortfalls.
• 11:10
  The Inspector General says 4 American F-15s and as many as 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones
• 11:15
  have been destroyed during the conflict,
• 11:17
  while 1 F-35.
• 11:19
  And 7 KC-135 aerial refueling tankers have been damaged.
• 11:24
  Iranian strikes also damaged or destroyed hundreds
• 11:26
  of structures at US bases in Kuwait,
• 11:29
  Bahrain,
• 11:30
  Qatar,
• 11:30
  the UAE,
• 11:31
  Saudi Arabia,
• 11:32
  Iraq,
• 11:32
  Oman,
• 11:33
  and Jordan.
• 11:34
  We still don't know how much that damage will cost.
• 11:36
  The Pentagon has not determined
• 11:38
  whether all those facilities will be rebuilt
• 11:41
  or who will ultimately pay for some of the repairs.
• 11:45
  But the State Department has put the damage
• 11:47
  to American diplomatic facilities at roughly $184 million
• 11:52
  across Iraq,
• 11:53
  Kuwait,
• 11:54
  Saudi Arabia,
• 11:54
  and the UAE.
• 11:56
  Needless to say,
• 11:57
  although I'm about to say it,
• 11:59
  it will be interesting to hear the
• 12:00
  White House's response
• 12:02
  to this IG report from the Pentagon.
• 12:05
  And that my friends,
• 12:05
  is the PDB
• 12:06
  afternoon bulletin for Tuesday,
• 12:08
  the 15th of September.
• 12:10
  If you have any questions or comments,
• 12:11
  please reach out to me at PDB@thefirstv.com
• 12:15
  and to listen to the show ad-free,
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• 12:24
  I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back tomorrow.
• 12:26
  Until then,
• 12:27
  stay informed,
• 12:28
  stay safe,
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  stay cool.
• 12:44
  Hey,
• 12:45
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• 12:46
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