The US Space Force has proven it has battlefield teeth like the other armed forces by adding "Meadowlands" to its arsenal – a ground-based space weapon designed to blind, bamboozle, and blast orbital threats with electromagnetic beams.

On June 8, 2026, the Space Force Combat Forces Command accepted formal operational delivery of the Meadowlands Counter Communications System (CCS). Developed by L3Harris Technologies under the Combat Mission Systems Support framework, the system will be operated by the command's Space Delta 3 (DEL 3) – Space Electromagnetic Warfare, with acquisition and sustainment supported by System Delta 89. The total fleet is eventually expected to reach 32 units.

Yes, that is a set of very long military titles.

Meadowlands is a wheeled, trailer-mounted, air-transportable system designed to be loaded aboard a Lockheed C-130 Hercules or larger transport aircraft. Utilizing multi-band, dual-polarization satellite communication antennas that incorporate advanced low-noise amplifiers, power amplifiers, and an antenna photonics unit, the system is a significant, more compact upgrade over the Space Force's legacy CCS Block 10.2 system from 2020. Where the older Block 10.2 required 23 transport boxes to move, the streamlined Meadowlands requires only seven transit cases.

As an anti-satellite system, Meadowlands' core function is to counter hostile satellites and other orbital assets using electromagnetic beams. It neutralizes threats not through physical destruction, but by generating "reversible effects" – interfering with satellite functions and disrupting software or hardware operations without creating orbital debris.

It achieves this by jamming uplink signals using a high-power, targeted counter-signal aimed directly at an adversarial satellite's receiving antenna. Consequently, the targeted satellite cannot receive general commands, process critical telemetry, or handle the data streams that modern spacecraft rely on.

The system can also jam downlink signals by transmitting interference directly at adversarial ground stations, terminals, or mobile users, denying them tactical communication links, data feeds, and satellite-guided imagery.

In addition, Meadowlands can spoof enemy assets by imitating the specific, complex waveforms used by military and commercial satellite networks. More subtly, it can alter or corrupt data packets to confuse automated receivers, trigger destructive feedback loops, or degrade signals until contact is completely lost.

This technology can also establish "silence zones" over specific geographic areas by blinding early-warning, reconnaissance, or tracking satellites. By suppressing real-time radar and satellite warnings, it allows friendly vehicles to enter an airspace or maritime corridor entirely undetected.

This exact capability was vividly demonstrated during Operation Midnight Hammer on June 22, 2025. In a massive joint operation, US Central Command – with tight coordination from US Strategic Command, US Space Command, and the US Space Force – used electromagnetic warfare to blank out a massive area over Iran. This "silence zone" allowed seven B-2 Spirit stealth bombers to fly a 36-hour mission from Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. Alongside a total of 125 aircraft (including F-22 Raptors, F-35 Lightning IIs, F-15s, and F-16 Fighting Falcons) and Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from a US Navy submarine, the joint force successfully struck and severely damaged suspected nuclear weapon development sites.

Source: US Space Force