Donald Trump is set to unveil a major defence strategy that could involve space-based weaponry designed to shoot down enemy missiles.
The experimental technology, which would be designed to track and destroy projectiles aimed at the US, has been recommended after a review.
President Trump will present the administration’s long-delayed Missile Defence Review to the Pentagon on Thursday.
The strategy considers a number of ways to bolster America’s security, including the proposed new layer of sensors in space.
"Space, I think, is the key to the next step of missile defence," a senior Trump administration official said ahead of the document's release.
"A space-based layer of sensors is something we are looking at to help get early warning and tracking and discrimination of missiles when they are launched."
The official stressed that the viability of space-based missile defence weaponry was only being studied and no decisions had been made.
These plans come on top of previously announced plans to increase the number of ground-based interceptors over the next several years.
US military officials have long stressed that missile defences are primarily designed to counter possible attacks from countries such as North Korea, which intelligence officials believe is still advancing its nuclear program despite a halt to missile launches last year.
