Are we sure these are what the White House says they are?

Robots to actually fix satellites?

The branch of the U.S. military that created the internet has launched into orbit a pair of prototype robots designed to repair and service satellites in space.

The Orbital Express system was launched on an Atlas V rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 10:10 p.m. ET Thursday.

The Orbital Express is being developed by the research arm of the U.S. military, the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), along with the country's space agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, to extend the capabilities and lives of spy satellites.

NASA hopes to one day use the technology to maintain weather and commercial satellites, and eventually use it for routine supply, mining and exploration missions to the moon and beyond.

Currently, only satellites designed to be repaired by astronauts, such as the Hubble Space Telescope, can be fixed if they malfunction. Most satellites are sealed packages that are rendered useless once they develop a problem.

If you have the ability to fix stuff...you have the ability to take things apart.

Update:

Aside from the satellites, which have become key to the Pentagon's battle plans, most of the other technology is in the research and development stage or awaiting deployment decisions from the White House that are complicated by political complexities.

The George W Bush administration - especially the Defense Department and particularly the US Air Force (USAF) - is anxious to launch a full-scale militarization of space, regardless of its enormous expense and the fact that it will inspire worldwide condemnation, generate a dangerous arms race in outer space, and undoubtedly enhance prospects for major wars in this century.

The rightists and neo-conservatives are not unaware of these potential consequences but they are confident the US will prevail because of its overwhelming power. In effect, "It's worth the price."
But that mindset is not shared so far by most Americans outside the hard right, particularly in the absence of any other country that could come near to threatening the United States for global primacy. In addition, virtually every other nation in the world, including Washington's close allies in Canada and the European Union, opposes the weaponization of space, as is evident from repeated votes at the United Nations.