My girlfriend and I have just started playing the game and this question came up last night:

Do secondary weapons count as a standard attack? Example: I fire off my Tractor Beam, does my opponent get to roll to defend?

Thanks!

yes

Secondary weapons (note, this is only upgrade cards which features the 'Attack' header, regardless of the slot) do not receive range bonuses to attack or defence, and can normally only be fired from your primary firing arc.

They otherwise function the same as primary weapons.

excellent. That's the way we played it, but we weren't 100% sure. Thanks!