U.S. national security requires the development of the ability to project force against both space-based and terrestrial targets from outer space. Space-based force projection weapons are critical because they are capable of tracking and hitting mobile or time sensitive targets, anywhere on Earth, with only a few hours notice.
Keywords: Long Range Strike Weapons.
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Conventional warheads delivered from space are yet another candidate for the space weapons arsenal. (A conventional intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, which also delivers bombs from above, spends relatively little time in space during its trajectory and is not a space weapon.) One proposal for delivering large quantities of conventional explosives is the Common Aero Vehicle (CAV), a robotic hypersonic aircraft much like a miniature space shuttle. Championed by the U.S. Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon's entrepreneurial R&D wing, based in Arlington, Va., the CAV would be launched into orbit by a land-based missile, aircraft, or some as-yet-undeveloped military space plane. To attack, a CAV would come down from orbit, reenter Earth's atmosphere, and maneuver to its target at speeds as high as Mach 25. Like the ICBM, the CAV would have one political edge over conventional aircraft: because the vehicle would reenter sovereign airspace only over the target country, the attacker would need no permission to fly over other countries. Deblois, Bruce M., Jeremy C. Marwell et al. "Star-Crossed." IEEE Spectrum. (March 2005). [ 4 quotes ]
The most widely discussed directed-energy weapon is the space-based laser (SBL), an orbiting system that would use powerful lasers with large mirrors to focus energy on a selected target on Earth, producing damaging or destructive levels of heat. Over the past decade, the Pentagon has spent roughly US $750 million on SBL research, funded primarily by the Air Force and the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (now the Missile Defense Agency). Various components have been tested on the ground and in the lab, including a megawatt-class chemical laser and the apparatus for pointing and controlling the beam, but the full system has yet to be tested in orbit. Although the U.S. Congress suspended funding in 2003 and called for a review of the program, the concept remains very much alive. Deblois, Bruce M., Jeremy C. Marwell et al. "Star-Crossed." IEEE Spectrum. (March 2005). [ 4 quotes ]
Force application from space will give a new meaning to responsiveness and lethality in global attack and precision engagement. It will revolutionize the way the United States projects military power because it will allow the application of force against any target on the face of the earth through space. From a robust space-based laser system, or a ground-based system transiting space, the US will have the capability to conduct a strategic air campaign on the order of Desert Storm in a matter of minutes without the need for deploying forces. By extension, the capability will also exist to conduct an interdiction campaign without the need to deploy forces. ( More ... ) Bell, Thomas D. Weaponization of Space: Understanding Strategic and Technological Inevitabilities.. Maxwell AFB, AL: USAF Air University, January 1999. [ 2 quotes ]
Military applications are an area where spacepower could become a decisive force. Although spacepower has been focused on developing information power since the cancellation of the dyna-soar and manned orbiting laboratory, this may not continue to be the case in the future. The development of military spaceplanes and kinetic weapons operating in and through space is both feasible and affordable by the US. Space-to-earth impacting munitions could readily and easily destroy key infrastructure in adversary countries and make it nearly impossible to conduct normal operations. These weapons would also enjoy a lack of effective countermeasures for many years, if ever. Additionally, space-based kinetic weapons could hold the most feared adversary capabilities at risk such a hard and deeply buried targets associated with weapons of mass destruction. Just the demonstration of such weapons could be decisive in compelling an adversary to comply with US demands. ( More ... ) Newberry, Robert D. Spacepower as a Coercive Force. Maxwell AFB, AL: USAF Air University, 2003. [ 1 reference ]
How do the rods work? The system would likely be comprised of tandem satellites, one serving as a communications platform, the other carrying an indeterminate number of tungsten rods, each up to 20 feet in length and 1 foot in diameter. These rods, which could be dropped on a target with as little as 15 minutes notice, would enter the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of 36,000 feet per second--about as fast as a meteor. Upon impact, the rod would be capable of producing all the effects of an earth-penetrating nuclear weapon, without any of the radioactive fallout. This type of weapon relies on kinetic energy, rather than high-explosives, to generate destructive force (as do smart spears, another weapon system which would rely on tungsten rods, though not space-based). ( More ... ) Goldfarb, Michael. "The Rods from God: Are Kinetic Energy Weapons the Future of Space Warfare?." Weekly Standard. (June 8, 2005). [ 2 quotes ]
Clearly the rods are a first-strike, offensive weapon. The nation's aging fleet of ICBMs, and its more modern Ohio-class submarines--each carrying 24 Trident missiles--will serve as an adequate nuclear deterrent well into the 21st century, but nuclear weapons cannot deter rogue states from developing their own nuclear arsenals. Iran has used deeply buried facilities, such as the one in Natanz, to shelter its nuclear progra from an assault similar to Israel's raid on Iraq's Osirak facilities. This has limited America's options for intervention. A conventional attack on such facilities might succeed in setting the Iranian program back a few yeas, but due to the presumed dispersal of equipment over a number of sites across the Islamic Republic, only good intelligence and a great deal of luck would eliminate the threat entirely. And while a nuclear attack could be tactically successful, it is politically unviable. A few well-placed tungsten rods, however, would guarantee the destruction of the targeted facilities assuming timely and accurate intelligence). ( More ... ) Goldfarb, Michael. "The Rods from God: Are Kinetic Energy Weapons the Future of Space Warfare?." Weekly Standard. (June 8, 2005). [ 2 quotes ]