FWS Topics: Orbital Bombardment
Sunday, November 23, 2014

The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 and Space-Based Weaponry

Directed Energy

Kinetic Projectiles or "Rods from God"

Unlike orbiting nuclear weapons, kinetic projectiles are legal under the 1967 Outer Space Treaty (as well as space-based lasers) and instead of those dirty nuclear weapons, these rods from god are able to delivery some serious punch without the nasty after effects of nukes. If we examine the USAF's proposed kinetic bombardment system, these six meter long tungsten rods impacted the surface of the Earth with the road going at MACH 10 (7,700 MPH). The impact of the rob was equal to between 10 and 120 tons of TNT, less than the 2,000 tons of TNT that the Fat Man and Little Boy Atomic bombs produced when dropped on Japan. Unlike long-range bombers like the B-52 and B-1, the tungsten rods at able to reach their Earth-based target at between 10-15 minutes, and are extremely difficult to intercept like ICBMs or bombers. While this form of orbital artillery is not as effective as nuclear weapons, they can be used in more of combat supporting role and even pre-invasion artillery softening up operations, along with being a effective "bunker buster" system. The data for this section, comes from the Game Theory video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx5XyspHldk
Reentry Vehicle
On current ICBMs, re-entry vehicles are used to delivery the nuclear payload safety through the atmosphere and blow the holy jesus out of your enemy. This could be another way to delivery orbital artillery rather than kinetic rods, especially at longer ranges than just orbital space. Reentry vehicles could also pack more countermeasures than just speed to defend themselves. While the RV would be good method of delivering nuclear weapons and other WMDs, they would make for a poor orbital artillery method.
Controlled Meteors
From the Centauri mass driver bombardment of Narn to the Fithp "foot" being shot into the Indian Ocean by rocket motors, meteors have been an excellent form of orbital bombardment, and the oldest...after all, humans are only around due to an meteor strike. Some science fiction works, like Babylon 5 and Starblazers space fleets use controlled meteors and asteroids as a form of orbital bombardment. However, this comes with certain risks...any space rock too big, and you could completely wipe out all life on the planet along with the ecosystem...unless that is your goal, then have at it, and bombing into extinction!
The Dangers of Orbital Artillery/Bombardment
There is nothing more devastating to soldiers than when supporting artillery from field guns to CAS goes wrong. Despite the advancement in battlefield technology, artillery fire can go horribly wrong, and your own forces pay the price. That is the danger today, and that will be a danger tomorrow. Even in video games, nothing is worse than calling down a strike and it wiping out friendly forces. If and when orbital based weaponry becomes a reality, the risk of troops calling down artillery could go horribly wrong, and given the power of rods-from-god, a miscalculation by the director, and an entire city or taskforce could be wiped out. Then there is another risk: overuse. Some orbital bombardment systems have been projected in science fiction as pinpoint laser DE beams able to slice-and-dice enemy tanks and infantry formations. However, the reality is that kinetic bombardment systems would be very powerful, and their overuse or misuse could bring about massive destruction and even nuclear winter conditions. This applies more so to the use of asteroids and meteors as a form of kinetic bombardment, too much and you ruin the planetary ecosystem, and affect global climate change.
Defense Against Orbital Weapon Platforms
Oddly, most military organizations and weapons manufacturers have already put weapon systems into place to counter satellites and the possibility of orbital based weapon platforms. The anti-satellite missile that can be deployed from strike fighters like the American F-15 Eagle, or land based launcher systems, or even submarines/naval vessels. These kinetic-kill warheads are fitted to small multi-stage rockets have proven effective against satellites, and could be effective against orbital weapons platforms as well. While an orbital weapon system could be camouflaged as something else, the moment it began firing, the game would be up, and ASAT weapon systems would be utilized. Of course, one way around this could be the assumed role of the X-37B USAF drone-shuttle: an mobile launcher system based around an space plane design. In the end, one of the best defenses against orbital based weapon platforms is wiping out their command & control system back here on Earth. Whether by direct action, like we saw in Call of Duty: GHOSTS or an EMP blast, any would be effective in taking out one method of controlling orbital weapon platforms.
Real-World Examples of Orbital Weapon System
The THOR Project (USA 1950's-today)

Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (USSR 1968-1983)
Leaving it to the Soviets...their space-based weapon system was known as the Fractional Orbital Bombardment System, and basically was putting nukes into space that would be waiting for the order to hit America. Lovely. Th heart of the plan was to put ICBMs into low-orbit, and if the call ever came, the missiles could avoid NORAD and could cut down on flight times, hitting the USA before they could launch their nukes. Of course, the plan is banned under the Outer Space Treaty and the SALT II treaty. While the plan was never carried out, it did lead to Soviet rocket developments, and the entire program was scrapped in 1983.
The Rumored X-37B Space Drone Orbital Weapon Delivery System
For years, there have been rumors of a "secret" space program with their own Space Shuttles and even a space station. In 1999, NASA began the X-37 robotic mini-shuttle program, and in 2004 the USAF took over the project, and began flying the X-37B mini-shuttles on long-term missions for reasons unknown. Recently, X-37B OTV-2 spent 469 days in space, also for reasons unknown. There are some that believe that the X-37B robotic space shuttle is an delivery system for orbital weaponry or an orbital anti-satellite weapons platform that could be using kinetic-based weaponry or even a laser to knock out or fry hostile satellites.
The 3rd Reich "Sun-Gun"
After the defeat of the 3rd Reich in 1945, the allies began to understand the depth of the scientific knowledge of the Nazis and how much they were pushing the envelope of technology. One of those projects was an orbital weapon system called "Soonengewehr". The Sun-Gun called for a massive 100 meter wide mirror that could focus the sun's light into a directed energy beam that could target any portion of the Earth. This would have orbited at 8,200 kilometers above the Earth, and would have been constructed into portions by the stillborn Nazi space program. The sun-gun would have been manned and possible used Nazi space stations to help construction and maintenance. The Sun-Gun was seen as a tool for 3rd Reich domination of the Earth and a way to keep themselves in power for a 1,000 years. Of course, the allies began winning the war, and after Operation: PAPERCLIP, the Americans felt that the Sun-Gun would have never worked.
The Role of Orbital Artillery/Bombardment in Future Warfare
If humanity is able to escape to the stars and construct off-world colonies and fleets of combat spaceships to protect them, orbital bombardment will be a factor. If there is a armed contest over a settled world, the invading force will need to support the planetary invasion force going dirt-side. While it is likely that any invasion force would carry means of heavy weapons support, the invaders would need time to get the cannons from star-side to dirt-side, and time to setup the field artillery along with any aerocraft.

From the Fox Mulder Corner...

Orbital Bombardment and Science Fiction
As with many elements in Sci-Fi, EE "Doc" Smith did it first, and this includes orbital bombardment, but it would take the Cold War and the Space Race for science fiction to develop orbital bombardment that was more hard science based. Of course, human beings have been always seen and experienced the power of meteors, and this common human fear is linked to orbital bombardment. During the Cold War, the idea of orbital weapon systems and asteroids-as-weapons took shape with Robert Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress from 1966. Given the popularity of that work, the idea of orbital bombardment entered more of the minds of sci-fi creators. It also helped that during the Arms Race and the Space Race, that Boeing was working on the rod-from-god Project: THOR.

This was especially true of anime and manga, as seen in Gundam and Space Cruiser Yamato, and later, Bubblegum Crisis. Today, orbital bombardment is common in science fiction works, especially in the realm of video games. When video game technology improved in the 1990's, creators could place more complex elements graphically into the game, and one of those items was orbital bombardment. Today, you can see examples in games like HALO, Mass Effect, and of course, Call of Duty: GHOSTS.
Examples:
The Attack on the Founder Homeworld from Star Trek: DS9
There are times when I respect the storylines and plots in Star Trek, and one that left an impression on me was the 3rd season 21st episode called "The Die is Cast". In the 1995 episode, the Cardassian and Romulan intelligence services unite for a clandestine mission to orbital bombard the homeworld of the Founders, and attempt to end the threat of the Dominion to the Alpha Quadrant once and for all. A small taskforce of top-of-the-line warships from both powers arrived in the Omarian Nebula, the location of the Founders' homeworld, and the seat of power of the Domination. Also, their intelligence indicates that the Founder homeworld is the main production site of the Jem'Hadar's life-giving Ketracel White.

The Fithp Invasion of Earth from Footfall
One of my favorite sci-fi novels of all time is Footfall by the dream-team of Niven and Pournelle. The elephant-like alien race, the Fithp. The Fithp are a young race from Alpha Centarui that used technology and knowledge left by another species that shared their world. The aliens construct a interstellar vessel and spend nearly a hundred years traveling to Earth in cryo. The goal is conquest and subjugation. Throughout the book, the Fithp use in-orbit lasers and kinetic bombardment to soften up Earth for the invasion or just surrender. When humanity uses nuclear weapons at the site of the Fithp invasion in Kansas, the aliens responses with dropping a massive asteroid into the Indian Ocean, nearly wiping out India, and allowing for the aliens to control the bulk of Africa. Given the popularity of the novel and that Pournelle worked on Project THOR, Footfall would influence a new generation of sci-fi creators to include some of the concepts in the novel. If you have not read it, please do so...now.
The Covenant "Glassing" from the HALO Universe

The Zentraedi Holocaust from the ROBOTECH Universe
In the final battle in the First ROBOTECH War, the SDF-1, the UN Spacy Forces, and the rebel Zentraedi forces under Breetai all attempt to stand up against the invasion by the Zentraedi Central Fleet, and force of 4.8 million warships. Supreme Commander Dolza fully intends to wipe out humanity, the Earth, and the inflected rebel Zentaedi for good. During the battle, the central fleet pounds Earth with laser and particle beam fire that renders the surface of the planet a wasteland, killing billions. While the central fleet was destroyed, by the SDF-1, humanity was nearly wiped out. The Zentraedi Holocaust, as it was later called, killed over 5 billion humans, and altered the course of the species for all time. Only a few million survived, along with the off-world human service-members, and the civilians of Macross.
The USAF ODIN and the Federation's LOKI Space Platforms from Call of Duty: GHOSTS
While fans and players of the Call of Duty franchise were very unhappy with the online play of Ghosts, the campaign was rather solid, and had an original "Invasion USA" storyline that involved real-world orbital kinetic bombardment by hijacked USAF "roads from god" satellites by South American forces. The ODIN Space Platforms, or Orbital Defense Initiative were satellite launcher platforms that fired six meter long tungsten rods from orbital with great accuracy. When the Federation took control of the ODIN space station, they bombarded main cities of the United States as a prelude to their massive invasion. Only through the brave actions of USAF personnel did the full might of ODIN was avoided.

The Centauri Mass Driver Bombardment of Narn from the B5 Universe
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During the Narn-Centauri of 2259, the superior Centauri Republic gained the upper hand, and finally arrived at the homeworld of the Narn. When the Narn refused to surrender, the Centauri did not mount an invasion of the planet, but instead used retrofitted mass drivers on their Primus class battlecrusiers to propel asteroids. This form of planetary bombardment is illegal and ban by the League of Non-aligned Worlds, but te Centauri gave zero fucks, and did it anyway. For four days, the Centauri warships bombarded the surface of Narn, and finally, the Narn government gave in and surrendered to their former masters. Narn was already a world still scarred by the Centauri strip-mining efforts during their occupation, and the pounding from space didn't help. For over a year, Narn was a world under a nuclear winter, and it would take over ten years with the help of Minbari atmospheric processors to clean most of the air.
Here is the dialog from the episode:
Londo Mollari: Refa, any force attempting to invade Narn would be up to its neck in blood—its own!
Lord Refa: We have no intention of invading Narn. Flattening it, yes—but invading it? We will be using mass drivers. By the time we are done their cities will be in ruins, we can move in at our leisure!
Londo Mollari: Mass drivers? They have been outlawed by every civilized planet!
Orbital Bombardment from DUST 514

The Lunar Catapult from The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Robert A. Heinlein's famous 1966 book is often praised, cited, and still read today, and does have a kick ass title...but, I've never liked it. I've read it several times to see what the fuss is all about, but much like Starship Troopers, Heinlein seems to suck the excitement and joy out of the basic plot. However, I do respect some of the themes, ideas, and of course, TANSTAAFL. In 2075, Lunar colonies are populated by the unwanted of Terran society, and computer technician Manuel Garcia befriends the Lunar colony computer system, HOLMES-IV. Due to Earth's demands, and the limited resources on the Lunar colonies, the export of wheat from Luna to Terra must be stopped, or less the Lunar colonies will descent into madness and cannibalism. Lovely. The computer, Manuel, and others in the Lunar liberation movement use the catapult launcher system to throw large lunar rocks at unpopulated areas of Earth, resulting in kinetic bombardment terrorism. The effort is successful, and Lunar becomes a free republic. Some falsely believe that The Moon is a Harsh Mistress to be the first real example of orbital bombardment in sci-fi, however E.E. "Doc" Smith takes that cake.
The Xindi Probe Attack from Star Trek: Enterprise "The Expanse"
In the opening to the 3rd Season of much maligned Star Trek series Enterprise, the Xindi use an sphere-shaped weapons probe to test the design for their "super-weapon" that was designed to destroy the Earth. This one-man probe was a scaled-down prototype of the larger planet-killer particle cannon, and was designed to real-world test the weapon against conditions on Earth. While smaller, this particle beam sliced a canyon from Florida to Venezuela, killing seven million. This fuels the Federation and the Earth Military to rearm the NX-01, and sent on a hunt for the Xindi.
The USSD Particle Satellites from Bubblegun Crisis: 2033
The United Nations Strategic Space Defense Force of USSD is a branch of the United Nations has a network of 200 of these Kill-Sats, the VA-61 that are constructed around a particle beam emitter that has the destructive power to scar 100,000 miles. The role of the USDD is to enforce global peace, but some have been able to hack into the satillites, and use them for their own purposes, namely the evil megacorporation of Genom. Genom helped developed the "killer doll" Boomer project for the USSD, as a ground-to-space link to help target their kill-sats on more of a pinpoint target.
The Slug's Rod Attacks from Orphanage by Robet Buettner
In the excellent first novel by author Robert Buettner, Orphanage, the world had moved away from war, until the kinetic rods began dropping onto the Earth from Joviah moon of Ganymede. These aliens, called Slugs, are an advanced alien race very different from mankind, and their goal is to soften up Earth by using massive kinetic manned rods from Ganyeme. Earth quickly becomes a mess, cities are gone, economies are a wreck, and there are orphans...lots of orphans. Some rods are intercepted by armed space shuttles, but most get through. Earth is near collapse, and a despite plan is put into action, orphan-soldiers using old equipment and a advanced warship travel to Ganymede and assault the Slugs at their homebase. The destruction of the Earth by the alien rod attacks are nice touch and how it effects all levels of society. If you have not read Orphanage by Robert Buettner, than do so. This one great military science fiction book!
The Hammer of the Dawn from the Gears of War Universe
One of the more famous orbital bombardment systems in modern video games is the Hammer of the Dawn. The Dawn is an Imusion-powered laser DEW platform, developed by the COG during the Pendulum Wars, prior to the Locust invasion. During the Locust Wars, the Hammer of the Dawn became key to supporting COG missions and was used to destroy much of the surface of Sera. While the Dawn was extremely effective, it also took forever to boot up, and it was out of range more than it was in range. The games never make mention on how many Hammer of the Dawn satellites there are, but by the 3rd Gears of War game, the Dawn Kill-Sats were breaking down and taxed by overuse.
The AEGIS Orbital Defense Platforms from Babylon 5 "Endgame"

The SOL Weapon Platforms from Akira
In the landmark manga and anime work Akira, there is an directed-energy orbital weapons platform called SOL or Satellite Orbital Laser. This large orbital weapons platform was developed by the Japanese for World War III. This was seen in the anime, and the American laser satellite called FLOYD was seen in the manga. During the end battle between Tetuso and the whole of Neo-Tokyo, the SOL is used for an attempted assassination of Tetuso, and the SOL first projects a aiming beam that focuses to an DEW beam of some power. The SOL was destroyed by Tetuso in the Akira anime. Given the number of the SOL platform seen in Akira, 740, there is a possibility of more SOLs.
The Alien Relativistic Missiles from The Killing Star
One of the saddest books about alien contact is 1995's The Killing Star. A swarm of relativistic missiles from an alien intelligence hit Earth hard, killing the bulk of humanity in the first strike that rates as an extinction level event. Only because a few humans were off-world, could complete extinction be avoided, plus the aliens' took one male and one female human for their zoo, and the squid-like aliens tell the humans that once humanity was about to master relativistic travel, than they were a threat to them. The concepts in the novel are hard science fiction and this book rates among my favorites. It is such a sad story though.
Imperial of Man's "Exterminates" from WH40K
There several methods that are used by the Imperial Navy to attack and overwhelmingly assault the surface of a planet. This order is called "Exterminates", and the shipboard weaponry of the Imperial warship can be used, along with virus bombs and cyclonic tropodes. Few sci-fi works have ever shown the level of death assoicated with orbital bombardment than WH40K. Exterminates is used through the various WH40K media, from books, video games, and the RPG. I became aware of orbital bombardment from the older PS2 WH40K video game Fire Warrior.
The Nerve Gas Orbital Modules from Moonraker
In the outlandish bat-shit crazy 1979 Bond film Moonraker, humanity was nearly wiped out by evildoer Drax and his nerve gas orbital bombardment. In the film, evil genius Drax of Drax Industries plans on wiping out all life on Terra by using nerve gas orbital module deployed from his space habitat station. Once human life is gone, Drax and his handpicked colonies will reseed Earth and Drax will become supreme ruler of the new human race. Of course, James Bond and Holly Goodhead take to an orange and white space shuttle and stop his evil plans. It is believed that Call of Duty: Ghosts used some of Moonraker for their own orbital space combat scenes. This marks on of the few times FWS as ever talked about James Bond, despite me being a huge fan of the Bond films.
HERCULES and PETER the GREAT from Meteor (1979)
