Space Warfare - The Weapons Systems and The Targets

On June 18 2018 U.S. President Donald Trump signed into existent the US Space Force which will be a new arm of the American military separate from the Air Force, Army, Marines, Coast Guard and Navy.

This post is Part 2 of a short series of posts on space warfare. I made another post yesterday on stealth in space (hint: there isn't any).

This post will discuss what the possible future weapons of a Space Force could be and what would be the targets of such a Force.

The Weapons

Kinetic Energy Weapons:

In space things need to move fast just to stay in orbit. This means that being an object in space makes you dangerous just for existing.

Kinetic energy weapons would likely be the weapon of choice for taking out targets. Simply accelerate a small object a few centimetres in size up to several kilometres per second and slam it into your target. That's all you need to do the job. It does not have to be explosive, it just has to be going really fast.

The advantages of kinetic energy weapons are that the ammunition is cheap and it can be plentiful. If the launch system is electromagnetic then it can be solar powered and there is no shortage of solar power in space.

The disadvantages are few. Maybe the technology isn't ready yet for driving objects up to high speeds over relatively short launch rails. Also the launch system will be large and obvious with massive solar power panels. It will become a first strike type of target if any war breaks out.

Lasers and Masers

High intensity collimated light beams are almost a trope in science fiction but if the technology can be developed then lasers and masers (the microwave version of a laser) would be the perfect space weapon.

The advantage is that the beam moves at the speed of light and nothing can dodge that. The disadvantage is that powerful systems might not be reliable and/or powerful enough for the tough environment of space.

Chemical Bombs

Good old fashioned chemical bombs might also have their uses but only on an unsuspecting nation's satellites. All you need to do is sidle on up to a target satellite and set off the bomb.

No more satellite.

The downside is any satellite with halfway decent detection and evasion equipment would simply see the bomb approaching and either destroy it or just skedaddle away.

Nukes - Explosive Force

With a nuclear bomb there is no real need to get all that close to your target, a few kilometres away will do. That is the big advantage of nuclear weapons, they are so powerful.

The downside of course is that you could also inadvertently take out your own assets in the area with the same bomb.

Nukes - EMP

The explosive force of a nuclear bomb in space is not as powerful as one on Earth because there is only the mass of the bomb to carry the physical shock wave. The real threat of a nuke in space is the super powerful electromagnetic pulse or EMP.

An EMP will generate large electric currents in any conductor that it encounters. Satellites and any other targets will of course have lots of delicate electronic equipment that could be easily fried by a powerful EMP.

A disadvantage of this weapon are that the target satellites might be hardened against such pulses. Another disadvantage of an EMP is that you could accidentally knock out the electric power grid in your own country or an ally's country down on the ground (not good).

Area Denial

Area denial is a common tactic in Earth-based warfare and landmines are a good example of that. It might be a future tactic to just send large streams of shrapnel into very low Earth orbit to deny a country launch capability. In very low Earth orbit the shrapnel orbits would decay fairly quickly over the course of weeks or months. Most satellites are higher than this so the Kessler syndrome (described later in the post) would not be a threat.

If you could choose a clever orbit so that there is always a lethal concentration of debris in orbit over an enemy's launch sites then they will not be able to put any counter measures into orbit.

This might be a tactic for a less advanced country (North Korea) to deny space access for a more advanced country (USA). If one side can't have access then no sides can.

The Targets

What could the possible targets of a Space Force be in case a war does break out? Let's go through a few of them one by one.

GPS Satellites

Global positioning satellites (GPS) are an incredibly useful technology for both civilians as well as the military. Driving around with a GPS makes navigating an unfamiliar city so much easier and convenient.

For the military it is super useful for missiles, planes, tanks and soldiers to know where they are at all times.

This means that taking out the enemy's GPS satellites will be the very first order of business.

Communication Satellites

After GPS, an army's ability to communicate is also incredibly important. Without coordination and the ability to quickly give out orders a modern army cannot operate effectively.

This means that taking out the enemy's communication satellites will also be a high order of business.

Spy Satellites

Telescopes that don't look up to the stars but instead look down on the Earth help an army know what the enemy is doing. These satellites no doubt also monitor all of the radio frequencies in an attempt to gather intelligence on the enemy's intentions. All this means that these secretive satellites will also be targets early on in a space war.

Ground Bombardment

Earlier it was discussed that kinetic energy weapons might be developed into a useful and versatile weapons system. If a projectile can be accelerated up to tens of kilometres per second then that projectile could also be pointed down at the ground.

If a weapon is in low Earth orbit, say 400 km, and a projectile can be accelerated up to 10 km/s then it could possibly hit a target on the ground in about 40 seconds. Longer if the angle of attack is oblique.

The space bullets will need to be heat shielded to survive atmospheric re-entry but that does not seem to be a show stopper.

Just knowing that a space-based weapons system could hit you at any time, day or night, with a high speed kinetic weapon will have a strong psychological effect on the enemy.

Closing Words

As I mentioned in yesterday's post. The first Space War will also mean that humanity will also inadvertently close itself off from space because the amount of orbiting debris from such a battle will be astounding.

The aftereffect of a space war will be millions or even billions of pieces of exploded equipment orbiting throughout near-Earth space. This phenomenon is called the Kessler syndrome and it is the nightmare scenario for space travel.

Once you get large enough numbers of space debris in Earth orbit they will impact with intact satellites and also with other space debris. Each collision will generate more debris creating a cascading effect making the situation worse with time.

In only a few weeks or months everything in orbit will be destroyed and turned into debris. Launches from Earth will be impossible except for heavy, armoured and hardened satellites. Human-rated missions will become forbidden as too hazardous.

After the first Space War it does not matter who wins, humanity will become an Earth-bound species.

Oh yeah, there will also be no more weather satellites, satellite communications or GPS. We will all be losers in such a war.

Thank you for reading my post.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_warfare
https://www.gps.gov/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse