Tango01 | 17 Sep 2020 12:45 p.m. PST |
….satellites, directed energy weapons "The Department of Defense [DoD] sees its adversaries advancing their military technologies, and so it is doubling down on its own.
"In space, Moscow and Beijing have turned a once peaceful arena into a war fighting domain. They have weaponized space through killer satellites, directed energy weapons, and more in an effort to exploit our systems and chip away at our military advantage" — Secretary of Defense Mark Esper Speaking at the Air Force Association's Virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference on Wednesday, the secretary of defense stated, "China and Russia, seek to erode our longstanding dominance in air power through long-range fires, anti-access/area-denial systems and other asymmetric capabilities designed to counter our strengths…"
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Amicalement Armand
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Legion 4 | 17 Sep 2020 3:12 p.m. PST |
And again … this should be no surprise … |
bsrlee | 18 Sep 2020 3:50 a.m. PST |
If the hot heads on all sides start shooting stuff up there will very quickly be NO satellites or manned missions because of the swarms of debris shredding everything up there. It is already getting hairy with many thousands of pieces of trackable junk hurtling around punching holes in things and generating more debris. And there seems to be no way to force the various Countries or Corporations to clean up the mess. |
Barin1 | 18 Sep 2020 7:05 a.m. PST |
As far as I recall, a certain president announced Star Wars program in 1983…we were just catching up. Seriously, it is going for decades. |
15mm and 28mm Fanatik | 18 Sep 2020 7:59 a.m. PST |
I'm sure Moscow's and Beijing's POV is: "If we don't maintain a space warfare capability then the US will dominate this realm, and whoever does that will have a great advantage in the next war." Just like nukes, once somebody has it everybody else wants it. |
Legion 4 | 18 Sep 2020 8:00 a.m. PST |
Seriously, it is going for decades. Yep ! We all know in the military you want to "take the high ground" … and that includes Space as the tech allowed. Some theorize in WWIII the first things to be take out will be your adversaries' orbital assets. Which probably would be true. Disrupt some C3 … |
15mm and 28mm Fanatik | 18 Sep 2020 8:05 a.m. PST |
Some theorize in WWIII the first things to be take out will be your adversaries' orbital assets. It's not theory, it's fact. Satellites are key to modern warfare, allowing you to see what the enemy is doing and guide your precision weapons to their targets. Whoever ignores this realm is foolish. The US acknowledged as much when the 5th branch of the military (Space Force) was created – the first new branch since the late 1940's. Once all the satellites are taken out and the orbit is filled with space debris and detritus, we'll be back to fighting 20th century style. |
Legion 4 | 18 Sep 2020 8:53 a.m. PST |
Yes you are correct, all very true … Much of the Tech is already up there. E.g. GPS for one. Everyday I get a "Daily Briefing" from military.com and the Space Force is always mentioned there. Sci-fi become sci-fact very rapidly. Plus all the recon satellites we use everyday. To see what our adversaries [or potential], are doing. Everybody is doing it. They have been talking about Hunter-Killer satellites for decades. They are probably there, as well as possibly some sort of orbital weapons platforms. E.g. like in the movie "Space Cowboys", etc. And yes once C3 is affected by lost of orbital assets … it's back to WWII if not I … Now hopefully we will not have to see this in action in a high tech WWIII. |
Thresher01 | 20 Sep 2020 9:44 p.m. PST |
Yea, everyone is doing it. Supposedly, we've got ground-based, GPS beacons for backup, if/when the satellites go down, so not quite back to the Dark Ages of the 20th Century. |
Legion 4 | 21 Sep 2020 7:51 a.m. PST |
Hopefully … Regardless if history teaches us anything you have to have a back-up, spare, reserve, etc. |
Zephyr1 | 21 Sep 2020 8:47 p.m. PST |
"And there seems to be no way to force the various Countries or Corporations to clean up the mess." If some private company starts cleaning up the orbital debris, I'm pretty sure all those countries will start screaming about it. Imagine the bidding war over nearly intact spy satellites… ;-) |