ORBITAL BOMBARDMENT

'Orbital bombardment' is the act of attacking targets on a planet, moon or other such object from ''orbit'' around the object, rather than from an aircraft or a platform beyond orbit. It is most often encountered in fiction, but has been proposed as a means of attack for several real-world weapons systems concepts, including kinetic bombardment and as a nuclear delivery system.

Contents

The Cold War

In science fiction

Examples of orbital bombardments in science fiction

See also

The Cold War

The Soviet Union deployed a Fractional Orbital Bombardment System from 1968-1983. Using this system, a nuclear warhead could be placed in low Earth orbit, and later de-orbited to hit any location on the Earth's surface. While the Soviet Union deployed a working version of the system, they were forbidden by the Outer Space Treaty to place live warheads in space. The fractional orbital bombardment system was phased out in January 1983 in compliance with the SALT II treaty of 1979, which, among other things, prohibited the deployment of systems capable of placing weapons of mass destruction in orbit.
Orbital bombardment systems with conventional warheads are permitted under the terms of SALT II. Most such proposed systems rely on long rods dropped from orbit and depend on kinetic energy, rather than explosives, for their destructive power.

In science fiction

Orbital bombardment systems occasionally feature in speculation and science fiction, and are in fact better known than their real-world counterparts. Typically, the assault is conducted by spacecraft as a part of interplanetary, rather than intraplanetary, warfare. Such a feat would require technology far surpassing modern capabilities.
An effective orbital bombardment is regarded as one of the most devastating forms of attack, surpassed only by destruction of planetary bodies or other astronomical objects.

Examples of orbital bombardments in science fiction

★ In the Star Wars Expanded Universe, the Imperial Navy issues a 'base delta zero' order when an orbital bombardment is deemed necessary to subdue a rebellious planet. During a base delta zero operation, a planet's upper crust is reduced to molten slag, killing all but the most deeply sheltered life on the planet. This concept was first used by the Sith during the Jedi Civil War. The actual order was first adapted by Old Republic generals during the Clone Wars, and later by the Empire. There is some confusion, however, over the method with which such an operation was implemented, with some fans claiming that a single Star Destroyer was capable of carrying out a base delta zero order. However, the Imperial Sourcebook says a hundred ships are needed for such a bombardment, and that such a fleet would include several Star Destroyers. Further confusion stems from the book Scavenger Hunt, in which the combined firepower of three Star Destroyers ordered to slag a tiny rebel base only crater the surface of the small moon on which it was located, and left the main chamber of the base intact. The Imperial cleanup crews were surprised that no beings, living or dead, were found on the planet after the attack

★ In the new Battlestar Galactica series the catastrophic bombardment of the Twelve Colonies is carried out using nuclear weapons in huge numbers.

★ In the Babylon 5 series, the Centauri employed orbital bombardment (mass drivers) against the Narn homeworld. Also, at the end of the Earth Alliance Civil War, President Clark set the G.O.D. (Global Orbital Defense) satellites to bombard Earth with particle beams. The satellites were destroyed before this could happen. The Shadows used a convoluted "death cloud" orbital bombardment mechanism which is basically an enormous superstructure capable of easily engulfing an Earth-sized planet and then proceed to rain missiles onto the planet. While their nemesis, the Vorlons, preferred to basically obliterate a planet by means of a powerful energy blast created by their own planet killer, the Shadows (with their philosophy of chaos) employed this weapon with the express purpose of causing turmoil (rather than the methodical one-hit move of the Vorlon planet killer). The Drakh, servants of the Shadows, used a planet killer against the planet Daltron 7 five years after the end of the Shadow war. Finally, the Narns and the Drazi organized a devastating bombardment of the Centauri homeworld after evidence of the Centauri being behind the attacks on Interstellar Alliance starships and jumpgates (which later turned out to be the machinations of the Drakh).

★ In the Battletech universe, the city of Edo on the Draconis Combine planet of Turtle Bay is destroyed from orbit by invading Clan Smoke Jaguar forces in retaliation for resistance to their occupation.

★ In the Traveller universe, assault units of the 3rd Imperium's Imperial Marines are routinely deployed from orbiting spacecraft while wearing "Battledress" (or "powered armor") via a mass driver-like weapon, by strapping themselves onto a half-sphere of rock approximately 2 meters in diameter. While functioning as an effective heat shield, the rock continues on its terminal descent after the Marine drops away, causing great damage on impact.

★ In the Homeworld universe, the Taiidan bombard the Kushan planet Kharak, destroying the atmosphere and thus killing every Kushan apart from the ones who were off-world. In its sequel, the Vaygr use heavy missile bombardment against major Hiigaran cities, eventually unsuccessfully utilizing the same weapons as the Taiidan.

★ In the Star Trek television franchise which includes the computer games and Star Trek Elite Force II, orbital bombardment is sometimes used to support ground operations. The Star Trek: TOS episode ''A Taste of Armageddon'' also revealed the existence of a Bombardment protocol utilized by Starfleet known as General Order #24, in which a single Starship can eliminate all traces of civilization from a planetary surface, albeit the length of time needed to achieve this is unclear.

★ Another instance of orbital bombardment in Star Trek was used during the Dominion War agions the Founders home planet. However, this attack was unsuccessful.

★ In the episode Contagion, the Enterprise crew discovers Iconia, a planet that underwent massive orbital bombardment. Only one structure on the entire planet survived the assault.

★ In the Command & Conquer series of games, the Global Defense Initiative's ion cannon is used for the orbital bombardment of installations belonging to the Brotherhood of Nod.

★ The Master of Orion game series allows the player to use starships to drop powerful warheads on enemy colonies to either destroy the colony or soften up its defenses for an invasion. Master of Orion II features a powerful plasma cannon called the Stellar Converter which, when fired at a planet, completely obliterates it.

★ In the Galactic Civilizations series of games, one of the options during an invasion of an enemy planet/system is to bombard the planet(s) with asteroids before sending in the troops. This, however, severely decreases the planet's (s') quality.

★ The only way to take over a planet in the game is to literally "bomb it into submission". If the population is too low, the planet is depopulated.

★ The game Sword of the Stars allows nearly all weapons to be used to bombard a planet from space. The weapon most effective in the task is the Siege Driver, which hurls asteroids at the planet. Different weapons cause different type of damage to the planet. For example, after a Siege Driver bombardment, a planet is rarely habitable again, as its environment is completely destroyed. Laser bombardment, on the other hand, is much "cleaner", allowing for surgical strikes to specifically eliminate population centers and leave much of the infrastructure intact.

★ In the TV series ''Andromeda'', most large ships are capable of bombarding a planet from orbit. The ''Glorious Heritage''-class heavy cruiser ''Andromeda Ascendant'', for example, can completely depopulate a planet in under 2 minutes with its kinetic missiles. Also, Nietzscheans can use a weapon called the Maximm Charge to destroy a planet.

★ In the Starcraft universe, the Terran Fleet bombards Korhal IV with nuclear weapons, reducing it to slag. The Protoss fleet also uses a massive beam of plasma to incinerate planets infested by the Zerg.

★ In the Dark Reign PC game, the introductory movie featured 'The Desiccator' which was a satellite weapon launched from a space ship. The weapon could burn up the surface of an entire planet in a matter of minutes by consuming all of the planet's moisture.

★ In the Battlefield 2142 PC game, a commander can launch an orbital bombardment for tactical purposes as barraging or destroying designated targets.

★ In the Quake Wars PC game, The Strogg Field Ops unit can deploy an orbital laser attack named 'The Violator Beam' for tactical purposes as destroying designated units and vehicles.

★ In the Stargate Atlantis episode First Strike, 6 nuclear warheads in the gigaton range are launched from orbit to destroy space ships on the ground and the surrounding area. Roughly 1/2 of a continent is covered by the blast waves.

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★ As a retaliation for the attack, the Asurans used an orbital weapon of their own to attack Atlantis - a probe containing a stargate which, when activated, directed a powerful energy beam from ther other side of the wormhole at the city. The energy from the beam was also used to power the probe's shields and keep the gate active indefinitely.

★ In the novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress mass drivers are used by Lunar rebels to launch artificial meteorites in an orbital bombardment of the Earth.

★ In the story Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds, alien machines convert a planet's star into a kind of "solar flamethrower" and use it to bombard a human colony.

★ In the game Unreal Tournament 2003, as well as its sequel Unreal Tournament 2004, the Ion Painter is a weapon used to designate a target, upon which an orbiting Ion Cannon opens fire, which completely annihilates the target and anything in relative proximity, not excluding the user of the Ion Painter.

★ In the game , the Harbinger, later upgraded to the Supernova, paints a series of targets in a straight line away from the user of the weapon. Within a few seconds, a series of beams of immense strength are shot down from space, destroying anything in their path.

See also

★ Kinetic bombardment

★ Orbital weaponry

★ Relativistic kill vehicle

★ Space warfare

★ Space weapon

★ Mass drivers