Re: Kinetic kill weaponry in LEO/GEO...

On Sat, 29 Sep 2007 20:16:27 -0700, Johnny1a <shermanlee1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

As noted in the guns on the Salyut thread, anything moving at orbital
velocity is a potential threat. It seems to me that in space combat
in Earth (or any planet) orbit, kinetic weapons look very tempting
from an attacker POV, especially against manned craft, punch a hole in
it and you've given the enemy something else to do besides fighting
you, and quite possibly disabled them. Punch holes in heat radiators
or sensors or the drive, and you're really messed up their day.

But...every projectile that _misses_ keeps right on going along an
orbital trajectory defined by its velocity, and some of them will
miss. The surest way to make sure you hit the enemy is fire quite a
few projectiles.

It strikes me that this might make kinetic weapons a questionable
weapon if you're planning to hang around in orbit yourself for very
long. Might the potential of being hit (later) by your own weapons
create a disincentive to use them (at least in close planetary
orbit)? Would rifles have been used in Earthside warfare if the
bullets that missed their potential targets kept swirling around the
battlefield indefinitely until they hit _something_?

Ref. Macleod, Ken, "The Fall Revolution Series", Subject: Ablation
Cascade.

Regards,
Jack Tingle
.

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  • Re: Kinetic kill weaponry in LEO/GEO...
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    (rec.arts.sf.science)
  • Kinetic kill weaponry in LEO/GEO...
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    (rec.arts.sf.science)
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