Orbital bombardment
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Orbital bombardment is the act of attacking a planet, moon or other such object from orbit, in the sense of not being suborbital like an ICBM. It is most often encountered in fiction.
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The Cold War
The Soviet Union has had a Fractional Orbital Bombardment System deployed from 1968-1983.
The SALT II treaty (1979) prohibited the deployment of orbital weapons of mass destruction:
- Each Party undertakes not to develop, test, or deploy:
- (...)
- (c) systems for placing into Earth orbit nuclear weapons or any other kind of weapons of mass destruction, including fractional orbital missiles;
The missile was phased out in January 1983 in compliance with this treaty.
Orbital bombardment systems with conventional warheads may be allowed, but do not seem very efficient compared to nuclear warhead tipped projectiles. See kinetic bombardment for an example of a proposed system.
In science fiction
Orbital bombardment systems occasionally feature in speculation and science fiction, and are in fact better known than their real-world counterpart. Typically, the assault is conducted by spacecraft as a part of interplanetary rather than intraplanetary warfare. The level of technology used in such a feat would be far beyond our current one.
An effective orbital bombardment is regarded as one of the most devastating forms of attack, but the concept is not a problemless one. The presence of an atmosphere may serve to burn up projectiles and disperse beam weapons. Planetary shielding is the most obvious countermeasure and may prohibit attacks entirely.
The greatest advantages are the accessibility of targets and the difficulty of returning fire. Surface-to-space weaponry has to deal with the gravity well, not to mention that it's usually very easy to spot and destroy even before firing. The attackers seldom have to care about the destructive power or environmental consequences of their weapons, and an unthreatened bombardment can continue until they run out of ammunition.
Worse, those capable of such a feat are also more than likely to possess nuclear weapons at the least. Numerous planet killers operate using this method. However, for surgical strikes, a simple guided kinetic energy projectile is sufficient; a sort of guided meteorite.
Mass drivers have been presented in several works as being particularly well-suited to the task.
Examples of orbital bombarments in science fiction
- In the Star Wars Expanded Universe, Imperials have an orbital bombardment doctrine of a bombardment that reduces the upper crust of a planet to molten slag, killing all but the most deeply hidden enemies. This order of this extreme tactic is referred to as Base Delta Zero(often shortened by fans to BDZ), and was first devised in the Clone Wars by Republic generals. Fans(and sources) are divided on how a BDZ is carried out. Some sources claim it is carried out by Proton Torpedoes, others state that as little as a single Star Destroyer can carry it out, depending on the timeframe involved.
- Orbital bombardment of the Narn homeworld by the Centauri in Babylon 5 series.
- In the Battletech universe, the destruction of the city of Edo on the Draconis Combine planet of Turtle Bay by invading Clan Smoke Jaguar forces.
- In the computer/video game Halo universe, the large military outpost Reach was "glassed" (i.e. melted)from orbit by a group of races known as the Covenant.
- In Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Imperium of Man makes extensive use of orbital bombardments, both tactical and strategic. The ultimate imperial sanction against a world is that of Exterminatus, whereby a planet is "cleansed" - all life on it is annihilated. This tactic is most often used against worlds that are deemed to be past salvation, such as those irreversibly tainted by the supernatural powers of Chaos, or infected by the alien Tyranids. The Adeptus Astartes (or "Space Marines") also regularly make use of smaller scale orbital bombardments before launching the planetary assaults in which they specialize.
- In the Star Trek franchise, orbital bombardment is sometimes used to support ground operations.