The Air Force and emerging U.S. Space Force are venturing into previously uncharted territory and exploring the conceptual and technological parameters of more fully “weaponizing” space with offensive attack technologies.
Space travel has of course long been crucial to ICBM flight and Missile Defense efforts to track and destroy incoming ICBMs in the “mid-course” phase of flight, yet the prospect of sending new technologies into space to operate offensively as “attack weapons” is now very much under exploration by the Pentagon.
Global Strikes from Space
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall confirmed that the possibilities were indeed being explored as what he referred to as “global strikes from space.” Kendall did not go into much detail, something which is not surprising given the obvious security sensitivities surrounding the issues, yet he did articulate a few significant parameters regarding how space weapons might operate in the future.
“There is potential to put weapons in space and potential for a weapon to be launched into space as a system that goes into orbit, then de-orbits to hit a target,” Kendall said.
This latter possibility, Kendall further explained, might prove to be a more survivable method of attack as newly engineered space-traveling weapons might be able to operate with an ability to adjust trajectory to avoid a more traditional ICBM flight path.
This could enable an offensive weapon to potentially avoid missile warning systems and function with a greater likelihood of traveling through to hit a target.
