A few months ago, the President eluded to the formation of a new military branch called "Space Force"
I was wondering what the members of the Hide thought about it and what sort of capabilities would such a force require? I will offer a few of my personal ideas:
1. All drone/autonomous type space vehicles.
2. Pre-placement of satellites with offensive/defensive capabilities to attack both enemy satellites and enemy ground tgts.
3. Protection of and hardening of our GPS, and SATCom assets to prevent their destruction. After all ARMY use of smart coms for rapid kinetic activity live by knowing who is where, when faster than the other guys. Preserve OODA capacity.
4. New, smaller, lighter, more lethal weapons systems for aerial/space use. I could see a hunter/killer SAT in our future with a small, hi-vel recoiless projectile for stand off SAT-kill duty.
5. More potent explosives that do not degrade in heat/cold/vacuum of space. Imagine a missile the size of a kitchen match with a warhead the size of a BB but the explosive power of a lb of C4? Not possible today? We did not need it until now. Find a way.
6. Seriously upgraded drone forces. Imagine a drone the size of a fly also loaded with one of them BB sized warheads. It buzzes into the enemies HQ and lights on the wall, where it listens to and transmits the NME commander's conversations and mind set and just as he is about to issue the order to attack, it flies up his nose and goes "Poof". Now, drop 10,000 of these D-flies from low earth orbit to travel to every NME combat unit to sit and listen and cut off the head of the snake. Demo this capability a few times and then tell the NME leadership that they are next if they do not cease & desist.
7. Have a horsefly version drone with enough oomph to disable a tank or a large aircraft. Pre-position them in the cockpits of the NME vehicles and upon any form of hostile act, trigger all of them.
8. Tiny, long life battery technology to power these wonderments. Couple them with PV coatings to extend batt life.
9. I could see space borne drone carriers that operate as aircraft carriers do today to house and transport combat assets around the globe until needed. These might sit in orbit for years before needed. Place in advance via rocket. Deploy just like a swarm of bees from space. You can send one or 1-thousand.
10. Some drones are capable of self navigation to a point near a tgt and then taken over by manned operators for final mission control. Others might be fully automated from start to finish. These will enable a new breed of sniper to take out single tgts with extreme accuracy and zero collateral damage if desired.
11. Imagine a squad of spec ops commando's advancing toward a tgt with 500 of these killer bees flying ahead of them using thermal imaging and silence to infiltrate and vaporize the enemy's heads in advance of any human assets setting foot on any locale. How does an NME combatant manage to stay focused on the job at hand when he is constantly worried about being smoked by a honey bee sized drone that he cannot see, hear or counter? These arrive silently from orbital carriers and are dispatched in whatever number is anticipated. Death sounds like a misquito. In the first 10 sec of the engagement the opposition loses all of its commanders and 90% of its soldiers. Some are spared for interrogation. The sound of battle is replaced by a rapid fire pop, pop, pop of tiny explosive charges no louder than a subsonic 22 as they do their dirty jobs.
12. When explosives are not needed or not appropriate, then make the warhead capable of doing whatever will get the job done. Toxin, drugs, heat, EMP, pick yer answer.
I am not seeing manned space vehicles as the backbone of Space Force. Just the opposite. The operators will be ensconced within hardened bunkers as safe and secure as possible so that they can perform suicide missions with their drones and then saddle up a new one to rinse and repeat. That is some of my nightmare ideas. What are yours?
I was wondering what the members of the Hide thought about it and what sort of capabilities would such a force require? I will offer a few of my personal ideas:
1. All drone/autonomous type space vehicles.
2. Pre-placement of satellites with offensive/defensive capabilities to attack both enemy satellites and enemy ground tgts.
3. Protection of and hardening of our GPS, and SATCom assets to prevent their destruction. After all ARMY use of smart coms for rapid kinetic activity live by knowing who is where, when faster than the other guys. Preserve OODA capacity.
4. New, smaller, lighter, more lethal weapons systems for aerial/space use. I could see a hunter/killer SAT in our future with a small, hi-vel recoiless projectile for stand off SAT-kill duty.
5. More potent explosives that do not degrade in heat/cold/vacuum of space. Imagine a missile the size of a kitchen match with a warhead the size of a BB but the explosive power of a lb of C4? Not possible today? We did not need it until now. Find a way.
6. Seriously upgraded drone forces. Imagine a drone the size of a fly also loaded with one of them BB sized warheads. It buzzes into the enemies HQ and lights on the wall, where it listens to and transmits the NME commander's conversations and mind set and just as he is about to issue the order to attack, it flies up his nose and goes "Poof". Now, drop 10,000 of these D-flies from low earth orbit to travel to every NME combat unit to sit and listen and cut off the head of the snake. Demo this capability a few times and then tell the NME leadership that they are next if they do not cease & desist.
7. Have a horsefly version drone with enough oomph to disable a tank or a large aircraft. Pre-position them in the cockpits of the NME vehicles and upon any form of hostile act, trigger all of them.
8. Tiny, long life battery technology to power these wonderments. Couple them with PV coatings to extend batt life.
9. I could see space borne drone carriers that operate as aircraft carriers do today to house and transport combat assets around the globe until needed. These might sit in orbit for years before needed. Place in advance via rocket. Deploy just like a swarm of bees from space. You can send one or 1-thousand.
10. Some drones are capable of self navigation to a point near a tgt and then taken over by manned operators for final mission control. Others might be fully automated from start to finish. These will enable a new breed of sniper to take out single tgts with extreme accuracy and zero collateral damage if desired.
11. Imagine a squad of spec ops commando's advancing toward a tgt with 500 of these killer bees flying ahead of them using thermal imaging and silence to infiltrate and vaporize the enemy's heads in advance of any human assets setting foot on any locale. How does an NME combatant manage to stay focused on the job at hand when he is constantly worried about being smoked by a honey bee sized drone that he cannot see, hear or counter? These arrive silently from orbital carriers and are dispatched in whatever number is anticipated. Death sounds like a misquito. In the first 10 sec of the engagement the opposition loses all of its commanders and 90% of its soldiers. Some are spared for interrogation. The sound of battle is replaced by a rapid fire pop, pop, pop of tiny explosive charges no louder than a subsonic 22 as they do their dirty jobs.
12. When explosives are not needed or not appropriate, then make the warhead capable of doing whatever will get the job done. Toxin, drugs, heat, EMP, pick yer answer.
I am not seeing manned space vehicles as the backbone of Space Force. Just the opposite. The operators will be ensconced within hardened bunkers as safe and secure as possible so that they can perform suicide missions with their drones and then saddle up a new one to rinse and repeat. That is some of my nightmare ideas. What are yours?
