deterrent forces against a nuclear strike from space, the DOD sought an offensive solution by repurposing existing missiles as a nuclear anti-satellite (ASAT) mission - an effort called Program 437. Seeking a means with which to defend the U.S. As a result, then-Defense Secretary Robert McNamara let this option drop and looked toward other means to address the threat. However, rather than take this option, the Johnson administration decided to not invoke the treaty it believed that attempting to hold the Soviet Union accountable so soon after ratification would jeopardize the treaty and its probable benefits going forward.

The Soviet FOBS system was a clear violation of this treaty. One option was to publicly and diplomatically declare the Soviet Union in breach of the recently ratified 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which declared that no nation be allowed to deploy weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, in orbit around Earth or on celestial bodies such as the moon. This weapon was considered by many in the Department of Defense (DOD) as an existential threat to the American homeland and the U.S. Following the destruction of those radar sites, a Soviet bomber and missile strike force could launch undetected over the North Pole and take out the Strategic Air Command’s missile and bomber bases in a decapitating first strike. This system, called a Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS), was designed to launch thermonuclear warheads on a south-to-north trajectory to take out northern-facing North American Aerospace Defense Command’s (NORAD) ballistic missile early-warning radars. From the 1960s to 1980s, the Soviet Union tested and deployed such a weapon. The deployment method used by the Chinese for their hypersonic glide vehicle is not new. That means defeating these sorts of capabilities. Space Force to organize, train and equip to address threats in a warfighting fashion. That’s precisely why it is time for the U.S.

The hypersonic payload is designed to reenter the atmosphere at high rates of speed, more than five times the speed of sound, and then maneuver to targets in ways difficult to intercept with current missile defense technologies.ĭefenses and tracking sensors against that sort of threat do not presently exist. This specific weapon is designed to be launched into space on a rocket and then race to targets at near-orbital velocity. China recently demonstrated a new orbital hypersonic glide vehicle weapons system, to the surprise and alarm of senior leaders in Washington and allied capitals around the world.

How does first strike work