CSM
Senior Member
Zhukov said:I don't think so.
Considering that your typical land based ICBM has a range of around 5500 to 6000 km, and a nuclear platform in space would be at a geosynchronous orbit of roughly 35,000 km above sea level, one would not only require a multiple staged rocket just to get to the platform but that rocket would take between 2 to 5 times longer to reach the platform than a typical land based ICBM would take from launch to impact. The time difference is further exagerrated when comparing an attack against a platform to a submarine based attack against ground targets.
An aggressor country would not be able to take out a space platform by surprise before lauching a theatre wide attack. The launch of the rocket intended to strike the platform would be detected hours before impact, by which time our response would already be re-entering the atmosphere.
Besides, space platforms, probably being fairly expensive, would undoubtedly have a capacity to defend themselves.
UNLESS a country had "satellite killers" in orbit as well. I seem to remember that being a concern of both the US and the old Soviet Union at one time.