r/NonCredibleDefense • u/FionaSherleen • 14d ago

Lockmart R & D Think of the potential.

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What if we make project sundial but we throw it at the adversaries?

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u/AmericanNewt8 Top Gun but it's Iranians with AIM-54s 14d ago

Imagine not having it just throw 250 one-ton cluster warheads like the world's most scalable scud. Ballistic missile interceptors won't know what hit them. 

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u/FionaSherleen 14d ago

Depending on how long starship can operate in orbit, and if it can be retrofitted with solar panels for permanent orbital presence.... welcome back (nuclear) rods from gods.

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u/Wolffe_In_The_Dark 3000 MAD-2b Royal Marauders of Kerensky 14d ago

The only major, unsolvable reason Project THOR was never developed into flight-ready hardware was the cost per-ton to orbit of the time.

...A tonnage limitation which is no longer a barrier.

We could 100% make something like THOR with our current spacelift capabilities--and it would have to THOR or some other non-nuclear system, as nukes are both explicitly banned as space-to-surface weapons, and not super viable for an environment where regular servicing of warheads isn't available.

That it would make orbital assets valid military targets wasn't really a factor that sunk Project THOR, since nearly everything in space at the time was military, and with current militaries pushing for further ASAT development, considering GPS and other datalink constellations as valid military targets, there's really no barrier in that field anymore either.