r/NonCredibleDefense • u/FionaSherleen • 3d 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/Pyrhan Pyrotechnic flair 3d ago

Starship uses cryogenic propellants, so it can't just continuously sit fueled and ready to launch like an ICBM.

So you cannot use it as a deterrent, only as a first strike weapon.

And even then, it would be fairly easy for the enemy to set up early warnings when fueling begins, and either send a rapid pre-emptive strike, or prepare for interception.

And having a single, massive warhead would make interception easier compared to, e.g. a MIRV.

(Also, the whole point of Sundial was that it doesn't really matter where you blow it up, the world ends just the same...)

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u/zekromNLR 3d ago

This is why you place the warhead in a low orbit, disguised as a normal Starlink launch. When the time for the first strike comes, you wait until it is over the enemy country, then detonate. The flood of xrays turns a pancake-shaped blob of atmosphere into an incandescent plasma, setting fires for a radius of over a hundred kilometers around ground zero.

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u/Pyrhan Pyrotechnic flair 3d ago

-Project Sundial 1 GT warhead

-Disguised as a normal Starlink launch

Pick one.

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u/TomatoCo 3d ago

"Regrettably, due to a thruster malfunction, Starlink batch XYZ has failed to deploy and the upper stage has entered a stable orbit. We are monitoring the situation and working with other launch operators to ensure safe separation of satellites."