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Former NASA astronaut, test pilot, and retired USAF Colonel Terry Virts is itching for a U.S. Space Force:
During my 30 plus years in the Air Force I had the privilege of serving as a pilot for my entire active duty career, with 16 of those years in Air Force Space Command as an astronaut. And I can say unequivocally that the air and space domains are completely different and independent of each other.
[...] If space is a separate domain, worthy of its own uniformed service, what exactly should it comprise, and what would it look like? Today, not only does the Air Force have its own space component, but so does the Army and Navy as well as other government agencies. I propose combining all "title 10" (i.e. combat related forces, as opposed to "title 50" intelligence gathering forces) assets that leave the atmosphere, or return from space, in a newly formed "Space Force," reporting directly to the secretary of Defense.
[...] I believe making this change will actually save money, as duplication is eliminated. It will also improve the quality of support that the joint force commander has at his disposal, as the joint-force space component commander will be entirely focused on providing space domain support to the joint fight, and not on pleasing an Air Force (or Navy or Army) chain of command that may have conflicting priorities.
[...] The time for a new uniformed service, the Space Force, is now. America deserves the most modern, efficient, and innovative military possible, and this will be a critical element in keeping us many steps ahead of our enemies.
Previously: The United States Space Corps Wants You...
Congressional Panel Puts Plans for a US Space Corps in 2018 Defense Budget
(Score: 3, Informative) by tangomargarine on Wednesday May 09 2018, @07:10PM (14 children)
I mean, I'd argue that tungsten rods dropped from orbit are basically weapons of mass destruction...
We're pretending that the term means anything anymore anyway. The morons in the government prosecuted the Boston marathon bombers for using WMDs for their pressure cooker bombs.
Are you fucking kidding me.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday May 09 2018, @07:20PM (4 children)
But you would lose that argument.
Tungsten rods, or cement training bombs, can punch through a single roof, maybe kill an entire "wedding party".
But that does not make them a weapon of mass destruction.
WMD has specific meaning.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Funny) by tangomargarine on Wednesday May 09 2018, @08:19PM (1 child)
So I suppose biological and chemical weapons aren't WMDs because they don't explode or catch on fire. Nice.
To quote that one Avengers movie, "I recognize that the council has made a decision, but given that it’s a stupid-ass decision, I’ve elected to ignore it."
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday May 10 2018, @03:15PM
Come to think of it, that line is rather apropos because it had to do with nuking NYC.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 09 2018, @11:37PM
Not so fast. Wikipedia says: "As the rod would approach Earth it would necessarily lose most of the velocity, but the remaining energy would cause considerable damage. Some systems are quoted as having the yield of a small tactical nuclear bomb."
Pretty sure something with the yield of a nuclear bomb can correctly be called a WMD.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday May 10 2018, @01:48AM
Speed and mass would determine how massive the destruction is. The asteroid that killed off the dinosaurs used the same principles, after all. A two ton steel bar accelerated on a rail gun to hypersonic speeds before gravity adds it's energy is going to cause a LOT of damage when it strikes the Pentagon. The airliner that struck the Pentagon was far more massive than that, but it was only moving at maybe 300 to 400 mph - probably slower since it was on a landing-like approach.
One of the attractions of kinetic weapons launched from a space platform is, it would be pretty easy to tailor each shot to the desired results. Eventually, 50 or 100 ton shots will be possible - maybe even larger.
The question is, do we want to destroy an office complex, or do we want to destroy the entire city block, the entire neighborhood, or do we want to make the city disappear? All possible with enough mass and speed.
(Score: 4, Touché) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday May 09 2018, @07:49PM
In fact, their destructive potential is directly proportional to their mass!
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday May 09 2018, @08:28PM
My prosecutor was clearly stifling his laughter when he proposed that I plea bargain five felony explosives counts down to a misdemeanor that was legislated so that it would be unlawful to possess tear gas intended to be discharged in a theater.
"He was making the equivalent of an ounce of black powder."
Actually I was making quite a lot less than an ounce but I let it slide.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 09 2018, @08:34PM
Bwahaha! Iraq actually did have Weapons of Mass Destruction!
I'm imagining my next Civ session when Ghandi starts threatening me with WMD and it turns out just to be a grenadier or two.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Thursday May 10 2018, @05:55AM
By that definition, enough antimatter to level a city wouldn't qualify as a wmd.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday May 10 2018, @02:24PM (4 children)
As a slippery slope argument we're pretty chill with satellite infrared cameras watching for missile launches hooked up to nuclear launchers as long as there's a human in the loop. So have a human push the red button for the tungsten rods and we're all good?
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday May 10 2018, @03:07PM (3 children)
The problem isn't that WMDs exist; that's a different problem. The issue we're talking about here, is that we want to be able to sleep at night whenever another* country launches a rocket into space, not worry about whether it has a nuke onboard or a few hundred pounds of ball bearings [wikipedia.org] or tungsten rods or something.
*or, y'know, Trump wakes up in a bad mood one day and decides "fuck the U.N."
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Thursday May 10 2018, @03:29PM (2 children)
Or, he could wake up in a good mood, and decide "Fuck the UN." What is the UN going to do about it?
(Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday May 10 2018, @03:38PM (1 child)
There's plenty of precedent; roughly six million times the UN has voted resolutions condemning Israel for crimes against humanity WRT their genocide of the Palestinians and various other misbehaviors, and every time so far, the previous non-Trump US presidents have sided with Israel stating "Fuck the UN". He certainly wouldn't be the first US president to ignore the UN.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday May 10 2018, @03:45PM
We should ask for a show of hands. How man Soylentils ignore the UN?
*raises hand*
Google search on "usefulness of the UN" gives me this: https://www.google.com/search?q=teats+on+a+boar+hog&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjdnMqGvvvaAhVmMZoKHRbSDBMQ_AUICigB&biw=1909&bih=776 [google.com]