Quote:
Originally Posted by Daigo
Against frail, unarmed satelites, yes. Against armored orbital weapons, armed to the teeth with high powered lasers and kinetic weapons? No. Planetary defenses against orbital weapons are at a disadvantage. Using missiles against orbital weapons is easy to defeat. The missile has to fight against the gravity well, and is a very vulnerable target for lasers. Now the ground defenders may have lasers too, but their lasers are attenuated by the atmosphere, while the orbital weapon can just dump a kinetic penetrator on it which isn't significantly affected by the atmosphere at all. Keep in mind, destroying missiles with lasers is far easier than destroying armored orbital weapons or kinetic penetrators with them.
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A ground laser wouldn't have the same energy constraint as an orbital one, though. And while it might not destroy an armored satellite instantaneously, it might mess with it targeting and communication. That may be something where we'll just have to wait and see.