[Wild Goose]

Originally Posted by Daigo

That's what radiator fins are for.

Still not going to work. Let's take a modern-day heatsink as an example. The heatsink works by taking heat from the CPU and transferring it to air. There is a medium that allows heat transfer from the CPU. If there is no air, there cannot be any heat transfer. Now of course we can substitute it with water, or other mediums, but you cannot transfer heat from one object into vacuum. It will not happen, and violates thermodynamics.

So yes you can put radiator fins. Won't make a difference, since there's nothing the fins can transfer to.

That's what the orbital weapons are for. That's what we've been discussing this whole time. You have to argue what an airplane can do that an orbital weapon can't, or what can it do better.

Thing is, orbital weapons have huge yields. You cannot use them for CAS missions or for danger close shots (unless A) you have big ones; B) you're about to be overrun so you might as well risk it since you have nothing to lose). You're also assuming that your faction will be the only person with OKWs in service, but if more nations put OKWS into service, you end up in another nuclear stalemate MAD scenario. You don't dare to use your OKWs because when you've fired yours and can't use them temporarily, the other guy will take the opportunity to pound you to pieces. It's like how the US and USSR maintained huge nuclear arsenals that were never used.

Also, note that in my context, referring to Marines, is Close Air Support. An OKW cannot provide close air support. CAS by friendly ground attack fighters and helicopter gunships is still the best protection for an infantry landing force being deployed by helicopter.

Then let's consider the fact that an OKW can only destroy, and cannot take ground; you need troops for that and you need helicopters and VTOLs for that - airmobility. And in today's current age of COIN warfare, troops on the ground is more important. Note that the US Army, which has traditionally listed artillery as a key role, has now de-emphasised artillery in recognition of the fact that stabilisation operations and counter insurgency warfare are the battles that it will be fighting now and in the future. (The Marines meanwhile have already added COIN skills to those learned at Basic and Infantry School at 29 Palms).

Finally, cost. Putting an OKW system in space, with enough coverage to strike all over the world, would be too expensive. Don't believe me? That's what happened to the Brilliant Pebbles sub-program of the US SDI, which was a series of sattelites mounted with heatseekers to take out ICBMs. Cost and figuring out how to get everything up there and service it was just too much trouble.

Also, once fired, an OKW cannot call off it's attack run, unlike an aircraft running CAS.

One more thing: An OKW cannot medevac wounded troops.

Artilery has been an effective tool. But it has not won a war and it will not due so. Precision bombing is an effective tool. But it does not win wars by itself.