How to Fight a War in Space

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How to Fight a War in Space How to Fight a War in Space

Uncategorized September 3, 2015

Every week, War Is Boring and Reuters sit down to discuss the stories behind the front lines. It’s War College and this week David... How to Fight a War in Space

Every week, War Is Boring and Reuters sit down to discuss the stories behind the front lines. It’s War College and this week David Axe, editor-in-chief of War Is Boring, helps us understand the next great battlefield … space.

From Star Wars to Battlestar Galactica, few battlefields are as fought over in pop culture as space. Which makes sense. Since the end of World War II, people have looked to the stars as the next great frontier of both exploration and warfare.

For the United States, the Space Race was about both prestige and gaining an advantage over its Cold War enemies. And since the Soviet Union first launched Sputnik 1 in 1957, peopled have wondered if the next great war might take place in a literal vacuum.

But according to Axe, the war in space won’t look anything like what Hollywood has long depicted. Slow moving robots, lasers and logistics will dominate.

In this week’s War College, Axe dispels the popular myths of space as a battlefield and let’s us know what’s really going on in Earth’s orbit — how to weaponize existing satellites, the missiles America and China have developed to knock those satellites out of the sky and the low-cost plans the Pentagon has to maintain its edge in space.

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