| ▲ | Theodores 4 hours ago | |
Technically the US has had 'space weapons' for many decades, due to how an intercontinental ballistic missile works. Incidentally, the Shuttle raised concerns in the USSR because they saw those large cargo bay doors and rocket thrusters out back, to think that this was a 'delivery system'. In the modern battlefield, 'hypersonic' missiles are the new shiny. However, any ICBM is 'hypersonic', at least during the space phase. The new meaning of hypersonic means going at 'hypersonic' speeds through the atmosphere and in the final approach. Force equals mass times acceleration, more speed means more deceleration, which means packing a bigger kinetic punch. | ||
| ▲ | adamsb6 42 minutes ago | parent [-] | |
Depending on how you want to define “weapon” the actual offensive capability of the shuttle may qualify. It was designed to be able to capture satellites and return them to Earth. We have no evidence that this capability was ever used offensively though. | ||