ORBITAL WARFARE HISTORY is a non-profit academic research website dedicated to documenting the military history of Orbital Warfare that emerged at the end of WW2.
Orbital Warfare History is intended for Space defence and security professionals, history enthusiasts, film and media industry, and wargamers. This website looks at the technology, and military theory that developed at the end of WW2 to put a satellite into Earth Orbit.
Chris Flaherty
DEFINITION OF ORBITAL WARFARE
The July 2023 definition for “Orbital Warfare: Orbital warfare uses orbital maneuver and offensive and defensive fires to preserve freedom of access to the domain and allows the United States and its allies and partners to deny the adversary the same advantage.” [Intelligence. Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM). 2023 Space Doctrine Publication 2-0 (19 July)]
“Warfare conducted whereby the attack vector originates in the space domain.” [Lynch, A.D. 2020 Analogical Reasoning in Orbital Warfare. Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. Graduate Thesis (June)]
On this website – Orbital Warfare is defined: ‘Space to Space manoeuvre and combat between craft in Orbital Space that are physically separate from the Human operators on Earth.’ This definition is based on a major assumption about conduct of Orbital Warfare, it will continue with, “the spatial separation of Human combatants from their weaponry.” [Ramey, R.A. 2000 Armed Conflict on the Final Frontier: the Law of War in Space. The Air Force Law Review. Volume 48]
WEBSITE CONTENTS introduce essays looking at Orbital Warfare building blocks:
About - What is Orbital Warfare and How Did it Start
Earth’s Satellite Layer, Complexity Inversion and Rise of Orbital Warfare
U.S. and Soviet Circumplanetary Warfighting Concepts
Orbital Area Weapons History and Warfare Theory
Fighting, Guardian and Inspection Satellites in Orbital Warfare
Fighting, Guardian and Inspection Satellites in Orbital Warfare (Part 2)
ORBITAL WARFARE WARGAMING
Current Orbital Warfare Wargaming Developments
Manoeuvre Tactics Problem in Orbital Space Environment
Orbital Manoeuvre Attack: Key Concepts
ORBITAL WARFARE WARGAMING (PART2)
Orbital Manoeuvre Defence, Avoidance, Chase: Key Concepts
ORBITAL WARFARE MANOEUVRE TACTICS…. Coming Soon!
ORBITAL WARFARE WARGAMING RULES…. Coming Soon!
Orbital Warfare Wargaming Rules provides an introductory set of wargaming rules for Circumplanetary Battle between two opponent forces of satellites, which employ Orbital Manoeuvre Attack, Defend, Avoidance and Chase Tactics. Using models on a playing table the game concept is intended as a set of playable rules aimed at introducing a basic level understanding of Orbital Manoeuvre between opposing satellites in Earth Orbit.
….in the Past there was Lunar Surface Warfare 1960!
Wargaming Rules and Scenarios
C.Flaherty
Soldiershop 2021
This short book on Lunar Surface Warfare in the 1960s, presents a set of wargaming rules for combat between Soviet Cosmonauts and United States Army and Airforce Soldier-Astronauts. It is based on early popular science, and military studies conducted in the 1950s, and 1960s that looked at how the US Army, or Airforce would establish a military presence on the Earth's Moon, and would defend that against the Soviets.
► NASA. 1961 Dyna-Soar on Titan booster.
