[STARLIT]

Others just called it “Rods From God.” In reality, weapons researchers refer to it as a “kinetic energy projectile”: a super-dense, super-fast projectile that, operating free of complex systems and volatile chemicals, destroys everything in its path. kinetic bombardment KEP supersonic orbital weapons.

In 2013, the U.S. Air Force 846th Test Squadron and civilian researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory successfully test-fired a kinetic energy projectile, a tungsten-rich shell moving at 3,500 feet-per-second — more than three times faster than the speed of sound — on a specialized track at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. More recently, the Pentagon has tested the Navy electromagnetic rail gun’s hypervelocity projectiles with the help of conventional U.S. Army howitzers; the Navy hopes the completed cannon will be able to launch shells at up to 4,500 mph, six times the speed of sound.

But what’s the main purpose of these kinetic energy projectiles, other than “raining down violence” with the shock and awe that only weapons like the “Mother of All Bombs” can inspire?...................................MOAB..............."RAINING DOWN VIOLENCE.

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

Sure, rail launched. But what IF (wink, wink) there are several dozen tungsten rods in orbit above earth that can be released on command? Then, whose command?

[edzo4]

Cool 2004 article from POP SCI about rods from the gods and other “future” weapons article says they are 14-15 years away and only thing preventing it was cost to put that much mass into space

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/02/three-years-of-sls-development-could-buy-86-falcon-heavy-launches/

The bottom line is that the Falcon Heavy is a more powerful rocket than the Delta IV Heavy, and by various measures the latter will probably soon cost the US government about five times as much. Put another way, the Department of Defense may have to pay half a billion dollars more for a single launch of certain military satellites on the Delta IV Heavy versus the Falcon Heavy.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/08/spacex-zuma-launch-falcon-9.html

SpaceX successfully launches secret US government spacecraft in first mission of 2018

[JockoManning]

Hmmm raining down violence.

raining down judgment?

[StormFlag]

The tip on that looks scary.