Space Academy · Contents · Chapter 8 · §8.5 · Nederlandse versie

§8.5 Space in a kill chain

See, track, strike — across thousands of kilometres of sea.

Open §8.5 in the academy

In plain terms

A missile that has to hit a ship 1,500 km away needs someone who finds the ship and keeps tracking it. On the open ocean, that can almost only be done from space.

In practice

Long-range Chinese anti-ship missiles (such as the DF-21D and DF-26) depend on a chain of satellites: SIGINT triplets that hear a fleet's radars, radar and optical satellites that confirm the ship, and relay satellites that pass on the targeting data. Break one link in that chain and the missile misses its target — which is why the chain itself is a target.