Spacecraft and Orbital Weapons/Tactics

With Humanity's rapid advancements in space technology in the 1950s and '60s, the escalation of the BETA War saw the militarization of space, with various Space Forces being created for numerous nations. Satellite obeservation, early warning, and interception systems were all examined as potentially viable avenues, and eventually even orbital insertion was looked at as a natural progression of airborne tactics.

Because Laser-class BETA strains have effectively locked down the skylanes around the eastern hemisphere, a fair amount of transportation and logistical movements are facilitated by low orbit, atmospheric shuttles, usually SSTO capable.

Hyper Surface Shuttle Transporter

A large-scale trans-atmospheric shuttle, the HSST is built to shuttle supplies and people up to space in bulk. The craft are designed to be manned by a small crew, with generally a primary pilot and co-pilot; both pilots are trained to not only handle the craft but also to coordinate with their orbital diver compliment for drop operations.

Most commonly used for orbital drop operations, the HSST can carry a single set of re-entry shells up into space, with each shell holding a single TSF and pilot. During combat operations involving Orbital Divers, several HSSTs within a fleet may be armed with orbital bombardment munitions; these are usually @Anti-Laser Countermeasures.

The HSST is usually launched with the aid of booster rockets to get it up to the required altitude, although it has no problems re-entering the atmosphere and landing on its own power. It is also sometimes referred to as a 'Re-entry Destroyer'.

Orbital Divers

Orbital Divers are pilots who specialize in orbital insertions. They are dropped from HSSTs in re-entry shells, special equipment used for atmospheric re-entry which serve serve two purposes; one is bursting open after descending through a certain height and providing debris to inhibit the ability of @BETA - Laser Class from hitting the TSFs of the Divers, or secondarily, to shield the Diver if Laser-class BETA manage to target and shoot at the shell before it reaches the altitude at which it would open. Once inside the Hive, the general objective of the Divers (and subsequently the troops that follow them in) is to conquer the Hive by taking control of, or destroying the Reactor inside the Hive.

During the Dive itself, the pilots experience forces of up to 8.2G's, and velocities during the drop exceed 15,000 kilometers per hour. Ground forces usually smother the area in heavy metal particles to prevent the Divers from being targeted by Laser-class and Heavy Laser-class BETA, although the bombardment only works up to a minimum height; a short distance still exists inbetween the metal cloud and ground where the Divers are exposed to Laser-class fire.

To date, no orbital dive has been successful in siezing a BETA Hive in the three existing attempts to do so.

Orbital Installations

Data Satellites

Observation satellites are used in a wide variety of roles; with airspace closed as a result of Laser-class and Heavy Laser-class BETA, orbital imagery are sometimes the only way a commander can gain an overview of a battlefield, either before, during or after action. These satellites can also provide weather information, trajectory of airborne objects, aerial-view maps, enemy force vectors, and other important information.

SHADOW

Standing for Spaceward Hardwares for All-Round Defensive Ordnances and Warheads, SHADOW is a networked system of three components; a lunar orbit surveillance network, an early-stage nuclear launch platform at Lagrange 1, and a final interception line made up of a group of nuclear attack satellites in Earth orbit.

SHADOW satellites were built as part of a plan to prevent the further landing of Hive core units from lunar-based BETA Hives. So far, the SHADOW network has detected and deflected only one incoming object off-course; whether it was a Hive core unit or something else entirely remains a point of contention to this day.

The SHADOW system is divided into two separate programs; ARTMISS & LID. The ARTMISS system is focused on the final interception line of Earth nuclear attack satellites controlled by OSP-1400, the command satellite. LID is the Lunar early detection and initial nuclear launch platform system for monitoring BETA activity on the Moon's surface.

ARTMISS

The ARTMISS system handles the operation of all Earth nuclear defense satellites and is organized via NORAD and its associated command satellite, OSP-1400. The nuclear satellites are 300 km from the Earth's surface, whereas OSP-1400 is 1400 km in distance from the planet. While the weapons are designed to target BETA landers and other foreign, hostile objects from space, the satellites can easily be aimed back toward the Earth in order to target surface positions.

In order to reprogram and fire the weapons, however, both NORAD and OSP-1400 must send approval codes to reposition and recalibrate the firing mechanisms. This is done to ensure that any rogue elements that manage to infiltrate either the satellite or the command bunker will not be able to use the WMDs against humanity.

LID

The LID system handles all of the organized satellites and detection networks focused on observing the lunar surface and orbit for BETA activity. The primary defense satellite used for early interception is called Space One, and is the largest satellite in LID. For surveillance, there are at least three satellites in low orbit of the Moon at all times, with a fourth one sharing the same orbit as Space One that acts as the primary collector and transmitter of data.

Orbital Shipyard

Assembled by backers within the @The United States of America (USA) in the mid '90s, shortly before Alternative V got its approval as a backup contingency, these shipyards have a singular purpose: manufacturing and assembly of colony ships for the proposed mass exodus during Operation Babylon.

These ships, while large, have a paltry capacity for passengers, and at full numbers this migrant fleet optimistically can only ferry approximately 100,000 souls aboard.