So I’ll be the one to ask: What will Space Force’s individual weapon be?

[rickyrick]

I’m sure the need for a weapon will be non-existent initially. I don’t foresee combat in which people are directly involved...But, mainly for fun, what will space soldiers need.

[NoSecondBest]

I find the entire concept ridiculous. Trump gets in front of the cameras and talks about the US leading the world in space. Who's he kidding besides himself? We've been paying the Russians to take us up to the International Space Station for years now. We can't send our people up by ourselves, we need the Russians to take us there. I think the US would be a lot further ahead just getting a vehicle platform to get our astronauts into space. Right now it's "Space Farce".

[TimRB]

Personally, I wouldn't settle for anything less than a light saber.

Tim

[JERRYS.]

Originally Posted by NoSecondBest

I find the entire concept ridiculous. Trump gets in front of the cameras and talks about the US leading the world in space. Who's he kidding besides himself? We've been paying the Russians to take us up to the International Space Station for years now. We can't send our people up by ourselves, we need the Russians to take us there. I think the US would be a lot further ahead just getting a vehicle platform to get our astronauts into space. Right now it's "Space Farce".

that situation is thanks to the prior establishment administrations, not this one. oh, and 5 to 1 it'll be the mighty 10mm.

[NoSecondBest]

that situation is thanks to the prior establishment administrations, not this one.

Do you have a CLUE how many administrations have been in place since we quit flying our people up there. Blaming it on any political party is nonsense and you show no evidence or proof to support your knee jerk reaction. We failed on design, build quality, and lack of due diligence. Nothing political about it. Fact is, we can't put an astronaut in space without using someone else's launch vehicles.

[JERRYS.]

reading is fundamental. emphasis on mental. nowhere did I blame one political party.

[Pahoo]

I’m sure the need for a weapon will be non-existent initially. I don’t foresee combat in which people are directly involved...But, mainly for fun, what will space soldiers need.

I'm trying to stay on point and assuredly they be issued what the AirForce is currently issuing and to whom. I'm a Blue-Water veteran and the "rare" times that we came into contact with any weapons, they were hand me downs from the Marines. …..

I find the entire concept ridiculous.

Getting off-point, I don't see the need but I have to acknowledge that this idea is in it's infancy and who knows, while the future brings. ….

Be Safe !!!

[44 AMP]

Right now it's "Space Farce".

So? Right now, its a concept. Not even really born yet. If it's a farce because a fully formed, staffed and equipped service branch did not spring fully formed from the forehead of Zeus then its a farce.

But I see it as a baby step, creating something other than NASA with a vested interest in space. Yes, we've been paying other people to put our guys in space for some time now, BECAUSE earlier administrations simply decided not to spend the money needed to keep our own space "industry" going.

Much of what Verne wrote as science fiction, today we have. What today's sci-fi writers have written, someday we might have, but only if we keep going for it.

Certainly however it is handled, some people will think its wrong. Probably some mistakes will be made. But the point is, we're doing something, where before, we weren't.

What will the weapons be? Micro-gravity means the usefulness of conventional firearms will be limited. Perhaps a reviving of the Gyro-Jet rocket gun might be something with utility. Certainly it adds a new dimension to "handling recoil".

[rickyrick]

Well, meant as a just-for-fun post, Space Force as it stands now is simply the renaming of Space Command which has been in existence my entire adult life. It will eventually be a separate service. Kinda like how the Air Force got started, suppose.
May not be really needed now, but it has to start sometime and somewhere. Interestingly, China already has the ability to capture critical satellites, rendering them useless and even holding them hostage.
At some point, I figure there would be a standard issue weapon, or at least some item unique to the service... something with more lethality than a p38 can opener lol.
Merry Christmas

[Sharkbite]

A weapon for “space force” doesn't need to do anything but punch through a space suit.

Explosive decompression would SUCK.

[FrankenMauser]

Keyboards

[P-man]

Everybody should know!!!
It’ll be a “phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range!”

[2damnold4this]

Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator

[rickyrick]

A weapon for “space force” doesn't need to do anything but punch through a space suit.

Explosive decompression would SUCK.

If we examine this realistically, the above quote represents the fragility of humans in space.

There won’t be human combatants in space; the energy required to get a human and its life support systems into orbit and potentially far away places would be excessive. And just to be ended with a tiny injury.
The closest thing we will have to a combatant in space will be some type of drone. What will the drone be armed with?

[JERRYS.]

Originally Posted by rickyrick

If we examine this realistically, the above quote represents the fragility of humans in space.

There won’t be human combatants in space; the energy required to get a human and its life support systems into orbit and potentially far away places would be excessive. And just to be ended with a tiny injury.
The closest thing we will have to a combatant in space will be some type of drone. What will the drone be armed with?

kamikaze drones. since it takes so little to disable space anything, a group of basic drones to be sacrificed is the surest and cheapest bet to stop an enemy's space station et al.

[rickyrick]

So yeah guided missiles, laying in wait then launched at a target. Or programmed to guard an area. Seems like a simple but good concept to me.

[sparkyv]

The Navy has a laser weapon used to shoot down incoming missiles in development. Not small arms in size, but this could possibly be adapted as a mounted device.

[mehavey]

He who loses control of the high ground in any coming war, loses... getting slaughtered in the process.
The inability to control, deny, ... and destroy the enemy's space-borne/space-based communications, surveillance, intelligence, and yes... weapons... will get us killed.

If "Space Force" is finally code for the West's recognition that true space warfare is going to happen, must happen -- and we get serious -- you are going to see mass political hysteria as people try to pretend that it isn't already on-going.

.... by both of our biggest military-industrial opponents

[rickyrick]

Some point in the future China will need our land and resources more than they need our cash.
A technology attack would probably come first. Some type of satellite defense should be the first priority.

[WyMark]

Individual weapons are way down the list of priorities right now, they've got patches and songs to figure out first.

“It’s going to be really important that we get this right. A uniform, a patch, a song ― it gets to the culture of a service,” said Air Force Gen. Jay Raymond, the head of Air Force Space Command and U.S. Space Command, who will lead Space Force until a chief of space operations is confirmed by the Senate. “There’s a lot of work going on toward that end. It’s going to take a long time to get to that point, but that’s not something we’re going to roll out on day one.”

If they talk to Lucas Films they might be able to pick up some cool, slightly used, white uniforms for cheap.

[Mainah]

Lasers. We'll be protecting our satellites or attacking others. China and Russia have their own forms of this approach, we need to stay ahead of them.

[USNRet93]

A computer...

I find the entire concept ridiculous. Trump gets in front of the cameras and talks about the US leading the world in space. Who's he kidding besides himself? We've been paying the Russians to take us up to the International Space Station for years now. We can't send our people up by ourselves, we need the Russians to take us there. I think the US would be a lot further ahead just getting a vehicle platform to get our astronauts into space. Right now it's "Space Farce".

It's electioneering..the USAF, along with other service members in their staff, already has a 'Space Force'..'Space Command'..the 'new service' gig is just an expensive, election driven, exercise.

https://www.space.com/41452-space-fo...e-command.html

BUT, a "Space Command" or 'Space Force" does a whole lot more than send astronauts to the ISS or even the moon.

[TomNJVA]

Pure speculation at this point, but I imagine orbiting nukes that can be landed anywhere on the planet within 90 minutes. Plus satellite hunting orbiting weapons that could destroy the enemy's communication and GPS satellites. I'm sure we know where they all are.

[Armed_Chicagoan]

The weapons will be satellites that protect our satellites from enemy satellite killers as well as satellites that destroy enemy satellites.

And it's about time, other countries have been testing satellite killers for decades now. Getting GPS and communication satellites blasted out of orbit in a war would be no joke.

[Ben Dover]

It will be an M-4 carbine and a SIG P320.