[World Building] A Future History of Space Force

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Decision loops? If I have command decision elements on Europa and you are stuck on Earth responding by chucking missiles, presumably my OODA loop is a lot shorter for events nearer to Jupiter than Johannesburg.

And you don't have to budget delta-v for the missile to slow down and return, you can specialize its drive for short burns and intercepting evasive target, and since its small and unmanned losing a missile is not a big deal.

A network of intercommunicating vehicles are more targets and a bigger sensor network than just a mothership.

Missiles and unmanned vehicles are kind of interchangeable.

Edit: and if you think there may be trouble somewhere, its easier all around to send a versatile, manned vehicle that carries weapons than an unmanned weapon. And in a realistic setting, interplanetary voyages take a lot of time, so if you launch the missiles from lunar orbit when trouble breaks out it may be months or years before they reach the Jovian moons. Not exactly a quick response to a crisis!