Anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) are space weapons designed to incapacitate or destroy satellites for strategic or tactical purposes. Although no ASAT system has yet been utilized in warfare, a few countries have successfully shot down their own satellites to demonstrate their ASAT capabilities in a show of force. ASATs have also been used to remove decommissioned satellites.
An artist's impression of a futuristic anti-satellite weapon capable of destroying satellites using its "circular saw" extensions
A US ASM-135 ASAT missile
A US Vought ASM-135 ASAT missile launch on 13 September 1985, which destroyed P78-1
A RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 launched from USS Lake Erie, a US Navy Ticonderoga class cruiser, 2005
Space weapons are weapons used in space warfare. They include weapons that can attack space systems in orbit, attack targets on the earth from space or disable missiles travelling through space. In the course of the militarisation of space, such weapons were developed mainly by the contesting superpowers during the Cold War, and some remain under development today. Space weapons are also a central theme in military science fiction and sci-fi video games.
A United States Space Command impression of a conceptual satellite-based directed-energy weapon used to precisely strike targets on Earth
The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. A RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 anti-ballistic missile is launched from USS Shiloh, a US Navy Ticonderoga-class cruiser.
