Grappler-equipped vehicles could be based at maintenance and repair facilities at the LEO and GEO bases, or at the power satellites where periodic servicing would be available. A great deal has been written about directed energy weapons (DEWs) in the 4 5 popular press, especially high energy lasers (HELs) and particle beam weapons (PBWs).* However, directed energy from a power satellite or other SPS element having a sizable power supply can be delivered in a number of other ways as well. One such way would be to utilize the microwave power beam itself for electronic warfare directed against satellites or against Earth-based targets. At lower power levels, it is conceivable that an RF transmitter could be attached to the SPS and utilized for electronic warfare (EW) or electronic countermeasures (ECM). Lastly, the SPS power beam itself could be utilized for Earth irradiation (ER) if it were captured by a "Pied Piper box." Such a box would emit a pilot beam suitably encoded to capture a specific power beam. Covert placement of the box in an enemy location (such as a major population center) would direct the power beam wherever desired. If many beams could be captured simultaneously, the total microwave flux could reach incendiary levels. If the beam from a single SPS were captured, the power level would be rather low but could conceivably be utilized for psychological warfare against civilian populations in which misperceptions about biological effects of microwave irradition were prevalent. No biologically harmful effects of the SPS microwave beam are known. 3.2.1.2 Force Delivery Missions for a SPS With Military Enhancements. Table 3-2 lists possible missions or uses for force delivery devices which could be mounted on SPS elements or for SPS elements themselves when adapted or modified for force delivery. The table also lists acronyms or abbreviations for these missions and indicates the SPS adapters or elements which could perform each mission. For the silicon photovoltaic cell option, each of the 23 COTVs has some 260 MW of electrical power onboard; for the gallium option, each of the 9 COTVs has 610 MW, adequate for either PBWs or HELs of significant threat potential. The COTVs take about six months to make a round trip between the LEO base and the GEO base; most of that time is spent in the lower altitude regions, so that the range to ♦Particle beam weapons and high energy lasers are discussed in detail in Appendices C.2 and C.3, respectively.
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