Which statement describes one disadvantage of orbital kinetic weapons for attacking terrestrial targets?

• A. They have significant transportation costs: lift costs to put them on orbit and costs to decelerate them for reentry.
• B. None of the ones tested to date can survive reentry into the atmosphere.
• C. None of these answers are correct; they have no disadvantages.
• D. They would be ineffective in attacking fixed targets, such as tall buildings.

Answer: (A)

The main idea is that the biggest drawback of orbital kinetic weapons is the enormous logistics and energy cost to get them to orbit and back for a ground strike. Lifting a payload into orbit requires vast amounts of propulsion, fuel, and specialized launch infrastructure, and the resulting launch costs and risk must be paid for every shot. Then you must deorbit and survive reentry, which adds even more delta‑V, heat shielding, guidance, and control challenges. All of this makes each engagement extremely expensive and technically complex, limiting how practical such weapons are compared with other options. While some designs might endure reentry or still hit targets, those factors don’t erase the fundamental point that the lift to orbit plus the refire/deorbit costs dominate the disadvantage.