History Main / OrbitalBombardment

* ''ComicBook/GlobalFrequency'' features the threat of [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter kinetic spears]], weapons designed to be dropped from satellites, heat up on re-entry, and strike the ground with the force of a tactical nuke, and as hot as the edge of the sun. Part of a 'die-back' protocol.

* ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' story ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfLuthor'': Supergirl visits an alien world which was destroyed by hostile spaceships shooting freezing beams which literally glassed the atmosphere.

* ''ComicBook/DawnOfTheJedi'' reveals that the desert world Tattooine was once a jungle world with large oceans. The Rakata conquered it and the people they enslaved rebelled. They bombarded the world from orbit and turned it into the desert we see in the films.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': The Green Geni get a kick out of finding planets that support life, and then bombarding them with nuclear weapons from orbit. They then have the temerity to act like the victims when the Golden Women SpacePolice force turns their own vessel into a prison ship for them.

** ''VideoGame/StarCraftIILegacyOfTheVoid'': The ''Spear of Adun'' has the ability to fire various types of orbital strike on the map. The mission "Forbidden Weapon" requires the player's forces to outpace a displacement beam from a Tal'darim mothership arcing across the surface of the planet. At the end of the mission "Purification" the newly-reactivated Purifiers annihilate all life on the Zerg-infested planet they were orbiting with one shot from their ship's main gun. And finally, [[spoiler: Amon's physical body is destroyed when hit from orbit by the ''Spear of Adun'', the Purifier ship, and the Tal'darim motherships, all at once.]]

* In the 1960s, US Air Force engineers designed the Orion Battleship, a 500m, nuclear propelled space craft that could theoretically bombard any target on earth with both conventional naval artillery and a terrifyingly large number of nuclear missile launchers. Even worse, it was entirely possible to build it by the end of the decade. Even at the peak of the nuclear arms race, President Kennedy was so terrified by the blueprints' theoretical destructive powers, he orded the end of any further research in Orion propulsion, and the destruction of all blueprints and scale models.

* ''VideoGame/{{Helldivers}}'' and its sequel as numerous orbital strategems to use against one's enemies, including cannons, lasers, and bombs of varying sizes, payloads, and areas of effect. It's also possible to weaponize a falling Hellpod bearing a Helldiver was a weapon: almost every enemy can be [[OneHitKO one-shotted]] if you crush them with your Pod, even mighty Bile Titans.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Battletech}}'', Nicholai Malthus bombards Remus City on the planet Romulus after militia remnants assist the Strikers in escaping the planet. The only reason Clan Jade Falcon didn't catch as much flak for this as Smoke Jaguar did for their bombing of Edo city a few months later(see Tabletop Games) was because Malthus forcibly evacuated the population first.

** The Kinetic-Energy Harpoon is mentioned (although not used on-page) in "The Nano Flower" in the Greg Mandel trilogy; described as a "poor man's nuke"[[note]]Just a big lump of metal with an ablative heat-shield, although you do have to factor in how much it costs to get it into space and then bring it down again[[/note]], they were apparently used in the [[GreatOffscreenWar Slamdown War]]. That resulted in massive campaign to get a defensive system in orbit, designed specifically to stop them ever being used again.

** Operation Meteor of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'' infamy was drafted as a plan to drop an asteroid on Earth, then seize control with the Gundams as the populace runs around in terror. Of course, we wind up seeing what happens when the Gundams jump the gun and their pilots' humanity interferes, but Dekim Barton decides to double back and do it right in ''Endless Waltz''.
*** Late in the TV series, the [[SpaceStation space fortress]] Libra fires a shot from its WaveMotionGun down on Earth, destroying a small uninhabited island.

** In ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfLuthor'', ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} visits an alien world which was destroyed by hostile spaceships shooting freezing beams which literally glassed the atmosphere.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: The Green Geni get a kick out of finding planets that support life, and then bombarding them with nuclear weapons from orbit. They then have the temerity to act like the victims when the Golden Women SpacePolice force turns their own vessel into a prison ship for them.

** The [[Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire Bombardment of Falleen]] is featured, with two variations: Vader was extraneous to the creation of the flesh-eating bacteria that made it necessary (in fact the release was the result of the lab screwing up by trying to destroy it before Vader arrived and discovered they hadn't done it yet), and [[HeroicSacrifice it was demanded by a medic in the affected area knowing he'd be killed]]. Vader being Vader he arrived ready to carry it out, he just waited for the medic to order it - and [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Falleen's garrison fleet being prevented from carrying it out by the local governor that didn't want to lose the "donations" from a native of the targeted city]].

** ''Film/MenInBlackII'': In the title sequence, Serleena's starship blows up several planets [[ForTheEvulz for no apparent reason]] on her way to Earth.
* In ''{{Film/Soldier}}'' the captain wants to do this to the settlers on the garbage planet, but the colonel vetoes that in favor of giving his genetically engineered soldiers some exercise. It doesn't end well for them.

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:

'''Corvus Glaive:''' [[EvenEvilHasStandards But sire! Our troops!]]\\

** Alexis discovers a {{loophole|Abuse}} in ''The Little Ships: [[spoiler:the Accords define "space" as "above a planet's mesosphere", meaning flying to a lower altitude and then firing broadsides is perfectly legal, not to mention completely unexpected since ships in the 'verse aren't meant to be capable of flying in atmosphere.]]

* In ''Literature/AngelInTheWhirlwind'', it's common and extremely destructive for ships to fire kinetic impactors at enemy formations and bases on planet surfaces, but using them on civilian targets is frowned upon and the {{antimatter}} weapons commonly used against other ships would make the planet worthless.
* Discussed in the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' series when the kids find out about a particularly strange project the invading Yeerks are undertaking. When one of them guesses that it might just be aimed at killing a lot of people, their alien ally Ax dismisses the idea, saying if the Yeerks wanted to do that they could just fire their [[EnergyWeapon Dracon beams]] into the atmosphere, overheating it and incinerating all life on Earth. Thanks, Ax.
* Starting with the second book of the ''Literature/ArrivalsFromTheDark'' series, humanity has heavy cruisers equipped with an antimatter WaveMotionGun. It's not uncommon to use them for orbital bombardment (even though the atmosphere would reduce the effectiveness by causing matter-antimatter reactions with air particles. In a later book, a fleet is sent into an enemy home system in order to lay waste to their homeworld using these weapons. The goal is to cause massive confusion in the enemy ranks by taking out their leaders. [[spoiler:One of the protagonists calls it off, and the war continues for another century.]]

* ''Film/MenInBlack'':
** In the first film, after the Bug kills the Arquilian prince and steals the Galaxy, an Arquillian battle cruiser enters orbit around the Earth. It sends an ultimatum: deliver the Galaxy or it will destroy the Earth. It then fires a warning shot at the North Pole to make it clear that it means it.
** In the title sequence of the second film, Serleena's starship blows up several planets [[ForTheEvulz for no apparent reason]] on her way to Earth.

** ''Literature/SpaceCadet''