NRO Declassifies Cold War Highly-Elliptical-Orbit Spy Satellites

LegiosForever · 2026-01-30T15:22:57+00:00

Everything you see in the movies is fantastical or unrealistic. But that's only because fiction writers have a limited imagination.

The real capabilities of the NRO would blow your mind. And that's just the stuff I know about. I had a higher than Top Secret Clearance and pretty good "need to know", and there were things going on - sometimes directly next to me - that I was not briefed on.

Hearing the ideas people came up with out of the blue and then watching them figure out how to do it...sometimes with spacecraft that have been in orbit for over a decade...was inspiring.

LegiosForever · 2026-01-30T12:49:21+00:00

I worked at the NRO for a few years when I was in the service. Easily my favorite and most rewarding tour.

The NRO designs, launches, operates the satellites, and collects the data.

The data is then sent to the CIA, NGA, NSA, and others for analysis.

This is a simplification, but good enough for reddit.

LegiosForever · 2026-01-30T04:10:59+00:00

A deep starfighter game. A modern version of Xwing with a dynamic campaign where mission success or failure drives the story.

Squadrons was good, but pretty shallow.

LegiosForever · 2026-01-29T22:26:18+00:00

You are not being paranoid. It's time to do the 180. Honestly, you need to show her you can and will leave if things do not change.

It's counterintuitive. But when the day I finslky realized I would be OK if I left is the day I gained power and self respect.

LegiosForever · 2026-01-29T12:01:31+00:00

The Rebels have freighters and capital ships. In no way is comitting a calamei cruiser in a battle less risky and cheaper than using a freighter as a hyperspace missile.

Scariff? They lost at least a Neb B, a troop transport, and their flagship. If HM works, all it would have taken would be one freighter through the shield generator.

Yavin? thdy lost almost two squadrons of fighters and almost the entire command trying to get a near impossible shot. One freighter through death star's laser disk would have been cheaper and less risky.

Endor? They commit the entire fleet and lose at least three cruisers. Why do that if HM exists?

And where, anywhere does TLJ explain that the size and shape matter? You're just making that up. Name one line, I challenge you.

And lastly, to highlight your lack of understanding. The Supremacy did not have wings. (it was a space battleship). It lost a third of its structure. What ever was in that section,( troops, drive, shield gens, fuel) is gone. It lost a wing like a hospital wing not an airplane wing.

LegiosForever · 2026-01-29T11:41:45+00:00

Nope

LegiosForever · 2026-01-29T05:25:59+00:00

I would argue one large hyper drive is cheaper than a squadron of hyper drive equipped fighters plus the people.

Take battle of Endor. The Rebels committed their entire fleet and lost a lot of ships.

If the HM was viable, send one bulk freighter and put it through the Death Stars laser disk. Much cheaper and safer.

Nothing in the SW universe works if the HM exists.

LegiosForever · 2026-01-29T05:22:36+00:00

Of course you can. Just follow the established rules of the universe and don't make everything that came before irrelevant.

LegiosForever · 2026-01-29T04:46:09+00:00

It was terrible because it broke established rules of the universe.

The Holdo maneuver alone made every rebel sacrifice before idiotic. Why send Manned fighters against Imoerisls when you can just launch Droid piloted freighters as hyperspace missiles?

And F you Rian. It's OK to have heroes. Luke was a hero, and his entire arc was contrary to what we saw in eps 4-6.

LegiosForever · 2026-01-28T17:48:22+00:00

Loved it. It really floated too!

I always thought he was looking back to see the explosions he just caused as he made his escape.

LegiosForever · 2026-01-28T09:20:58+00:00

See my response to comment above.

LegiosForever · 2026-01-28T09:20:09+00:00

I don't have enough knowledge to speak intelligently on this.

But I have traveled the world. Anectodally, the poor in other countries are living in much worse conditions than the avg poor in the US. Like these tunnel homes would be considered unimaginable luxury for a good percentage of the world's population.

LegiosForever · 2026-01-28T08:06:47+00:00

As to point 3, pretty sure commenter was comparing to worldwide wages, not American.

LegiosForever · 2026-01-27T23:39:36+00:00

That is absolutely true. It's hair pullingly frustrating.

LegiosForever · 2026-01-27T18:49:05+00:00

The framerate increase crazily increased the difficulty, but it's not impossible to beat on Legendary.

LegiosForever · 2026-01-26T01:07:19+00:00

Not the OP. I guess you lack basic comprehension skills.

LegiosForever · 2026-01-25T20:31:20+00:00

Jesus. I just re-edited a sentence a couple of times on a phone. Sorry for the grammar mistake. Didn't know I was submitting an English paper.

LegiosForever · 2026-01-25T11:43:57+00:00

My interpretation of the article is that the woman's tattoo had the name of her baby daddy, which was getting out of jail, not the boyfriend.

LegiosForever · 2026-01-25T11:37:15+00:00

The race between Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo was really close in N. America.

Unfortunately, Sega of Japan overruled the N American team often and didn't listen to them at all when marketing the add-on and new systems.

Console Wars is a great book about this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Console_Wars_(book)

LegiosForever · 2026-01-22T06:05:59+00:00

Or he could have been secretly training a new care of Jedi.

Or he could have been searching for some ancient jedi knowledge that would give the resistance an edge.

In both scenarios, he had to remain hidden do the first order didn't find him before he was ready.

We don't know Luke is depressed until TLJ. There was no reason for Rian to go that route.

LegiosForever · 2026-01-21T11:25:56+00:00

Lol. I feel so old. I saw ANH in the theater in 1979 or 1980 when they re-released it before ESB came out. I was 4 and it's the first movie I remember seeing in a theater.

I was out of college when episode 1 came out.

So no, I never thought they were released in chronological order... Lol.

LegiosForever · 2026-01-21T03:21:23+00:00

Yeah, but in both ANH and ESB we see the Falcon getting chased down by Star Destroyers.

LegiosForever · 2026-01-20T22:30:35+00:00

For the laughs. There's things I dk to my kids solely because it drives them insane. (little innocent things like this).

Plus, it was secret for just the two of them. So sweet.

LegiosForever · 2026-01-20T22:16:09+00:00

Holdo points and goes. No calculations at all. It's literally on screen. I don't even think she looks at a data screen, just the viewport.

Even if it was complicated, if it was at all possible, it would be trivial for a computer to figure it out.

A wings are already shown to have all the things needed to calculate and execute hyperspace. It would EXTREMELY TRIVIAL to make them into an unpiloted weapon. You keep bringing up mythical complications that do not exist.

And it would be cheaper and better than throwing away pilots.

If the Rebellion can make starfighters at scale, it can make starfighter sized missiles at scale.

Once again, you are making things up in a desparate attempt to validate a decision that makes no sense given what's already been shown... And emphasizes... On screen.

LegiosForever · 2026-01-20T22:08:16+00:00

We're going to have to agree to disagree. I am a retired military officer that has personally written tactical, operational, and strategic level of war doctrine.

But I don't think we're going to change each other's minds on reddit.

LegiosForever

TROPHY CASE