Orbital bombardment

Orbital bombardment was the use of weaponry from orbit to attack the surface of a planet. The scale of the bombardment may range from precision strikes against single targets to wiping out all civilization on an entire planet through direct and indirect effects, such as radiation.
The surface of the planet Iconia was destroyed through massive orbital bombardment around 200,000 years ago. Only a single structure survived intact until 2365, containing an Iconian gateway. It is speculated that gateway technology allowed some of the Iconians to escape the attack. () An Iconian ziggurat on Vandros IV was impervious to orbital bombardment due to its neutronium construction. ()
In 1484, the Vaadwaur homeworld was rendered uninhabitable by an orbital bombardment using plasma bombs, conducted by the Turei and their allies. Six hundred Vaadwaur managed to survive by placing themselves in stasis. High levels of radiogenic particles still remained in the atmosphere when the visited the planet in 2376. ()
In 1996, Kathryn Janeway warned Henry Starling that could vaporize Chronowerx Industries from orbit in an instant. ()
In 2154, the Klingon High Council dispatched a three-ship fleet to destroy all colonies afflicted with the Klingon augment virus. N'Vak Colony was annihilated from orbit, but Qu'Vat Colony was narrowly spared the same fate when a cure for the virus was developed on-planet. ()
In 2155, in the mirror universe, self-proclaimed Empress demanded Imperial Starfleet's unconditional surrender, and threatened to bombard Earth's cities from the if they refused. ()
In 2256 of the mirror universe, the conducted an orbital bombardment strike against rebels based on Harlak, devastating a large area of the planet. ()
In 2259, a farmer who had survived a Gorn attack on Finibus III reported seeing streaks in the sky like "rain on fire", which Una Chin-Riley suggested could have been from a sub-orbital plasma bombardment. ()
In 2259 of the alternate reality, Admiral ordered Captain to kill John Harrison by having 72 advanced long-range torpedoes fired by the to his location on Qo'noS, the Klingon homeworld. Kirk, however, decided to apprehend Harrison and bring him back to Earth to stand trial for his crimes. ()
In 2267 in the mirror universe, the had been ordered to destroy Halkan cities from orbit, if the Halkans refused to allow the Terran Empire to mine dilithium on their planet. ()
Starfleet General Order 24 entailed the destruction of all life on a planet from orbit. Garth of Izar, during his insanity, attempted to implement this order against Antos IV in 2269. () Captain James T. Kirk also threatened to implement this order against Eminiar VII in 2267. ()
The Khitomer Massacre in 2346 took the form of a massive orbital bombardment launched by the Romulans, after Ja'rod provided the codes to deactivate Khitomer's planetary defense systems. ()
In 2366, Data warned the inhabitants of Tau Cygna V that the Sheliak "can obliterate you from orbit. You will die never having seen the faces of your killers." ()
In the same year, a Husnock warship attacked Rana IV and bombed the surface from orbit, devastating the planet and wiping out the Rana IV colony. ()
In 2371, the Tal Shiar and the Obsidian Order launched a joint operation to destroy the Founders of the Dominion by bombarding their homeworld in the Omarion Nebula, resulting in 30% of the rogue planet's crust being destroyed. However, the Founders had infiltrated both organizations and evacuated their homeworld in anticipation. The combined Romulan-Cardassian forces were then annihilated by an overwhelming Jem'Hadar fleet in the Battle of the Omarion Nebula. ()
In 2372, Elim Garak attempted to commandeer the 's weapons systems to destroy the Great Link on the new . He was stopped by Commander Worf. ()
In 2385, rogue synths launched a major attack on Mars that destroyed the surface and ignited flammable vapors in the stratosphere. As of 2399, the planet was still burning. (; )
In 2399, a fleet of Romulan warbirds were dispatched by the Zhat Vash to destroy Coppelius from orbit, but the fleet was forced to abandon the mission before the planet could be attacked. ()
On Frontier Day in 2401, the Borg remotely assimilated much of Starfleet and attempted to destroy Earth's population centres from orbit (after first disabling Sol Station and the planetary shield). The bombardment was narrowly averted by the crew of the , who destroyed the Borg Queen's cube and broke the Collective's hold over the fleet. ()
Category:Maneuvers