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"…we store information differently, reading a science fiction story, to make it make sense."
- Samuel R. Delany

Orbital Weapon Lancet (OWL)  
  A kinetic energy weapon placed in Earth orbit.  

...we have decided to utilize a class of kinetic kill projectiles known as Lancets - essentially guided steel telephone poles tipped with a chemical warhead. They're designed to fall from low Earth orbit and punch a hole in the ground, through several hundred feet of dirt, reinforced concrete and even steel. They then incinerate anything within the relatively small but very deep impact crater...
Technovelgy from Quantico, by Greg Bear.
Published by Vanguard in 2007
Additional resources -

See also the flying crowbars from Footfall, the 1985 novel by Niven and Pournelle. Jerry Pournelle wrote about this idea as early as 1964.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Quantico
  More Ideas and Technology by Greg Bear
  Tech news articles related to Quantico
  Tech news articles related to works by Greg Bear

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