Space Wars: The First Six Hours of World War III | 
| Authors: Willliam Scott, Michael Coumatos, William Birnes
Publisher: Forge Books
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 18781
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 0765313790
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780765313799
ASIN: 0765313790
Publication Date: March 17, 2007
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Product Description
Michael J. Coumatos is a former U.S. Navy test pilot, ship’s captain, and commodore; U.S. Space Command director of wargaming; and a government counterterrorism advisor. William Scott is a retired bureau chief of Aviation Week and Space Technology and a nine-year Air force veteran who served as aircrew on nuclear sampling missions. He is a six-time Royal Aeronautical Society "Journalist of the Year" finalist, and won the Society's 1998 Lockheed Martin Award for the "Best Defense Submission." He also received both the 2006 and 2007 Messier-Dowty awards for "Best Airshow Submission." With the help of New York Times bestselling author William J. Birnes, these renowned experts have joined forces to grippingly depict how the first hours of World War III might play out in the year 2010. Coumatos, Scott, and Birnes take the reader inside U.S. Strategic Command, where top military commanders, space-company executives, and U.S. intelligence experts are conducting a DEADSATS II wargame, exploring how the loss of critical satellites could lead to nuclear war. The players don’t know that the war they are gaming has already begun, miles above them in the lifeless, silent cold of space. Jam-packed with the actual systems and secret technologies the United States has or will soon field to protect its space assets, Space Wars describes a near-future nuclear nightmare that terrorists will relish but politicians prefer to ignore. In a quieter, more peaceful time, Space Wars would be an exciting work of fiction. But with the United States now at war, Space Wars is all too real. .
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| Customer Reviews: Read 15 more reviews...
 Good Concept, Not-so-good Writing May 9, 2008
I'm torn about this book. I want to like it - the topic is timely, and it's an excellent example of the importance of space to the world economy and American military (along with a cogent warning about how vulnerable our space assets and associated terrestrial elements are). Unfortunately, as a novel it is at best only adequate.
The book is essentially the novelization of a military wargame. Indeed, some bookstores list it as non-fiction. Presumably in an effort to make the book more attractive to general audiences (and sidestep restrictions on publishing classified after-action reports on the wargame), the authors made it into a novel and created characters on all sides of the conflict.
Unfortunately, all of the characters are cliched stereotypes, with the exception of the military wargamers, who are perfect humans and brilliantly insightful (note that the book was written by military wargamers).
In addition, there is an astonishing lack of attention to detail: The world population of Muslims is many times said to be "several billion," or "billions," which is off by a stunning amount (actual number, about one billion). They display, at best, a facile awareness of the Iranian military and political system (referring, for example to Iran's "Republican Guard," when Iran has no such institution). The heroic Air Force space plane pilot inexplicably wears Navy white rank on his flight suit instead of Air Force black rank. Classified cover sheets are the wrong color, etc.
Readers of this review might be tempted to ignore those mistaken details, viewing them as trivial matters. This would be a mistake. Since the "novel" is intended as a warning about the import of space assets and the vulnerability of same, the incorrect details about military matters call into question their entire thesis about how space assets work. If they get the small stuff glaringly wrong, can they be trusted to be accurate with the big issues?
Readers with an actual interest in these matters would be better served to read the 2000 Rumsfeld Commission report on space.
 What World War III? May 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
O'kay techno-thriller. To much politics and game theory for me. Realy slowed down to plot. Intersting insight into the space command and world of techno spies. But other then that there is no world war III as the title claims. It seems more like a day in the life of usual intrigue of us versus them. If you are interested in the workings of space command then buy this book, but if you are looking for a techno-thriller, move on!
Entertaining, plausible, but dated technology February 18, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
The book was very entertaining and offered a possible future scenario which was quite possible. The author attempted to mimic Tom Clancy's early style of writing but wasn't quite there. There was an over-abundance of adjectives at times but it wasn't too bad. The story flowed well and was believable but there were some added twists to the story that didn't make sense.
SPOILER (Don't read if you don't want to spoil the story)
1)If 4 GPS satellites were messing up the whole GPS network, just blow them out of the sky, very easy.
2)If another Shahab4 was getting ready to launch in 48 hours, why not just send another SpcOps team in to neutralize it. Shooting down French Galileo sats was not a good idea.
3)Two F-15's on the runway at Eglin with ASAT missiles going out to shoot down a French satellite and the French testpilot taxiing out at Eglin doesn't recognize the missiles and put two and two together after the Galileos are destroyed... :(
Other than those issues, I enjoyed the story, the book was quite an interesting look at 1980's technologies.
 Space Wars is a must read November 12, 2007
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
Space Wars: The First Six Hours of World War III -- A Wargame Scenario
by Michael J. Coumatos, William B. Scott, and William J. Birnes, a Forge Book published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, 2007, 400 pp., $29.95
Near earth orbital space is the new military high ground in this techno-thriller novel by a trio of authors who bring a diverse set of skills and experience to bear on a tale that is disturbingly plausible. A hostile Middle East nation lures a disaffected Russian scientist away from his secret nuclear weapon design institute to a Southwest Asia site where he replicates a high energy anti-satellite system. Capable of blinding or disabling almost any U.S. military or civilian satellite critical to the American surveillance, communications and navigation networks, the Russian's crude but effective electronic weapon literally fires the first shots of World War III.
Far from being the shots heard around the world, the short bursts of high energy microwaves from the anti-satellite weapon stab silently through the earth's atmosphere to destroy the electronics on some of the U.S.'s most sophisticated satellites. Glitches occur in the military's Global Positioning System, skewing its otherwise precise navigation and guidance information with devastating results for a Special Operations Forces team directing a strike against a terrorist camp in North Africa.
Commercial communications satellites suddenly lapse into degraded operating modes or drop off line completely. At first, it seems the losses are due to onboard system failures, calling into question the design criteria and quality control standards of the manufacturers. Representatives of the major contractors are called upon to explain the failures, which do not fit any pattern -- at first.
Otherwise reliable military comsats, navsats and reconnaissance birds also begin to mysteriously fail. And the warning flags fly. What's happening here? The satellite failures exceed even the most pessimistic lifetime predictions. Obviously, someone, somewhere is zapping America's critical space assets. The question is who and why, and more importantly, could this indeed be the precursor of World War III? From a strategic perspective, the obvious first steps by anyone planning such an attack would be to blind the U.S. military's space based eyes, cut its global communications satellite network and cripple the constellations of navigation and positioning satellites.
Which brings the reader face to face with this book's central and highly disturbing theme. How vulnerable is the U.S., if not the world's, space infrastructure? With the rapid evolution of technology, fed by the demand for instantaneous transmission of information, the world has become highly dependent on space based assets. Significant strides have been made in improving both the capacity and capabilities of satellite systems. But, can they survive the assaults of a determined attacker, even one using a relatively crude anti-satellite system? And, what would be the economic, political and military ramifications of such an attack?
The authors make an interesting comparison between the concept of freedom of the seas, which has been critical to world commerce and peace for centuries, to the freedom of space, which is equally critical to the 21st Century and beyond. How quickly would the global economy spiral into ruin if the myriad space based systems were hijacked or otherwise rendered inoperable?
Against this background, Space Wars takes us into the fascinating world of war gaming in 2010, as military leaders, politicians and industry specialists join forces to "round up the usual suspects" and finally finger the guilty parties. "Gaming" is a misnomer. This is a far cry from sand tables, lead soldiers and models of tanks, artillery and other weapons. These are not games being played by adults still enamored with toys. These are sophisticated brain storming operations using a wide array of sophisticated data gathering sources, high-powered computers and some of the most talented analysts and theoreticians in the world. And, co-authors Michael J. Coumatos and William B. Scott are uniquely equipped to lead the reader through this process.
Coumatos (U.S. Navy retired) is the former U.S. Space Command Director of War Games. He also served as a National Security Agency Adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Scott, who retired as Aviation Week & Space Technology's Rocky Mountain Bureau Chief after a distinguished career with the world's leading aerospace news magazine, spent years covering the global aerospace scene. In the process, he developed a deep understanding of how valuable (and vulnerable) space assets are to U.S. security. The remaining member of Space War's author trio, William J. Birnes, is the co-author of two New York Times best sellers, "The Day After Roswell" and "Worker in the Light".
It is significant that these three writers from diverse backgrounds could produce a lengthy narrative on a technologically sophisticated theme and have it flow smoothly from the opening sentence to its abrupt conclusion as war looms with Iran. Space Wars does not read as though it were compiled by a committee. The writing chores obviously were shared, but the three writers just as obviously melded their contributions into a cohesive final product.
Space Wars is an exciting read, even for the casual observer not familiar with the technical worlds of aerospace or war gaming. The text is liberally laced with acronyms, by necessity, but they are not overly intrusive on the book's story line. Major chapters are nicely sliced into readable sections that facilitate following the story as it whips around the world.
At the conclusion, the reader is left hanging by an abrupt ending, "Another horrible nightmare had begun". What's next? Space Wars -- Part Two, obviously.
A final comment; as was said in the beginning, the central theme of Space Wars is disturbingly plausible.
Donald E. Fink, Jr.
Former Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Director
Aviation Week & Space Technology
Fact Mixed with Fiction that Delivers a Message November 6, 2007
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is a real eye-opener that serves as a warning to our military and political leaders against complacency in the space and cyberspace arenas. The authors are very knowledgeable of existing military capabilities, threats, and vulnerabilities, and do an excellent job interweaving them and fictinal capabilities into a fictional war-gaming plot.
As the book identifies, the U.S. economy, society, and national security is heavily dependent on satellite and computer technology. It is our center of gravity, our Achilles heel, and a way for terrorist organizations and/or enemy states to attack us asymmetrically. The book does a solid job highlighting the devastating impact an attack on our space assets would have on military operations and our society in general. However, in my opinion, it doesn't go quite far enough. A space attack combined with a cyber attack like the real-world one suffered by Estonia in the spring of 2007 would deliver a significant blow to our nation.
The threats and vulnerabilities identified in the book are very realistic. One simply has to look at China's recently successful anti-satellite weapons test, or its "unconfirmed" attempts to blind surveillance satellites to see the vulnerability of our space assets. Additionally, it is well documented that al-Qaeda has been establishing ties with Latin American gangs, so the book's primary antagonists, an Iranian and Columbian drug cartel alliance, is not that far off-base.
Despite the quality of the book's content, there are a few weaknesses in the way the material is presented. The characters are very stereotypical...heroic fighter jocks and "Capt Americas" versus weak Washington bureaucrats and politicians. The story is also very one sided regarding how we became so vulnerable in space. The book primarily blames congress and the D.C. bureaucracy for cutbacks in funding. However, there is plenty of blame to go around. The Department of Defence space acquisition programs are notorious for enormous cost overruns and lengthy schedule delays. You can do a quick search on "SBIRS" for a good idea of a troubled USAF program, which has experienced billions of dollars in cost overruns and multi-year delays.
However, the book is fiction, and to me, having clear-cut heroes and villains makes it much easier and enjoyable to read. In my opinion, the one sided view of the issue doesn't detract from the overall purpose of the book. It does a great job getting its message accross by identifying a critical national security vulnerability.
TD
Gonzaga University
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