Romulan and Cardassian warships launch a bombardment of the Founders' homeworld.
The effects of the bombardment on the Founders' homeworld.
Attacking the surface of a planet from orbit is referred to as an orbital bombardment. The scale varied from an general bombardment for maximum damage to surgical strikes. Frequently performed through traditional weaponry carried aboard starships, devices such as mass drivers are also used in orbital bombardment.
The joint Obsidian Order/Tal Shiar fleet conducted an orbital bombardment of the Founder's homeworld in 2372. However, it proved fruitless as the Founder's had known of the attack and already moved on from the planet and instead setting up a trap for the fleet, which resulted in its complete destruction. (DS9: "The Die is Cast")
On stardate 51474.3 the Dominion launched an attack on Coridan where they successfully managed to bombard the planet's dilithium mines from orbit, collapsing them and killing thousands of workers. (The Dominion War Sourcebook: The Fires of Armageddon)
In the Pendragon timeline, the Klingon Defense Force used mass drivers to bombard Cardassia Prime, killing billions and rendering the planet nearly uninhabitable. In at least one mirror universe, orbital bombardment by the Alliance caused similar devastation on Earth in the early 24th century. (Star Trek: Pendragon: "Exile", "The Distant Fire", et. al; Star Trek novel: Spectre)
External link[]
- Orbital bombardment article at Memory Alpha, the canon Star Trek wiki.