hunter-killer satellite

American

noun

a satellite designed to seek out and destroy a nearby enemy satellite by exploding itself into a cloud of high-speed metal fragments.

Etymology

Origin of hunter-killer satellite

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The Soviets have another advantage in space: the "hunter-killer" satellite that can track an orbiting vehicle, sidle up to it, and detonate like a hand grenade, blasting its victim to bits.

From Time Magazine Archive

Intelligence officials have dismissed speculation by some scientists that Cosmos 954's big, cylindrical nuclear power pack, a yard long and a yard thick, with its 110 lbs. of highly enriched uranium 235, was so powerful that it might actually have been part of a nuclear weapon or a hunter-killer satellite.

From Time Magazine Archive

Last week Defense Secretary Harold Brown confirmed what defense experts have long suspected: the Soviets have developed a "hunter-killer" satellite, straight from Star Wars, that can track down orbiting U.S. spacecraft � and wipe them out.

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023