Kinetic bombardment satellite

Kinetic bombardment satellites, also known as kinetic rod launchers or colloquially as "kin cannons" were orbital devices, usually the size of a small building, which contained a magazine of large rods (traditionally made of tungsten), which were projected at high speeds and used for orbital bombardment through kinetic force.

Characteristics
Modern kinetic rod launchers usually consisted of a small, round base with a magazine capable of holding four to eight long, though thin and usually tapered, tungsten (or copper) rods. The base may be equipped with technology allowing the rods to be fired at a specific target remotely, or set to automatically fire after a certain amount of time. Modern rods were launched at such high speeds that, according to the witnesses of some bombardments, were capable of generating an explosion similar to that of a small nuclear warhead, though left behind no radioactivity. One barrage of eight tungsten rods was typically capable of decimating a five-kilometer radius, though sometimes more.

Usually, kinetic rod launchers could not be effectively reloaded, and as such each device was discarded or abandoned after use; some modern launchers were equipped with explosives and sensors to serve as a naval mine after dispensing its kinetic rod load.

Early
Kinetic rod launchers were used by Republic forces as early as the Pius Dea era, during which time similar weapons, usually cannons designed to fire a single tungsten rod, were mounted on ramships and used against other capital ships. They were banned in the Ruusan Reformation, though later brought back into common use during the Imperial era, during which several kinetic launchers were used (and often destroyed) in the Mandalore campaign. The ancient towns of Gre'pira on Mandalore and Kondisirk on Concord Dawn were destroyed by Imperial kinetic launchers. The United States also used kinetic launchers against local insurgencies around this time.