The United States Space Defence Platform was an armed military space station built by the U.S. government sometime by the early 2000s, orbiting the Earth and equipped with a small but powerful arsenal of nuclear missiles. Near the end of Rafael Drake's Nightfire operation, James Bond reached the platform. Just hours before, Drake's Phoenix agents, in astronaut regalia, had overtaken the Platform, easily murdering the Platform's staff with specially-made Laser Rifles. The Phoenix operatives had then activated the Platform's eight nuclear weapons, preparing to launch them, presumably in an effort to cripple the world's most powerful governments.