Friday 24 July 2015

Push Button Warfare

The future of warfare may well be cheaper in manpower terms, as budget cuts bite, but it will probably be smarter and more hi-tech ....

 US Army Video Of Laser Tests

The film above, shows US army tests on a vehicle-mounted laser, with a powerful 10-kilowatt laser, powered by batteries and diesel fuel .... they even have plans for a more powerful version using 100 kilowatts in the near future, although some alternative power sources will be needed to boost the increasingly potent solid state lasers.

What with the increasing use of drones, and these lasers, the dawn of 'Push Button' warfare is almost here .... there is a belief by some western politicians that this means we don't need soldiers anymore, as battles are fought by technicians in bases in the the US (near Las Vegas), the UK or Cyprus etc. 

However you will always need soldiers to fight fanatics (who don't care about civilian losses), and actually take land back (as the air attacks on the IS caliphate are confirming) .... so the downsizing of western armies in response to the economic troubles is short sighted, in much the same way as it was after the first world war.

Lets just hope its not with the same outcome .....

2 comments:

  1. It's curious how technology has the effect of sanitizing war. Lasers don't litter battlefields with lead and bullet casings and might even cauterize the wounds of their unlucky victims.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I kinda suspect that these sort of lasers cauterise a bit more than a just a wound .... vaporise is probably a better term.

      Delete

All comments are welcomed, or even just thanks if you enjoyed the post. But please make any comment relevant to the post it appears under. Off topic comments will be blocked or removed.

Moderation is on for older posts to stop spamming and comments that are off topic or inappropriate from being posted .... comments are reviewed within 48 hours. I don't block normal comments that are on topic and not inappropriate. Vexatious comments that may cause upset to other commentators, or that are attempting to espouse a particular wider political view, are reviewed before acceptance. But a certain amount of debate around a post topic is accepted, as long as it remains generally on topic and is not an attempt to become sounding board for some other cause.

Final decision on all comments is held by the blog author and is final.

Comments are always monitored for bad or abusive language, and or illegal statements i.e. overtly racist or sexist content. Spam is not tolerated and is removed.

Commentaires ne sont surveillés que pour le mauvais ou abusif langue ou déclarations illégales ie contenu ouvertement raciste ou sexiste. Spam ne est pas toléré et est éliminé.