You can't say that civilization don't advance, however, for in every war they kill you in a new way.
Will Rogers
Robots, lasers, rail guns, power armor, and all the other cool stuff from science fiction is on its way to a battlefield near you.
The only thing we as a species love more than killing each other is inventing new ways to kill each other. So let’s take a look at some of these:
Railgun
A railgun is essentially an “electric cannon”. Instead using an explosion to drive a projectile out the barrel, it uses big freakin’ electromagnets. The projectile comes out of this thing at insanely high speed, somewhere in excess of 5,000 mph. It’s expected to have a range of 100 miles, far in excess of existing naval guns. The projectile goes so fast that it doesn't even need explosives to destroy its target. Kinetic energy alone will do the job.
How? Pretty simple actually. Kinetic energy is half the mass of the object times its velocity squared (velocity x velocity). 5000 mph x 5000 mph equals really big number. Ouch.
A prototype railgun is scheduled for deployment on a Navy ship this year although I’m not sure they’ve decided which ship to put it on yet.
Energy Weapons
Lasers and other “energy weapons” have been a staple of science fiction for a very long time. We’ve been working on them for decades, but like nuclear fusion, we always seem to be 20 years away.
The US Navy now has an operational laser weapon on board the USS Ponce (LPD-15). The 30-kilowatt LaWS (Laser Weapon System) is capable of taking out small boats and drones. The advantages of a laser are that it costs about a dollar per shot and as long as you have electricity you have ammunition.
Note that despite what you see on television, truly powerful lasers are not in the visible spectrum. The beam is invisible.
There is still a ways to go before a truly powerful laser weapon can be fielded but we seem to be headed in that direction.
The one that really scares me is the Active Denial System. This has been around since 2010 and was primarily meant for crowd control. The device transmits a focused, millimeter wave which causes an intolerable sensation of burning. The idea behind this weapon is to disperse a crowd by causing intense pain without causing actual physical harm. At least in the short term. I’m not sure anyone knows what long-term effects there might be.
What scares me about this device is that law enforcement has already expressed an interest. The LA County Sheriff’s Department actually has one set up in one of their detention facilities. They believe it will stop or lessen inmate assaults. So far so good.
What I find chilling, is that If misused (and when has that ever happened) I could see this becoming a horrific torture device. Think about it.
Smart Bullets
Another idea straight out of science fiction. The military now has a .50 caliber bullet equipped with optical sensors than can hit “moving and evading targets with extreme accuracy at sniper ranges”. Unlike a standard bullet, this one uses small fins to stabilize and steer it. Almost like a tiny guided missile.
Power Armor
The idea of a powered suit of armor has been around for a very long time. Robert Heinlein wrote the definitive Starship Troopers in the 1940s, but the idea actually goes back further. Power Armor is a staple of comic books and video games including of course Iron Man and my favorite, the Fallout series.
Now it appears that we’re close to having operational exoskeletons for use in medicine, industry and even the battlefield.
Hyundai is developing a “wearable robot” that reminds me a bit of Sigourney Weaver's power loader from Aliens. It’s said to allow the wearer to lift up to 600 pounds. The potential medical uses are obvious. Something like this could give mobility to the disabled.
The military, of course, will find a way to use this. The South Korean Army is already working on a version that will allow soldiers to carry heavy loads across mountainous terrain. Makes sense for a mountainous country like South Korea.
The current focus, with this technology seems to be reducing injury and allowing soldiers to carry even more junk than they’re already loaded down with.
We probably won’t see a real “Iron Man” suit for a while yet. Current prototypes drain their batteries much too quickly for battlefield use. Kind of tough to plug in and recharge while you’re in the middle of a firefight. “Someone cover me! My battery is down to three bars!”
Jet Packs
Sorry, we don’t have practical jet packs yet and we probably won’t in the foreseeable future. Barring some major breakthrough in propulsion, you just can’t carry enough fuel on one to do anything meaningful.
Jet packs have been around since the early 1960s and have been a staple of James Bond and science fiction films.
While extremely awesome, and yes I want one, you just can’t do much with them. The original Bell Jet Pack of the 1960s carried 20 seconds worth of fuel. In 50 years the technology has improved to a whopping 33 seconds. Source — Jet Pack International
Max Flight Time: 33 seconds
Maximum Distance: 2500 ft
Max Speed: 77 mph.
Maximum Height: 250ft
Max Pilot Weight: 180 lbs.
Fuel: H202
Fuel Capacity: 5.3 gallons.
The problem I see with any vertical-lift device, be it a jet pack, hoverboard, hoverbike or something yet to be invented is that there is a “dead zone” between about 20 feet and 200 feet of altitude.
In the event of an engine failure an aircraft can glide and a helicopter can autorotate. A jet pack or hoverboard turns into a brick. If that happens at 100 feet you’re too low to use a parachute and just high enough to leave a hole in the ground shaped like your body. Yes, I’ve watched a lot of cartoons.
Drones
Drones have actually been around longer than you think. The Ryan Firebee dates back to the mid 1950s and saw a lot of use in Vietnam. It was only fairly recently, however, that armed drones or Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAVs) came into use. Will they completely replaced manned aircraft someday? It’s certainly possible.
What is certain is that in the near future we’ll be seeing a lot more of them.
Operating from an aircraft carrier is one of the most challenging feats in aviation. Carrier landings or “traps” are very difficult, as any naval aviator will tell you. To me it seems like a lot of work just to be stuck on a boat with 5,000 of your closest friends but they seem to enjoy it.
Never fear though, because now we have a drone that can even do that. The Northrop Grumman X-47B looks a bit like a miniature B-2 bomber and has demonstrated the ability to operate from an aircraft carrier. It can even air refuel, which I can vouch for being a very difficult maneuver.
One proposed idea is to use “swarms” of (relatively) cheap drones to overwhelm enemy forces. Current military drones really aren’t that cheap however. A relatively simple drone like the MQ-9 Reaper costs $17 million, about 2/3 the cost of an F-16C in today’s dollars. They’ll have to get a lot cheaper before that becomes a viable tactic.
Don’t think that other people don’t have these too. Currently 28 other countries operate armed drones and some of them aren’t our buddies. Russia, China, Iran and even North Korea all have drones.
The US Army is very worried about drone attacks by terrorists or conventional powers. Air defense became a low priority for the Army after the end of the Cold War. It’s now become a big deal again because of the drone threat.
I’m actually surprised that some bad-guy hasn’t tried to put an explosive payload on one of the larger quad-copters to make a poor-man’s guided missile. I fear it’s only a matter of time.
Micro Drones
Imagine a tiny drone the size of an insect. It could literally be the “fly on the wall” in an enemy’s headquarters. Maybe it then transmits its exact coordinates to the larger drone that is loitering high overhead, waiting to swoop in for the kill. These may soon be coming to an intelligence agency near you. I predict people will be buying a lot of flyswatters in the near future.
Airborne Aircraft Carrier
The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier from The Avengers is downright silly but the idea of an airborne aircraft carrier has been around for a while. The Akron-class airships of the 1930s were able to launch and recover biplane fighters. In the 1950s the idea of carrying a “parasite fighter” inside a B-36 was briefly tested.
The Pentagon is now looking into launching and recovering drones from aircraft like a B-52 or C-130. I suppose if a drone can land on aircraft carrier we could probably make one dock with a B-52.
Arsenal Plane
This sounds like something out of a Dale Brown novel but I think the idea has merit.
One of the shortcomings of stealth aircraft is that they have to carry their weapons internally. This limits how many missiles they can carry into battle. The F-22, while largely unbeatable I’m told, is limited by the eight missiles it carries. Once they’re gone it has to go home.
The idea of the “arsenal plane” is to have a large aircraft with air-refueling capability carry a whole boatload of missiles that could be remotely targeted by the F-22s and F-35s. These missiles could be
of the air-to-ground or air-to-air variety. Apparently the advanced data-links we have today are quite capable of doing this.
Now where would we find a big airplane that carries a lot of missiles and can be air refueled? Hmmmmm……..
Missiles
Now missiles have been around for a long time, but they’re getting to be scary good.
What I find most impressive is the ability to lock-on after launch. That means you may not even know one is heading your way until it turns on its radar for the “endgame”. Some have even demonstrated the ability to make a 180 degree turn to target an enemy behind the launch aircraft.
In my day we at least had a chance against all but the very best missiles. Today I’m not so sure. These things are getting much better at ignoring countermeasures. Newer heat seeking missiles are smart enough to know the difference between a flare and a jet engine and ignore the flares.
An SU-35 can carry up to 12 missiles. Against a modern Western aircraft their tactic would be to launch a salvo of up to six missiles at a time with mixed seeker heads: radar, heat-seeking and anti-radiation. Turn on your ECM to defeat the radar-guided missiles and the anti-radiation missiles will home-on-jam. Oooooooh! Nasty!
I would expect the first few days of any conflict with a conventional power to be exceedingly bloody. The skies would literally be filled with missiles, at least until supplies ran short.
I think missiles today may have the upper hand, at least until we can make lasers small enough to fit on combat aircraft (it’s in the works).
Robots
Military robots have been around for a while, primarily for bomb disposal. We’re about to see a lot more of them in coming years. Some of them may even be armed.
This raises some legal issues.
Suppose your Killbot 5000 Ground Assault Unit mistakes a busload of nuns for a group of terrorists. Who do you put on trial for war crimes? The people who wrote the software? The CEO of Killbot Inc? The person who flipped the “on” switch?
Of course you realize where this is going: