Recently Retired USAF General Makes Eyebrow-Raising Claims About Advanced Space Technology
Recently retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General Steven L. Kwast gave a lecture last month that seems to further signal that the next major battlefield will be outer space. While military leadership rattling the space sabers is nothing new, Kwast's lecture included comments that heavily hint at the possibility that the United States military and its industry partners may have already developed next-generation technologies that have the potential to drastically change the aerospace field, and human civilization, forever. Is this mere posturing or could we actually be on the verge of making science fiction a reality?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @02:35PM (3 children)
I expect it just means the technology is sound. Not that you build it, unsure if it'll work, and go from there.
Like others have mentioned, it's probably just a reference to something like (if not precisely referencing) SpaceX's suborbital transport system. Never really thought about it but military probably will be some of the first consumers. They would place a high priority in super-rapid transport from A to B and don't especially care about costs. At scale you're talking the complete obsolescence of crew transport systems. Could even change the entire paradigm of military "deployment."
Would bet, a lot, Musk had considered this long before deciding to push forward on this.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Tuesday December 17 2019, @05:21AM (2 children)
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 17 2019, @06:35AM
It is the standard trade off in warfare. If you can't do something better, do more of it. If you can't make a single object capable of reliable interception of those, then just shoot more than one interceptor. For an example of such a philosophy, look at the CIWS or CRAM, where multiple projectiles (sometimes in the thousands) are used.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 17 2019, @07:46AM
In general warfare, that's not even scratching the surface. Russia has now developed technology [popularmechanics.com] to create directed artificial and unimaginably massive tsunamis using underwater nuclear detonations that there's no practical way to stop. Imagine a 300 meter tsunami traveling miles inward and consuming New York City. Oh yes, the tsunami's waters would also be heavily radioactive. Unlike a missile blast you could see it coming. The detonation would set off detectors worldwide. And we'd be able to see the tsunami coming, potentially from hundreds of miles away. Nonetheless, there'd be absolutely nothing to do about it. Everything within miles of the coast is going to be under hundreds of meters of radioactive water in less than an hour. Effective evacuation would be impossible.
This is why the saber rattling is so unbelievably idiotic. It's in denial to the basic reality of the world today and that's that no "developed" (read: nuclear) nation has any chance of militarily coercing any other developed nation. Something to consider on any political leader that wants to take a 'hardline' stance on 'belligerent' nations. The political leaders will be fine in any nuclear scenario. They have nice super safe bunkers, and will be flown out of any potentially dangerous regions within seconds of reasonable concern. And for those of sufficient narcissism (more than abundant among high level politicians), they will leave a legacy that will never be forgotten.