US Military Wants to Own the Weather

[paparush]

http://space.com/scienceastronomy/051031_mystery_monday.html

Thunderbolts on Demand

What would a military strategist gain in having an "on-switch" to the weather?

Clearly, it offers the ability to degrade the effectiveness of enemy forces. That could come from flooding an opponent’s encampment or airfield to generating downright downpours that disrupt enemy troop comfort levels. On the flipside, sparking a drought that cuts off fresh water can stir up morale problems for warfighting foes.

Even fooling around with fog and clouds can deny or create concealment – whichever weather manipulation does the needed job.

In this regard, nanotechnology could be utilized to create clouds of tiny smart particles. Atmospherically buoyant, these ultra-small computer particles could navigate themselves to block optical sensors. Alternatively, they might be used to provide an atmospheric electrical potential difference -- a way to precisely aim and time lightning strikes over the enemy’s head – thereby concoct thunderbolts on demand.

Perhaps that’s too far out for some. But some blue sky thinkers have already looked into these and other scenarios in "Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025" – a research paper written by a seven person team of military officers and presented in 1996 as part of a larger study dubbed Air Force 2025.

[sam sarrha]

1. why bother eith that when you have Scalar weapons.. better than nukes

[shadowknows69]

2. anybody wonder

if there have been any tests lately? :tinfoilhat:

[ixion]

4. I know... that crossed my mind as well.

The timing is interesting, to say the least.

:tinfoilhat:

[Crayson]

3. No war needed anymore when Nanotech has fully arrived

The thing this article is speaking about is clouds (swarms of millions) on nano particles.

Science Fiction and also far thinking visionaries speak of "utility clouds" with billions and billions of nano machines in the atmosphere all around us and even WITHIN us as we inhale them.

This is the ultimate paradise as such an utility fog could virtually create anything on demand.

If the military really could arrive at such a stage where the have computer guided nanoparticles doing what they want this is just one step short to everybody being able to have his own fog around him and living haappily ever after.
There would be no reason for war anymore with everybody living happily ever after...

By the way:
You might want to look up "technological singularity" in Wikipedia if you're further interested in what the future might ultimately hold for you.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility_fog>

[Javaman]

5. It's all fun and games till someone looses an eye...

Imagine being a soldier out in combat and a cloud of these things descend upon you to "hide" your position, but accidentally he inhales a whole bunch of them. Doesn't sound pleasant, especially when the guy controlling them suddenly wants to raise them to 30,000 feet.

[callady]

6. "Space Superiority is Not Our Birthright, But It Is Our Destiny"

General Lance Lord

Air Force Seeks Bush's Approval for Space Weapons Programs

TIM WEINER / New York Times 18may2005

 

The Air Force, saying it must secure space to protect the nation from attack, is seeking President Bush's approval of a national-security directive that could move the United States closer to fielding offensive and defensive space weapons, according to White House and Air Force officials.

"Space superiority is not our birthright, but it is our destiny.  Space superiority is our day-to-day mission. Space supremacy is our vision for the future."

— Gen. Lance Lord, Air Force Space Command

Why the religious image?

Many of you know little about depleted uranium (DU), but this is the metal that will probably make up the bulk of what they'd be throwing down on us, if only because it is so cheap. It is a byproduct of the enrichment process for nuclear power generation and arms. We've got a lot of it with no place to dump it. Well, almost no place. Iraq is the government's latest of several dumping grounds. 

Just because it would be aimed at someone in the Middle East or elsewhere is no insurance whatsoever of our safety from it or the supposed threat(s) it is aimed at. And whether or not it hits its target or lands miles away is immaterial with regards to your safety.

When DU is heated, as it certainly would be on passing through the atmosphere at great velocity, it would do something that is technically called spalling, which for us means that bits of this uranium will be flaking off the DU shell in the form of oxides of uranium and in extremely minute particles. These particles are smaller than a virus or a human blood cell. They act under the laws of quantum physics and are not pulled down by gravity. They travel around the world in a matter of a few days — less than a week — and are radioactive for 4.5 billion years. It's the ultimate low-tech weapon, now to be used in space. . . . What goes around does indeed come around. The guy in the picture on that page is General Lance Lord, the leader of Air Force Space Command. He's sporting the season's latest casual wear inspired by another famous Lord, along with Darth Vader helmet in one hand and a DU shell in the other.

The proposed change would be a substantial shift in American policy. It would almost certainly be opposed by many American allies and potential enemies, who have said it may create an arms race in space.
http://www.mindfully.org/Technology/2005/General-Lance-Lord18may05.htm



"Space superiority is not our birthright, but it is our destiny.  Space superiority is our day-to-day mission. Space supremacy is our vision for the future."

— Gen. Lance Lord, Air Force Space Command

What a wacko.