Futuristic weapons, such as the microwave beam and electromagnetic guns, are being deployed and tested, with the potential for wider use due to their low cost and speed. Some, like the F-22 Raptor’s solid-state laser, have been scrapped. While some weapons have a bad reputation, recent missile defense tests have been effective. Infantry weapons may be decades away, but some systems can be fitted to aircraft or Humvees. Solar satellites could potentially be converted into weapons, causing political problems.
Many futuristic weapons that have been talked about and invested in for at least a couple of decades are finally making their debut in recent years. These include the microwave beam, also known as the “pain beam”, in the form of the Active Denial System, which has been deployed in Iraq, electromagnetic guns, which have been extensively tested and will soon be equipped on US destroyers, acoustic weapons, which have seen limited use in the long-range acoustic device (LRAD). There was also discussion of equipping the F-22 Raptor with a solid-state laser, but the idea was scrapped.
In the coming decades, it is conceivable that the weapons we now consider “futuristic” – railguns, lasers, various beam weapons – could be widely used. For one thing, most of these weapons require no or negligible ammunition, making them radically cheaper than rockets and bombs. Secondly, many of them travel at the speed of light, which makes them much faster. Some of these futuristic weapons can even reach the horizon.
Some futuristic weapons have a bad reputation. Ronald Regan’s Star Wars missile defense program is the archetypal example of “futuristic weapons research,” but this project has spent tens of billions over two decades, with little accomplishment until recently. But the most recent tests with missile defense systems have been effective, although they don’t use any particularly futuristic methods: only fast and small interceptors. Already the proposals to place missile defense systems in Poland have provoked the ire of Russia.
It is difficult to create lasers or microwave beams powerful enough to be used as weapons that can be carried by individual soldiers, so such weapons for infantry use could still be many decades into the future. However, some of these systems can be fitted to aircraft or even Humvees. Research into flechette guns, small, fast-moving spines, has come up with nothing practical.
There has been much discussion about solar satellites, satellites in geosynchronous orbit that collect solar energy and send it to a receiver on Earth in the form of a scattered microwave beam. If one of these were launched, there would be at least the possibility in principle of converting it into a futuristic weapons system, which could certainly cause political problems.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
