Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Space Marines

The Pentagon wants to be able to get troops anywhere on Earth within two hours. [Link]

Marines launched the concept after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. They needed the "capability to transport small, mission-tailored units through space from any point on the globe to a contingency at any other point on the globe" within minutes of an order, according to a Marine document.

Some critics are skeptical. The concept defies physics and the reality of what a small number of lightly armed troops could accomplish in enemy territory, said John Pike, a military analyst who runs Globalsecurity.org.

"This isn't even science fiction," Pike said. "It's fantasy."

Private rocket pioneer Burt Rutan says the plan is technologically possible. Rutan's SpaceShipOne was the first privately financed vehicle to carry people into space. It won the $10 million "X Prize" in 2004 for flying into space twice in five days.

"This has never been done," Rutan said in an e-mail. "However, it is feasible. It would be a relatively expensive way to get the troops on the ground, but it could be done."

Terrorist threats to the United States, according to a statement of need from the Marines in July 2002, can emerge quickly anywhere in the world. A nearly instantaneous response from a small contingent of troops could snuff them out. Rocketship forces could also rescue troops trapped behind enemy lines.

"In the end, events around the globe can unfold much more rapidly and in many circumstances call for the earliest intervention if larger conflicts or other negative international implications are to be averted," the statement says. "Space transport and insertion is the only means of attaining the needed speed of response."

And while on the way to their target, they can read up on raygun safety. [Link]
Just because the US Air Force wants to arm itself with deadly combat rayguns doesn't mean it's about to skimp on safety. No sir.

With great power (say, a weapons grade 100 kilowatt blaster cannon) comes great responsibility (a 32-page safety manual).

A recently published Air Force Instruction paper has established a safety program for Directed Energy Weapons (DEWs), also affectionately known as death rays.

Rest assured compliance is mandatory.

"DEW systems create unique hazards that are different from conventional and nuclear weapons," the paper informs. "Potential DEW systems covered by this instruction include, but are not limited to, high-energy lasers, weaponized microwave and millimeter wave beams, explosive-driven electromagnetic pulse devices, acoustic weapons, laser induced plasma channel systems, non-lethal directed energy devices, and atomic-scale and subatomic particle beam weapons."

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