Thursday, October 25, 2012

Bloodless Warfare

CBS in St. Louis reports that Boeing has developed a new technology that allows the military to attack electronic infrastructure without causing any harm to human beings:
Boeing successfully tested a new missile that can take out electronic targets with little collateral damage.

The aerospace company tested the microwave missile last week on a two-story building on the Utah Test and Training Range where computers and electronic systems were turned on to gauge the effects of the missile’s radio waves, according to a Boeing press release.

The missile, known as CHAMP (Counter-electronics High-powered Advanced Missile Project), fired a burst of High Powered Microwaves at the building, successfully knocking out the electronic systems and computers, and even taking out the television cameras recording the test.

“This technology marks a new era in modern-day warfare,” Keith Coleman, CHAMP program manager for Boeing Phantom Works, said in the press release. “In the near future, this technology may be used to render an enemy’s electronic and data systems useless even before the first troops or aircraft arrive.”

Seven targets were taken out in total during the one-hour test which left no collateral damage.
There's more on this test at the link. Maybe Boeing can speed up production so the missile can be used against the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That'd put a bee in the mullahs' turbans.

Primer on Foreign Policy

Former congressman Thad McCotter has a brief piece at The Daily Caller in which he offers ten simple truths for those just beginning to learn about foreign policy issues.

Most of the ten are a little silly, but his top three contain more than a grain of truth, and we'd do well to heed them:
  • The United Nations is the august international institution where America pays through the nose to get kicked in the teeth.
  • The only time to trust a dictator is when he’s promising to kill you.
  • No one can follow you when you’re leading from behind.