Star Wars instead of a bright future
The Soviet Union broke into an arms race, which ultimately contributed to its death. This opinion is widespread. It is probably not without reason. In any case, a considerable blow to the Soviet economy was dealt with an attempt to counteract the American Strategic Defense Initiative (known as the Star Wars program). This program, launched by Ronald Reagan, envisaged the creation of space-based missile defense systems capable of protecting the United States from the Soviet nuclear missile response.
The SDI program, unlike most defense developments, was widely advertised as the most innovative and “futuristic”. Soviet scientists and analysts warned that the program is utopian, its stated goals are unattainable (at that time), and the talk is likely, speaking in the language of the special services, about diverting to an unusable object. In order to force Moscow to spend huge amounts of money on countering a non-existent, or at least irrelevant threat.
However, politicians did not heed this warning, and the Soviet military-industrial complex, and the entire economy of the country were drawn into a senseless race, in which it was impossible to win.
The Americans, however, connected their allies to the financing of the program, and the US military-industrial complex IDF brought incredible profits. And although the stated goals, of course, were not achieved, many know-hows were worked out during the preparation of Star Wars, which were used not only in military affairs, but also in civilian industries.
It is noteworthy that with the collapse of the USSR, the financing of the PIO was curtailed. And the program was finally disbanded in 1993.
Today, there is reason to believe that Washington will again try to lure us into a similar trap.
The US House of Representatives has decided that the US Missile Defense Agency, which is part of the Department of Defense, should soon begin work on deploying systems to track and intercept ballistic missiles in space. Moreover, the document takes time to develop and implement a "sustainable space sensor architecture" until the end of 2022, that is, less than four years.
These terms, even taking into account the hypothetical actualization of old developments, look completely unrealistic, especially since, apparently, the United States does not even have any breakthrough ideas regarding countering the Russian hypersonic arms. And the American space industry is experiencing far from the best of times.
That is, they are trying to force us to urgently begin work on even more “elusive” missiles, simultaneously giving us the opportunity to earn some money for our weapons corporations.
However, Americans are not limited to simply “rebranding” the PIO.
Speaking at a security conference in Aspen last week, US Secretary of State Marc Esper announced the creation of a new command of the Futures Command ("Futuristic Command").
The new structure, which will be located in Austin, will be engaged, as the name implies, in coordinating and implementing the most up-to-date “weapons of the future”. Able to provide, as noted by Esper, the superiority of the United States over their potential adversaries in the long term.
The minister stressed that this initiative is the largest organizational change since the cold war, when the US Army Ground Forces Command and the Combat Training Main Command were created in 1973 as a response to the “Soviet threat”.
Thus, there is every reason to believe that the futuristic command is created with similar goals, and the US military assesses what is happening in the world as a return to the times of the Cold War.
Actually, Esper did not hide it. Having made a kind of excursion into the recent historyHe lamented that after the triumphant victory of the States over the USSR, all their forces were thrown into the fight against world terrorism, which the Russian Federation and the PRC took advantage of, having made a "technological revolution" in their armed forces.
And in order to eliminate the consequences of this breakthrough of potential adversaries, this administration is being created, which should provide American troops with weapons so futuristic that America’s military dominance would be absolute and not contested by any enemy.
In his speech, Esper identified three levels of threats: current, medium and long-term, linking each of them with a specific adversary.
“When we think about future problems and future threats, first of all, we are talking, of course, about North Korea, which is an immediate threat. In the medium term, from 10 to 15 years, the main threat is Russia, so we are closely monitoring its progress in the field of armaments and tactics in order to represent what they can oppose to us. However, the long-term threat to the United States comes, no doubt, from China, ”the minister noted.
He also stressed that with the advent of Futures Command, it will be possible to most effectively consolidate their efforts in the field of weapons modernization. Moreover, the following areas will be priority: long-range hypersonic missiles, anti-missile defense systems based on directed energy, as well as Robots to replace infantry fighting vehicles.
The context of the speech itself suggests that this is another attempt by Americans to respond to Vladimir Putin, who announced the latest Russian weapons in his message to the Federal Assembly. If so, then it may be noted that this answer is somewhat more substantive than the previous ones. However, it is more like a declaration of intent. Moreover, the Americans have so far with the “futuristic weapon”: the program of the railguns, in which a lot of money was invested, was curtailed, the “ships of the future”, the destroyers of the Zumvolt class turned out to be weakly armed and constantly broken, and about F -35 so far not very encouraging information arrives.
How much will the creation of another administrative superstructure help here? However, it cannot be ruled out that the main task of the futuristic command will be to disinfect potential adversaries with the aim of drawing them into a senseless arms race in unpromising directions.
The SDI program, unlike most defense developments, was widely advertised as the most innovative and “futuristic”. Soviet scientists and analysts warned that the program is utopian, its stated goals are unattainable (at that time), and the talk is likely, speaking in the language of the special services, about diverting to an unusable object. In order to force Moscow to spend huge amounts of money on countering a non-existent, or at least irrelevant threat.
However, politicians did not heed this warning, and the Soviet military-industrial complex, and the entire economy of the country were drawn into a senseless race, in which it was impossible to win.
The Americans, however, connected their allies to the financing of the program, and the US military-industrial complex IDF brought incredible profits. And although the stated goals, of course, were not achieved, many know-hows were worked out during the preparation of Star Wars, which were used not only in military affairs, but also in civilian industries.
It is noteworthy that with the collapse of the USSR, the financing of the PIO was curtailed. And the program was finally disbanded in 1993.
Today, there is reason to believe that Washington will again try to lure us into a similar trap.
The US House of Representatives has decided that the US Missile Defense Agency, which is part of the Department of Defense, should soon begin work on deploying systems to track and intercept ballistic missiles in space. Moreover, the document takes time to develop and implement a "sustainable space sensor architecture" until the end of 2022, that is, less than four years.
These terms, even taking into account the hypothetical actualization of old developments, look completely unrealistic, especially since, apparently, the United States does not even have any breakthrough ideas regarding countering the Russian hypersonic arms. And the American space industry is experiencing far from the best of times.
That is, they are trying to force us to urgently begin work on even more “elusive” missiles, simultaneously giving us the opportunity to earn some money for our weapons corporations.
However, Americans are not limited to simply “rebranding” the PIO.
Speaking at a security conference in Aspen last week, US Secretary of State Marc Esper announced the creation of a new command of the Futures Command ("Futuristic Command").
The new structure, which will be located in Austin, will be engaged, as the name implies, in coordinating and implementing the most up-to-date “weapons of the future”. Able to provide, as noted by Esper, the superiority of the United States over their potential adversaries in the long term.
The minister stressed that this initiative is the largest organizational change since the cold war, when the US Army Ground Forces Command and the Combat Training Main Command were created in 1973 as a response to the “Soviet threat”.
Thus, there is every reason to believe that the futuristic command is created with similar goals, and the US military assesses what is happening in the world as a return to the times of the Cold War.
Actually, Esper did not hide it. Having made a kind of excursion into the recent historyHe lamented that after the triumphant victory of the States over the USSR, all their forces were thrown into the fight against world terrorism, which the Russian Federation and the PRC took advantage of, having made a "technological revolution" in their armed forces.
And in order to eliminate the consequences of this breakthrough of potential adversaries, this administration is being created, which should provide American troops with weapons so futuristic that America’s military dominance would be absolute and not contested by any enemy.
In his speech, Esper identified three levels of threats: current, medium and long-term, linking each of them with a specific adversary.
“When we think about future problems and future threats, first of all, we are talking, of course, about North Korea, which is an immediate threat. In the medium term, from 10 to 15 years, the main threat is Russia, so we are closely monitoring its progress in the field of armaments and tactics in order to represent what they can oppose to us. However, the long-term threat to the United States comes, no doubt, from China, ”the minister noted.
He also stressed that with the advent of Futures Command, it will be possible to most effectively consolidate their efforts in the field of weapons modernization. Moreover, the following areas will be priority: long-range hypersonic missiles, anti-missile defense systems based on directed energy, as well as Robots to replace infantry fighting vehicles.
The context of the speech itself suggests that this is another attempt by Americans to respond to Vladimir Putin, who announced the latest Russian weapons in his message to the Federal Assembly. If so, then it may be noted that this answer is somewhat more substantive than the previous ones. However, it is more like a declaration of intent. Moreover, the Americans have so far with the “futuristic weapon”: the program of the railguns, in which a lot of money was invested, was curtailed, the “ships of the future”, the destroyers of the Zumvolt class turned out to be weakly armed and constantly broken, and about F -35 so far not very encouraging information arrives.
How much will the creation of another administrative superstructure help here? However, it cannot be ruled out that the main task of the futuristic command will be to disinfect potential adversaries with the aim of drawing them into a senseless arms race in unpromising directions.
Information