SADJ 7#3

weapon 2025
General Atomics is working to reduce the
size of land-based mobile systems (Navy
funded a shipboard application), but for
now, it’s big, but it’s also “bad!” The Railgun
can shoot a multipurpose projectile
over a hundred miles with pinpoint accuracy
several times a minute. Future versions
can even shoot ballistic missiles out
of their in-bound trajectory prior to reentry.
The railgun’s long-range projectiles
have a guided capability that gives them
their pinpoint accuracy and allows them
to adjust their path in flight. There are
even special projectiles used for space targets
that contain small maneuver-thrusters
for steering/course correction in a
non-air environment.
As this technology is perfected, we
will undoubtedly see it shrink in size, but
will it ever become man-portable? The scientific
answer is that this technology will
be refined, and at some point, it will become
smaller, lighter and modular. It will
reach a point where the Law of Physics will
limit the reduction of its size and it can go
no smaller. Man portability may never be
attained, but robot modular portability potentially
could, if such a capability was seen
as operationally justifiable and cost effective.
More exciting however, is the likely
refinement in its accuracy and capability
through the use of super sophisticated fire
control computers that are interoperable
with other powerful target detection and
direction systems. While General Atomics
flatly refuses to discuss the potential (and
understandably so), there is no reason why
this gun couldn’t be used to shoot hostile
satellites out of space orbit (with little to
no attack signature). There is also probably
no reason why, if fired from a sea
based, or friendly country’s mobile platforms,
it couldn’t be used to shoot down
hostile ICBMs during the boost stage, or
the orbital phase, or take out the launch
facility all together. Again, the imagination
is the limit for this technology.
Rods from God. So you ask, what is
a “Rod from God?” Quite simply, the rods
are inert (containing no explosive) 20 feet
long one foot diameter finned pole-like
tungsten rods, launched from a spacebased
orbital platform (God), that re-enter
Earth’s gravity with tremendous velocity.
They are guided by the launch satellite
through re-entry and are capable of striking
practically any surface or sub-surface
target (land or sea) anywhere on the face
of the earth. Their destructive force comes
from the high velocity kinetic energy they
deliver on target, comparable to that of a
small nuclear detonation minus the radiation.
Rods from God can easily penetrate
hundreds of feet into solid rock and deliver
a high-energy blast, along with hyper-velocity
shock wave pressures, that effectively
shatters surrounding rock or reinforced
concrete for thousands of feet within the
shock radius. Deep underground structures
(DUGS) within the blast radius cannot
survive no matter how reinforced they
may have been designed.
The satellite carrying multiple rods
can change orbits and altitudes as necessary
bringing the rods to bear above the
targets selected for kinetic bombardment.
It otherwise remains passively in orbit,
waiting for the launch code. Once the rods
are released, the time between re-entry and
impact would only take a few minutes. Additionally,
because the rods present a very
small re-entry signature and they re-enter
at hyper-velocity speeds exceeding Mach
10 at very high angles, they are virtually
impossible to defend against. Countermeasures
for the rods once launched have
yet to be developed. The only countermeasure
is to destroy the orbital launch platform
prior to its launch of the rods.
While the 1979 Strategic Arms Limitation
Talks between the U.S. and the
Soviet Union led to mutual agreement to
prohibit the deployment of third generation
orbital weapons of mass destruction
(nukes) containing Multiple Independently
Targetable Reentry Vehicles (MIRVs),
it did not prohibit the deployment of conventional
weapons. Neither is the Rods
from God system prohibited by either the
Outer Space Treaty that provides the basic
legal framework of international space law
specifically barring party states from placing
weapons of mass destruction in Earth
orbit, installing them on the Moon or any
other celestial body, or to otherwise station
them in outer space.
Electro-magnetic pulse (EMP)
weaponry. Within the grasp of most nuclear-capable
states and non-state actors,
an EMP weapon is an undeniable threat to
modern electronic-dependent infrastructure,
but is it operationally feasible without
attribution and retaliation? The short
answer is no. Nukes are exceedingly expensive
to build and deliver and all have a
specific origin of manufacture fingerprint.
But can a non-nuclear EMP be generated?
The longer answer is yes - and here’s how.
There are a number of natural phenomena
that generate EMP. Sunspots, lightening;
even major earthquakes are some examples
of natural EMP generators. Manmade
examples are nuclear and non-nuclear
EMP generators. While we’re all somewhat
familiar with EMPs resulting from nuclear
detonation and power grid surges, there is
another non-nuclear means to explosively
generate a sizeable EMP and you don’t
need to be a nuclear power to build them.
An explosively-pumped flux compression
generator (EPFCG) is a device used to
generate a high-power electromagnetic
pulse by compressing magnetic flux resulting
from detonating a small conventional
high explosive charge. The compression
process resulting from the explosion,
transforms the chemical energy of the explosives
into the energy of an intense magnetic
field that correspondingly produces
a large electric current electromagnetic
pulse. Because an EPFCG is physically destroyed
by the explosive charge that is used
to generate its pulse, it can be used only
once. A very formidable EPFCG package
small enough to be easily man-carried can
produce a pulse in the range of millions of
amperes and tens of terawatts, exceeding
the power of a lightning strike by orders of
magnitude. Most EPFCG designs require a
starting current pulse to operate, usually
supplied by a bank of high capacity capacitors.
One or more of these EMP weapons
detonated in the heart of any major city
will result in massive EMP destruction
and/or interruption of all systems that are
electronically reliant.
Electro-muscular disabling
technology. A potential less-than-lethal
technology being pursued today by a
small privately funded firm involves electro-muscular
incapacitation. Their patented
technology induces a very select waveform
into the body’s spinal cord, shutting
down the individual’s Sympathetic Nervous
System’s “fight and flight” ability
without affecting the higher portion of the
Autonomic Nervous System’s (ANS) ability
to keep a person’s heart beating or one’s
respiration. Currently, physical contact is
necessary to induce this waveform into the
body but there is talk of using directed energy
to induce this waveform. Obviously, if
an attack on a particular part of the ANS
is possible, they could likewise attack the
part that controls the heart and breathing
and like Star Trek, with a simple click of
a switch, select a stun or kill mode. If this
could be achieved using a directed energy
beam, a weapon such as this could be
as monumental to modern warfare as the
42 SADEFENSEJOURNAL.COM