Boeing's New Project

I wasn't sure where to submit this, so I hope I got the right forum. If not, my apologies in advance.

According to this story (space.com...) Boeing has bet on the next-generation of warfare.

The Boeing Co. hopes to be a big player in "net-centric" warfare, launched two years ago when a Special Forces operative used a hand-held global-positioning device and a laptop to guide B-52 strikes against terrorist positions in Afghanistan.

"Net-centric operations" allow ground forces to communicate through a computer web with airborne and other units. The technology enables front-line troops and commanders in the rear to get a true picture of the battlefield and shortens response time.

This could be the creepiest thing I have ever heard of. Imagine some guy sitting on a battleship in the middle of the ocean with a joystick, and a computer screen, vaporizing targets at a whim.

The story goes on to say that the technology is not fully developed yet, and that "the idea was an outgrowth of the dot-com boom of the early 1990s, and might have deflated like the boom itself."

However, the implications of this are astounding. What are your thoughts on the subject?

I think this technologie is very wierd and dangerous. Also those spyplanes that can document an entire city from the sky without any control by a human. What if the signal is hacked by someone? Its remindes my of the movie "War Games".

"Do You Want To Play A Game?"............................

If anyone remembers the movie "toys" with robin williams I think one of the most interesting and sinister Ideas they had were hooking up video games to robotic planes and tanks so teenagers in arcades could fight wars by remote control. I would spend a quarter on that.

The more I read of technology like that the more I wonder how vulnerable they are to an electromagentic bomb, or someone taking out their communications, or satalittes... surely you are setting yourself up with more vulnerabilities than before

I agree Netchicken.
What if the RC planes takeoff with some kind of nucleair payload and then being shot with a electromagentic (death)ray (from space?) and crashes on the runway.....

Originally posted by sebastiaan
What if the RC planes takeoff with some kind of nucleair payload and then being shot with a electromagentic (death)ray (from space?) and crashes on the runway.....

Well, the EMP bomb would most likely destroy the nuke as well, since they don't usually detonate on impact (unless I'm completely wrong about that, but I don't think I am.)

However, if the payload was Chemical or Biological, it could be very messy.

One of the big things that creeped me out was the fact that the spy sattelites can see all the way to the ground so well. Talk about 1984.

Originally posted by sebastiaan
I agree Netchicken.
What if the RC planes takeoff with some kind of nucleair payload and then being shot with a electromagentic (death)ray (from space?) and crashes on the runway.....

yeah when this ray shot from space u won't these planes anymore
btw american nuclear bombs have a failsafe so they won't detonate that easily, plus an electromagnetic pulse disables electronics: so will disable the plane on the runway...crash...bomb ( with failsafe) doesn't detonate.

Hey I read the topic and wanted to say a few thigns; one is, with all the different things being wired into computers doesn�t it seem a matter of time until a hacker manages to get into the system somehow? That�s all we need is an enemy managing to get into the militaries computers, and since the military is so wired into computers, if the computers go down then the military is shut down as a effective force.

The next is, I don�t know if anyone ever did this but they use to have it on map quest�(They took it down, I�m not sure if its back up) but they use to have a thing where you could type in someone�s address and get instant aerial shots of their house. It was creepy typing my own address and seeing the roof of my own house.

It seems that technology is becoming more and more involved in things that it was never part of

Here is a link to that EMP bomb , they do detonate in the air , I don't know if it work on the electronics inside a nuke , they seem to need some type of exposed wiring , or circut board to hop onto .

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I do like the idea of drones , no pilots to put in harms way , nice and light for extended air time , and disposable to a point (in relation to a human life).

One other thing , my cousin is in the Navy , and remote controls landings from the ship in bad weather if the pilots are having trouble , not to far off from a giant video game... and net-centric

I agree, oddtodd, that there are benefits, but this seems like it could be another attempt at those in power to have an excuse to take away more of our privacy in the name of freedom.

What if the control system of such device goes out of control.....
and you cant stop it dropping its payload....?!?

Not to go the conspiracy route , but I think that a great deal of our country is under some kind of surveilance (govt. or private cams) in our everyday life (Banks , ATMs. gas stations , stores , traffic monitoring , library cards) already . This information is readily availabe for the asking(or taking)

I have an aquaintance who works with spy satellites for France , and he refused to tell me what kind of resolution they were capable off .

Our privacy is already been swept under the rug . The big boys already do what they want , it just sems that if you get caught doing something under these surveilance techniques you have a legal leg to stand on .(Can't break the law to enforce the law)

Originally posted by Bl00D_Th0rN
so will disable the plane on the runway...crash...bomb ( with failsafe) doesn't detonate.

Bomb itself don't explode but HEs in fission primary can explode when they're subject to shock or heat (by fire)... making it "dirty bomb" spreading radioactive material.


But there's one close call situation.

anuary 23, 1961
A B-52 bomber carrying two 24 megaton bombs crashes at Goldsboro, North Carolina. On one of the bombs, five of six interlocking safety devices fail, and a single switch prevents detonation. The explosion would have been 1,800 times more powerful than the bomb exploded at Hiroshima.

www.nuclearfiles.org...
www.cdi.org...

Ok first of all EMP bombs don't exist also like someone said the weapons go into a safe mode even if the airplane crashes the bombs wont explode also this is great tech for the average solider just imagine you are pinned down or cornered by the enemy you pull out this lap top get a couple of ucavs and B-52 tell them where the enemy is with this tech then you waste the enemy its great.


[edit on 7-7-2004 by WestPoint23]

great links ET , I had no idea....

Well, West Point, I believe oddtodd has posted a link about EMP bombs and their technical feasibility. They are not currently in existence, but the net-centric warfare is in early development as well, and so both could become mainstream at aroudn the same time. I just worry that we are depending too much on technology and computers, and not enough on ourselves.

Alleged microwave "bomb" courtesy of the Ruskies .www.tfd.chalmers.se...

RockerDorm wrote: "I just worry that we are depending too much on technology and computers, and not enough on ourselves."

Yea , we need to eat , sleep , stay warm , and raise our children wisely ... somethings are best done the old fassioned way....

Originally posted by oddtodd
Yea , we need to eat , sleep , stay warm , and raise our children wisely ... somethings are best done the old fassioned way....

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Originally posted by RockerDom

Originally posted by oddtodd
Yea , we need to eat , sleep , stay warm , and raise our children wisely ... somethings are best done the old fassioned way....

Couldn't have said it better myself.

When WWIII(?) is over then i think we dont have a choice then to adapt the old fassioned way of living.....

[edit on 7-7-2004 by sebastiaan]