There are only two
types of defense spending that are helpful.
The first ensures “peace through strength” that requires military
capabilities sufficient to deter aggression and the other is the development of
technology to ensure military superiority. Defense research and development is
the “bellwether” of the economy that produces new technology that can be
applied to civilian use.
The technology we are
using in electronics, wireless communication, unmanned vehicles and robotics was
developed by DARPA. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the
development of emerging technologies for use by the military.
Technology development
is also initiated by non-defense manufacturing companies that develop their own
products and processes.
I worked with
technology developing companies for 50 years from 1967 to 2017 and defense
industry companies for 31 years from 1986 to 2017. I received a Fellowship
Degree in Strategic Studies in 1986. I was blessed to work in the second
Industrial Revolution.
The US Star Wars
initiative in the 1980s was enough to convince the bankrupt USSR to dissolve
and that was the end of the Cold War. The US decided that if other countries
were dumb enough to adopt socialist governments, we couldn’t stop them. But the
Star Wars initiative started lots of DOD projects.
In 2005, I got a call
from Scientific Research Corporation to look at their “problem” Engineering
Postings. One required High Power Microwave Test experience and the other
required High Power Laser Test experience. I called the Program Manager in the
DOD and confirmed that these were weapons systems. I got the info and reposted
the openings in Physics Today for the Scientists who would be in charge of 7
University Teams working on each weapon.
One of them was the
Laser Weapon and the other was the Microwave Pulse Weapon. Work on these
weapons usually includes developing countermeasures for each. Now in 2019, I’m
reading that the US has developed satellites that can avoid destruction.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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