[MilitaryStrategy] On the one hand, high-powered lasers can be “game-changing”. Speed, precision, a huge reduction in cost per shot, unlimited ammunition—at the tactical level, the confluence of these effects can be transformative. Further still, getting to the point we are at now is no small technological marvel. In 213 BC, Archimedes’ supposed use of the Sun and mirrors, acting as a collective parabolic reflector to burn attacking Roman ships during the siege of Syracuse, has for centuries held the fascination of philosophers and scientists alike.
On the other hand, technological innovations, however brilliant, do not necessarily equate to “changing the game” strategically. Just ask Archimedes, who, despite his ingenuity in turning the sun into a weapon, could not stop the sacking of Syracuse. Few technologies, military or otherwise, reach the rarefied air of being truly “game-changing”.
Indeed, this is not the first time high-powered lasers have been heralded as “game-changing.” On 23 March 1983, then–U.S. President Ronald Reagan shared his “vision of the future”: a programme “to counter the awesome Soviet missile threat with measures that are defensive. Let us turn to the very strengths in technology that spawned our great industrial base and that have given us the quality of life we enjoy today.” Reagan was referring to the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a comprehensive nuclear missile-defence system. |