Jesse Barrett
February 1, 2010
HUMN 432 Weapons of the Future:

Welcome to the future of technology in the 20th century. As the world progresses to grow, the weapons and technology do to. The question exist that “ What will the future be with weapons?” Will robots be built to have weapons in place of human soldiers? Many questions pop in our minds, thoughts, and opinions about what the future is capable of. In humanity today, we usually hear or see these issues from the radio, television, internet, and so on. Meaning that we can believe whatever the media is saying, but we honestly don’t know what the future holds in store for weapons, just violence. I wanted to talk about robots and the U.S. Department of Defense that will have one-third of its fighting capacity provided by robots. In this issue robots can be good or bad, just depending on the scenario at hand. The good reason is that these robots take place of human beings to save many lives. It saves humanity from risking their own lives in the line of battle, to spend more time with their loved ones. Another reason robots are good for taking out terrorist, and any other dangerous situation without feeling, emotion, or heart. On the opposite side, if robots fail or turn against their creator or humanity, just like the movie “ Terminator”, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Robots would also cause chaos if not programmed correctly to follow orders but is just required to kill. By the year 2035, the 1st completely autonomous robot soldiers on the battlefield, which would change the structure of war of humans versus robots. I can actually see this picture in my mind of how cool it would be but also how dangerous it could turn out. The reason why I say it would be dangerous because robots would cause a lot of damage to the environment and society would be ruined by technology. All humanity can do is just have good faith and pray for a positive outcome with weapons and robots. The combination of these Robocop killers makes you wonder: “Why should we trust what we are not familiar with?
As an American we have the right to be for or against these robots of destruction.

Moving on to the next issue with weapons is the budget for future weapons in the Army. The Army is asking for $38 million dollars to purchase over 9,000 guns for regular funds and oversea operation. The Army has to budget about 12,000 guns in 2009, and has already bought 5,000 shotguns, but is asking for an additional 3,600 in 2011 (Weapons 5). I guess you can never have enough weapons to make this world a better place. The Army is also working with cyber deterrence (weapons), that focus on three specific areas. One way is the Penalties and Retaliation, then comes the Interference ( what hurts one can hurt all), and finally the Futility ( limited impact due to resiliency and defenses). (Coleman 4). Cyber deterrence is directly dependent upon the nature of the attack as well as who is behind the attack. (Coleman 5) Peter French states that the military will eventually impact all of society due to new weapons to introduce ethical dilemmas not yet solved. The question is that: “ Will it be ethical to use these weapons outside or in the war”? I really think it would cause tension and for our own safety and privacy may be a threat or a disaster. The world is changing everyday at a fast pace and technology as well. In the book, “ Nuclear Weapons in the Twenty-First Century”, by Stephen M. Young explains how nuclear weapons play a huge role in the United States. Stephen Younger states that by lowering yields to reduce collateral damage, arms control advantages and the possibility that such weapons maintain confidence at lower cost than the current nuclear arsenal. Nuclear weapons are dangerous and the most destructive instrument ever invented. Mobile targets, fixed hard targets (missiles), distributed targets (naval bases), and super hard targets ( mountains). Nuclear weapons cannot be uninvented, but the national security of the United States and for the stability of the whole world. (Younger 7)

Now we can get into the good stuff, we call the “Weapons of the future”, so you better get prepared for battle. Today’s menu of weapons we have are: Light assault weapons, aircraft & helicopters, battle ships & aircraft carriers, artillery, armored vehicles & tanks, and anti tank & aircraft weapons. Millions and millions of weapons to choose from but I only chose the best ones to fit each category. The first category of weapons in the 20 century is the light assault weapons . The LWRC M6 assault rifle has outstanding firepower, reliability, and accuracy of the M4 carbine. The F2000 assault rifle is called the “ 21st century” by its futuristic look. It is 5.56mm and is a caliber assault rifle with bullets and it can hold up to 30 rounds. Heckler & Koch HK416 assault rifle has a 5.56x45mm NATO rounds. Its fire rate is 700 to 900 rounds per minute. This assault rifle is deadly and ranges between 200 to 800 meters. It also is reliable and has good accuracy to take care of any job. The Barrett REC 7(M468) is made in the United States and weighs 3.5kg. This weapon goes 750 rounds a minute and ranges from 600 to 800 meters. It also has strong fire power with good accuracy and 50% more stopping power. Moving on to the next category we call aircrafts and helicopters, the best in the world in my opinion. The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit is very futuristic and has a different look of the aircraft like a bird in the sky. The M1-28N (Russia), which has 2 crew members, that goes 300km/hour. This helicopter comes with 30mm cannon, rockets, bombs with a 8x air to air missiles. The AGM-114 Hellfire and AH-64D Apache Longbow (United States) are the best of the best helicopters. These choppers have a 2 crew members and goes 365 km/hour in speed. In addition it has a 30mm cannon, 70mm rockets, 8x air to air missiles as well. The best aircrafts are the Typhoon and The F-Raptor 22. The typhoon cost 61.5 million to built with the Mach 2 in maximum speed. In addition it has guns with a 1x 27 mm and AIM 9 Sidewinder. The F-Raptor 22 (USA) cost 137.5 million dollars with the Mach 2 plus more in speed. It has guns and Vulcan Gatling gun in starboard wing root with 480 rounds. Moving on to the best tanks in the world is the Leopard 2 (Germany). It speed is 72km/h with internal fuel in the 3rd generation composite. In addition, its hardness steel armament 1x120mm, metal L55 smoothbore gun. The MIA 2 (USA) that cost 4.35 million dollars, armament 105mm M68 rifle cannon. It also has 120mm M256 smoothbore with NBC system with speeds of 67.72km/h. It goes 42 miles per hour and that’s not bad for a tank compared to the past. Now to the big toys in the business of weaponry, with battleships. The Arleigh Burke Flight IIA guide missile destroyer (USA) and the King Sejung the Great class guided missile destroyer (Korea). Now the best nuclear attack submarine are the Akula II class ( Russia) weighs 7,900 to 9,500 tons with a speed of 35 knots. It includes a 4x 533mm torpedo tubes and goes deep in sea water. The Virginia class ( USA) weighs 7,800 tons with speeds of 25 knots with a 4 x 533mm in torpedo. In addition, it has the best 12 x VLS missiles in the war business of submarines. The biggest airplane is the Lockheed AC- 130 gunship, that is a heavy ground attack bomber. These weapons of mass destruction are my personal favorites but there are so many weapons in the world to day to choose the best of the best.

In conclusion, the conflict will take in the future, nuclear weapons will in the future be less contaminating, more discriminate, and more versatile. Therefore, a decline of conventional forces and the splintering of international conflict. ( Coleman 8) It’s all come down to decision making in preparations for the future, is it in you?