Future of warfare ?

Question

What do you think ? How will the new soldiers and modern armies of the world look like. Will they use laser rifles , guns and such , full body armors or some sort of power exoscelets . Usa army is developing some of those projects . I'm not talking about 20 feet tall robots or Gm super soldiers. Please be realistic.

Answer 1

Another "Popular Science" Question. No surprise there.

Warfare in human history fluctuates from being a test of strength between highly trained specialists (Japanese Samurai, Byzantine Kataphraktoi) to a clash of massed armies relying on an equalizing innovation (Assyrian infantry, Napoleonic Era musketeers). The advent of the Digital Age has swung the pendulum increasingly towards the former. Whereas you can outfit masses of light infantry with the AK-47, the lethality of a single Special Forces ODA, with the millions invested in training, equipment, service and support, is far beyond that which the vast majority of modern-day combatants can muster.

Technology is on the verge of creating the equivalent of the modern-day Feudal Knight, through advances in integrating man and machine. Once key fields of research show breakthroughs - nanotechnology, cybernetics, artificial intelligence, and the like - the citizen-soldier will no longer be cost-effective to maintain in the field. Why put a hundred meat-and-bone troops in combat when you can just put one heavily armed trooper in the field and derive greater returns? The economic cost from lost labor is much less. The social cost of sending sons and daughters to war is greatly reduced.

To justify the capital investment, military service will no longer be for a fixed short-term of service; rigorous pre-selection and lifetime service are guarantees. Society will stratify itself into a stark division between combatants and non-combatants. When you start getting cybernetically enhanced troopers in the field who do not have the usual concerns of being disabled by a landmine for life and can meet the sort of firepower that can be dished out today without flinching, what you will have is the equivalent of the Feudal Knight and his destrier - able to shrug off most hits off lesser weapons and whose shock attacks are unparalleled.

Once power and mass requirements for gear fall below a certain point, innovations such as exoskeletal armor with nanoflauge enabled, improved kinetic energy weapons such as miniaturized railguns, and an array of remote sensors and "combat drones" able to extend the trooper's dominance of his personal battlespace are a given. We've hit the point now where weight demands for body armor, communications gear, and weaponry can no longer be exceeded without providing for automation-enabled assistance or miniaturization of components. Once that starts happening, economies of scale will kick in. Successful first tier armies will gradually be reduced in size as complexity increases. "Line" units will gradually disappear, to be replaced by highly specialized units where lateral mobility within the organization is zero.

Of course, the other aspects of warfare will remain the same. The sheer human misery, the mind-numbing slaughter, the waste of human lives, the corruption, greed, incompetence, and selfishness that follows even the most heroic paladin like starving vultures. As the warfighting class of society becomes even more stratified, shared sacrifice (the sort that bound the Greatest Generation and enabled them to rebuild America) will become a myth. Once the link between combatants and noncombatants in a society is severed (the sort of bond that kept Greek city-state hoplites honest) then what you get is the emergence of militant orders such as the Teutonic Knights, where the ideals matter more than the people.

So really Questioner, I understand you'd like to think of this as a "Battlefield 2142" kind of mental exercise, but you probably don't understand the ramifications in the least. I have warfighting gear available to me that makes what my relatives carried in the Second World War and Vietnam look absolutely primitive. When my descendants are pre-selected for genetic compliance and undergo a decade-long process of indoctrination and cybernetic implantation to reach parity in warfighting capability with other combatants? Then mine will have become one of the last generations in this cycle of warfare where any man can stand up and fight for what he believes in.

Welcome to a Brave New World.

Answer 2

The problem with a lot of these "future weapons" is that nothign is as reliable ad an old fashioned gas operated assult rifle.....if you are in a long firefight and the bateries go dead for your uber gun you are SOL also nothign bad on grunts but equipment takes a beating and any form of lcd or touchscreen has a decent chance to getting broken or cracked when diving ina ditch to avoid fire, the more complicated you make somethign the easier it is to have problems it is like then the M-16 came out to replace teh M-14 they had somany jamming problems because the new weapon was built with very stric tolerences and a litlte too much oil or some dirt would cause it to jam up.. in time and with some modificiations its now a very reliable weapon.. but took years and a lot of dead soldiers to make it that way.

myself i don;t see soldiers running around with sensors, monicles or backpack computers much for a very long time, although the body armor improvements have come a long way

Answer 3

The AK-47 was developed over a few year period prior to 1947 and it is still considered by many to be the best weapon in its class. (It's simple, reliable, and effective.)There's no doubt that laser guidance systems and computer automation will improve, as well drones and visual scanning devices to detect personnel and objects on the ground and under cover. Missiles and explosives have maintained their prominence since the discovery of gun powder. Chemical, biological, radiation, and nuclear weapons can be improved and could be devastating (WMD).

There will be other weapons, such as lasers, which can be used as alternatives to more conventional weapons, but there effects would be different.

Use of mass produced and remote controlled drones (flying and on ground) instead of manned weapons can reduce the risk to soldiers, but to take control of a country and occupy it, you still need humans on the ground. Protecting the occupying forces will require more advanced devices to detect weapons and screen people.

Answer 4

What warfare? America is getting broke! The wealth of America is only flooding into the hands of a small percentage of Bush and his NeoCon partners in crime!

The Iraq War is unsolvable - more of our young men and women will com back in coffins or wounded. Please ask those (who dare say there's progress in Iraq) if they are willing to walk those so called areas with progress without the protection of amed guards? Ask McCain whether he did walk any of the streets unguarded by a huge ballion of troops and soldiers? General Patrias travels around in Iraq with 3 times what Bush has to protect him... travlelling in armored humvee and armed hellicopters swirling in the air to protect him! Progress, eh? How many of our soldiers get the same protection??? The likes of McCain have either delusional brain cells or are or in denial!

http://therealmccain.com/2007/03/senator_mccain_delusional_on_s.php

It's about time to leave Iraq to the Arab World to bring peace to Iraq. We've done what we can and should stop sacrificing our troops to Iraq's civil war.

Oh, now the NeoCons are saying that Al-Quedas are doing the attacking and killing in Iraq? It's like admitting that the Bushies started the war in Iraq to allow Al-Quedas to grow their cells in Iraq... which was never the case under Saddam Hussein! Of course, the al-Sadrs are keeping low0keyed because the Shiites still need our money, war weapons and technology. We are preparing them for better skills and defense to control the world in future!

We can't even pump in enough money to promote the best schools for all Americans. or prevent Americans from going homeless or getting medical treatment. So where's the money for more warfare? By borrowing more from China and India, or sell off America to UAE?

Answer 5

Weaponology

Answer 6

New armies will fight remotely to satisfy the cowards and they will surrender to be executed when they "die" on the battlefield. Deserters like Bush would be hunted down and all accounts locked to require them to honor their bargain.

Answer 7

look up future combat systems. Try looking it up on youtube or something...here are a few clips of what i'm talking about

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YjsychklJBg
http://youtube.com/watch?v=X11K35lOWZE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6bLy3PRW3ZM
http://youtube.com/watch?v=r4zNTXRTM3I
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gES0csO5p74