Future War Stuff
What to write about? There’s so much going on! For example, the Heartbleed Bug was used as an entry method to steal the data of 900 Canadian taxpayers. On another note, the FBI intends to have a facial-recognition database with 52 million faces – likely to include yours – up and running by next year. The photos won’t only be of criminals, but of regular people with photos plucked from Facebook among other sources.
But I decided to mention briefly what could be a divisive post: the Navy launching what is by far the largest most advanced warship ever built, the $7 billion U.S.S. Zumwalt; The linked article is fascinating, with a full behind-the-scenes look at what the ship has to offer. A massive beast that appears as a fishing boat on radar, it has exceptionally advanced controls (all munitions are launched by computer), in fact most things – even shower pressure – are electronically controlled as opposed to manually as is often the case these days, and will be an appropriate complement for the almost-ready-for-testing railguns that shoot inexpensive projectiles at seven times the speed of sound using electricity only, require only one crew member to operate and do not require an explosive warhead, and laser-weapons for shooting down unmanned drones, both weapons that are going into field-test aboard the U.S.S. Ponce.
U.S.S. Zumwalt
The computer systems on the Zumwalt are controlled primarily by IBM Blade servers, in enclosures that will protect them from the elements at sea, which is good since ALL sea elements are risks for electronics. Not only that, when the time comes for upgrade or in the case of a component failure, this makes the process of adding/replacing hardware much easier. It even has sensors that can pick up various wavelengths of light and analyze the images to determine if something under or above the water is a threat. That, by the way, will result in fewer crew needed to actively monitor the ship’s surroundings.
Although its engines use gas as part of its power, it is actually move through the water by electric propulsion, like a hybrid! It generates so much power so efficiently that there is enough leftover power to operate the railgun mentioned earlier.
This all results in more effective weaponry, more efficient engines, easier and faster data analysis, half the required crew of current warships, and a longer expected service life.
Also, tomorrow’s tax day! Get on it, people!
