Read Online TECHNOIR by John Lasker - Free Book Online
Authors: John Lasker
Tags: Science Fiction/Fantasy
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hundreds or thousands of Space Based Interceptors would be required in orbit to provide global coverage against ballistic missiles. The study also showed that given the technology expected to be available for the next decade, each SBI would weigh a ton or more. As a result of these factors, deploying such a system would be hugely expensive.”
Many believe the first space weapon was the Nazi's V-2 rocket which terrorized the Allies. The V-2 would spend part of its journey in space and then descend on its target, just like today’s ICBMs. The V-2, by the way, was designed by the infamous Wernher von Braun , who would escape to America and become known as the “Father of the American Space Program.” Interestingly, on his death bed, von Braun allegedly told a confidant that US space weapons would be “based on a lie,” and be up and running before the rest of the world knew what hit them. Even more intriguing: He said the US military would use extraterrestrial aliens or rogue asteroids as their lie to justify putting weapons in space. Interestingly, it is not documented whether he said “missile defense” would be the “lie” behind US space weapons.
Not long after von Braun passed away, President Reagan – the saber-rattling, terrorist-hunting Republican who wanted to bury the Soviet Union’s communist bear – would bring Star Wars to the world’s center stage in the early 1980s. Star Wars was actually a moniker given to the program which was called the Strategic Defense Initiative or SDI. But what truly inspired – or forced – Reagan to call for his anti-missile shield? Was it his dream, did Lockheed Martin put a gun to his head, or was he simply following a plan that had been set in motion long before he had won the White House?
Johann Hari, a British journalist with stealth-like talent, claimed Reagan came to the idea of creating a space shield from a B-movie he starred in from the 1940s. In the movie, titled Murder in the Air, Reagan plays a secret agent who has to protect a weapon called the “Inertia Projector.” Hari wrote the weapon, “fired an electrical current at any plane or missile approaching the US, rendering it worthless”. A scientist tells Reagan this weapon “makes the US invincible in war, and promises to become the greatest force for world peace ever discovered.” Years later Reagan called for a shield over America using ground-based lasers and missiles, and space-based Battlesats. One program that his scientists envisioned and worked on (spending millions) was Brilliant Pebbles. Battlesats would release dozens of watermelon-sized interceptors that would act like a wall of bullets and fly into a group of targets so they take out everything, even a decoy ICBM. President Bill Clinton cut the Brilliant Pebbles program and it has never been revived. Clinton downgraded missile defense in general, slashing millions in funds. But a small number of senior office holders were determined to keep missile defense alive during the 1990s, one of those being Sen. Inouye of Hawaii, who is a Democrat and also a WWII war hero. Inouye claimed he needed to protect the Islands from the North Koreans, who have a hard time feeding their own people, let alone building ICBMs.
Also waiting during the 1990s was an entire new generation of missile defense proponents. They waited in conservative think-tanks and in military academies, working quietly to keep missile defense in the minds of those who could make it happen – those who had an office on Capitol Hill. This new generation, as it grew stronger and took power, was then tagged with their appropriate nickname – the “Space Hawks.” Some of them took power in 1994, a year when the Republicans re-took the House with their “Contract With America.” This so-called Contract called for, among other things, to severely cut funding to PBS, but also pledged to
Many believe the first space weapon was the Nazi's V-2 rocket which terrorized the Allies. The V-2 would spend part of its journey in space and then descend on its target, just like today’s ICBMs. The V-2, by the way, was designed by the infamous Wernher von Braun , who would escape to America and become known as the “Father of the American Space Program.” Interestingly, on his death bed, von Braun allegedly told a confidant that US space weapons would be “based on a lie,” and be up and running before the rest of the world knew what hit them. Even more intriguing: He said the US military would use extraterrestrial aliens or rogue asteroids as their lie to justify putting weapons in space. Interestingly, it is not documented whether he said “missile defense” would be the “lie” behind US space weapons.
Not long after von Braun passed away, President Reagan – the saber-rattling, terrorist-hunting Republican who wanted to bury the Soviet Union’s communist bear – would bring Star Wars to the world’s center stage in the early 1980s. Star Wars was actually a moniker given to the program which was called the Strategic Defense Initiative or SDI. But what truly inspired – or forced – Reagan to call for his anti-missile shield? Was it his dream, did Lockheed Martin put a gun to his head, or was he simply following a plan that had been set in motion long before he had won the White House?
Johann Hari, a British journalist with stealth-like talent, claimed Reagan came to the idea of creating a space shield from a B-movie he starred in from the 1940s. In the movie, titled Murder in the Air, Reagan plays a secret agent who has to protect a weapon called the “Inertia Projector.” Hari wrote the weapon, “fired an electrical current at any plane or missile approaching the US, rendering it worthless”. A scientist tells Reagan this weapon “makes the US invincible in war, and promises to become the greatest force for world peace ever discovered.” Years later Reagan called for a shield over America using ground-based lasers and missiles, and space-based Battlesats. One program that his scientists envisioned and worked on (spending millions) was Brilliant Pebbles. Battlesats would release dozens of watermelon-sized interceptors that would act like a wall of bullets and fly into a group of targets so they take out everything, even a decoy ICBM. President Bill Clinton cut the Brilliant Pebbles program and it has never been revived. Clinton downgraded missile defense in general, slashing millions in funds. But a small number of senior office holders were determined to keep missile defense alive during the 1990s, one of those being Sen. Inouye of Hawaii, who is a Democrat and also a WWII war hero. Inouye claimed he needed to protect the Islands from the North Koreans, who have a hard time feeding their own people, let alone building ICBMs.
Also waiting during the 1990s was an entire new generation of missile defense proponents. They waited in conservative think-tanks and in military academies, working quietly to keep missile defense in the minds of those who could make it happen – those who had an office on Capitol Hill. This new generation, as it grew stronger and took power, was then tagged with their appropriate nickname – the “Space Hawks.” Some of them took power in 1994, a year when the Republicans re-took the House with their “Contract With America.” This so-called Contract called for, among other things, to severely cut funding to PBS, but also pledged to
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