US military leaders have agreed on a strategy to ensure the continued global dominance of the US military throughout the 21st century.
We are talking about the creation of a large-scale infrastructure that would allow to connect everything related to the US Armed Forces into one network, says DefenseOne.
The result will be a large octopus-like system that will control some of the most advanced weapons in the world, as well as all military equipment belonging to the most powerful army in the world.
Sounds familiar? We saw something similar in science fiction films, for example in "The Terminator", where the Skynet system was created, which got out of control and tried to destroy humanity.
The militarized network - an extreme version of the Internet of Things - is supposed to connect everything from F-35 aircraft and naval destroyers to tanks and all the devices that ordinary soldiers have.
Every weapon, vehicle and device is connected to each other, sharing data, constantly aware of the presence and state of every other node in a truly global network.
Of course, the development of these "smart" weapons should lead to what the head of Tesla Elon Musk has repeatedly warned about: artificial intelligence and machine learning pose a greater threat to the future of the United States than North Korea. In his opinion, with errors in the regulation of this activity, machines can turn against people, and until robots walk the streets and kill people, most of humanity does not even realize the danger.
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The Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U. S. Army shared their vision of a fully integrated military in the latest iteration of their national military strategy, which outlines plans for the military weapon of the future.
Ironically, Air Force Chief of Staff, General David Goldfein, said he based the plan on a very definite unprofitable electric car. Goldfein was particularly impressed with Tesla's ability to remotely extend the battery life of vehicles to get owners out of Hurricane Irma earlier this month.
In recent months, the Joint Chiefs of Staff have been "compiling" the latest version of their national military strategy. Unlike all the previous ones, this version will have an accurate classification.
So far, nothing is known for sure about it, but individual comments from important representatives of the US Armed Forces give a rough idea.
The same Goldfein in September enthusiastically talked about how information is transferred from one Tesla to another about obstacles, problems and malfunctions.
“What would the world look like if we linked everything we have in this way? If you looked at the world through the lens of a network, and not at individual platforms, would electronic interference be avoided automatically? Every three minutes, a maneuverable plane takes off somewhere on the planet. Platforms are nodes in the network,”concluded the head of the US GDP.
The idea of a networked army borrows the concept of networked warfare that first appeared over a decade ago.
However, the concept proposed by military leaders in their most recent review is less of a strategy to improve efficiency than a plan to connect all military equipment to one network. However, the result would be more coordinated, faster and more deadly action in the air, on land, at sea, in space and in cyberspace.
The Air Force has begun large-scale investments in data exchange technology. And experimenting with next-generation lightweight tactical drones isn't just about testing equipment, it's also about testing networks.
The US Air Force Science Council is exploring how to monitor a network of military hardware, including light attack aircraft, tanks, and even unmanned aerial vehicles. James Chou, the new head of the council, said the study will also look at how to connect to other similar services.
Roughly speaking, in the future, individual developments of different departments can be combined into one global network.
The US IMF leadership has also authorized a study to connect every facility on sea, land, air, space, and cyberspace to each other. And this is not an exaggeration. Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral John Richardson, said during the Navy Exposition earlier this year that he would ultimately like to “bring it all together,” explaining that such a system would be critical to maintaining US military superiority.
DefenseOne also notes that despite the obvious parallels, American military leaders hate comparisons between their favorite technology projects and the plot of the Terminator franchise.
The reason is pretty obvious: money. The greater the apparent security risks, the more difficult it will be to get money for new research and experimentation. The military will need to prove that their military network will not get out of control, that it cannot be hacked, etc. And, apparently, they have no answers to such questions yet.
Meanwhile, given Donald Trump's generosity with the military, they don't have much time to agree on additional budgets and get good funding.
Trump, offering his own version of the budget, intends to save on many things, but not on defense. The Department of Homeland Security's budget will increase spending by $ 3 billion, the Pentagon's budget will expand by $ 6 billion over the same period.
The budget is also looking at a few classic accounting tricks. He suggests that the wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East will force the US Congress to allocate $ 593 billion for additional war funding that will not be necessary, then Congress will argue that this amount is not worth spending.
While Trump is proposing more defense spending, it will take another year for the momentum for more expensive weapons.
Trump's budget is for 70 Lockheed Martin Corp. fighters. F-35s and 14 Boeing Co. F / A-18E / F - The same metrics planned by the Obama administration for fiscal 2018. Trump has pledged to increase the Navy's fleet to 350 ships from the 275 available today. The Navy said it will need 12 new vessels in FY 2018.
Therefore, American generals need to prepare such a concept so that it does not raise uncomfortable questions in the Senate and the White House.