War at the Speed of Light: Directed-Energy Weapons and the Future of Twenty-First-Century Warfare

Description

War at the Speed of Light describes the revolutionary and ever-increasing role of directed-energy weapons (such as laser, microwave, electromagnetic pulse, and cyberspace weapons) in warfare. Louis A. Del Monte delineates the threat that such weapons pose to disrupting the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction, which has kept the major powers of the world from engaging in nuclear warfare. Potential U.S. adversaries, such as China and Russia, are developing hypersonic missiles and using swarming tactics as a means to defeat the U.S. military. In response, the U.S. Department of Defense established the 2018 National Security Strategy, emphasizing directed-energy weapons, which project devastation at the speed of light and are capable of destroying hypersonic missiles and enemy drones and missile swarms. Del Monte analyzes how modern warfare is changing in three fundamental ways: the pace of war is quickening, the rate at which weapons project devastation is reaching the speed of light, and cyberspace is now officially a battlefield. In this acceleration of combat called “hyperwar,” Del Monte shows how disturbingly close the world is to losing any deterrence to nuclear warfare.   Cover Title Page Copyright Page Contents List of Illustrations List of Tables Acknowledgments Introduction Part 1 1. Tilting the Balance of Terror 2. The Quest for Global Dominance Using Conventional Weapons 3. The Coming Fourth U.S. Offset Strategy Part 2 4. Laser Weapons 5. Microwave Weapons 6. EMP Weapons 7. Cyberspace Weapons Part 3 8. Directed-Energy Countermeasures 9. Force Fields Part 4 10. Autonomous Directed-Energy Weapons 11. The Full-Scale Weaponization of Space 12. Not Gambling with the Fate of Humanity Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Appendix D Notes Index