A weapon that would change the world

[silver 2039]

(which could be made I suppose for targeting only Americans if a certain biological pattern existed only in Americans )

Obesity....

 

[Bill3000]

Obesity....

Obesity is not even remotely an American-only issue.

 

[silver 2039]

More the better. You would kill many birds with a single stone.

 

[Gooblah]

EMP blasts would be devastating, but the civilian population would be absolutely screwed.

Current EMP weapons are enough to knock out military installations, and they're pretty sweet. The ultimate weapon would be something that could open up a mini black hole, small enough to evaporate in a few seconds due to Hawking Radiation, but would remain existent long enough to just suck up enemy missiles.

 

[Martacus]

Earthquake weapons.

My God, not the dreaded Civic From Hell! Nobody deserves such a horrible fate!

 

[Shadowbound]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermobaric_weapon

Once these come into common use in the third-world, instead of a few militant parts of the first-world, urban warfare will be very messy.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Space weapons would definitely change the world. And if directed-energy weapons and unmanned combat platforms become feasible, they would change warfare forever,

 

[jeps]

But what if you could make a disease that only kills Americans or something stupid like that?

wherever have i seen that before???

 

[Onionsoilder]

I think that nuclear weapons are just to big and to unwieldy to remain the dominant super-weapon. They're really easy to intercept as well. I think in the next 100 years we'll develop:

Anti-Matter Bombs
Similar to nukes, but more refined. No nuclear fallout or waste after the explosion, just a short period of intense radiation from gamma rays that dies down in around 8-12 minutes. Because it is much more efficient, an antimatter weapon can be around 100th of the size of a nuclear bomb and pack the same punch. The problem, obviously, is to find a way to cheaply manufacture and store antimatter.

Lazer-Based Weaponry
Either in the form of satellites or lazer batteries, high-power, high-precision lazers could become powerful tools for destroying a target with minimal collateral damage. Obviously generating enough power is a problem, as is focusing the lazer enough to cause damage.

Nanobiotic Weaponry
Lots of potential here. Nanobots are hard to destroy, cheap to make, and have a myrad of uses. They could be launched in a city, search out a target with a certain DNA code, destroy his vital organs but leave everyone else intact. Or they could be used as a mass-extinction device that leaves the surrounding environment and buildings intact.

 

[Sui Generis]

How about we pray to whatever deity we choose that a weapon that changes the world does not come about?

 

[ThePrussian]

EMP is not a game changer. In a lot of ways, it is as useful (and thus useless) as a nuclear weapon. New WMDs will not change the game. If they could make the EMP effects temporary or directed which theoretically they cannot, it would be different.

If it does change the game, it merely reverts the game to a pre electronic tech base until electronics can be better protected. And in that game, industrial output and population will be important factors.

There probably will not be a game changer or a game winner. There will just be innovations that give you an edge.

Wars will be less about industrial output. More about maneuver, information and blinding your enemy. Key strikes will be important.

Orbit based weapons will not be revolutionary nor a war winner. The technology exists now to deny the enemy orbital dominance.

I do not see a major war until the full exploitation of space based resources begins in some 50-100 years. This war will be brutal. Imagine finding a 100 meter wide asteroid and then putting a motor and guidance system on it, it would destroy any city on earth. And punch through any energy shielding erected.

 

[Kozmos]

Wars will be less about industrial output. More about maneuver, information and blinding your enemy. Key strikes will be important.

Very true. Molecular manufacturing will essentially turn every country a player on the map. Infinite War here we come.

 

[ThePrussian]

Very true. Molecular manufacturing will essentially turn every country a player on the map. Infinite War here we come.

Molecular manufacturing is still dependent upon industrial output, access to resources, intelligence to use it.

Information platforms are getting more sophisticated and more numerous. We actually have civilians who are waging an important part of the war on Terror on their own.

Units will always have to be on the move, never staying still long enough to be engaged.

Information will be key. Where the enemy is, his intent, his vulnerabilities and his preconceptions.

Traditional surprise will be gone. Instead an opponent will be surprised when what happens is not what he was expecting and information will be a key component of that.

Blinding your enemy through hacking his systems will be another part of that. A blind enemy cannot see you coming and if he can see but is fooled, he may act rashly.

The first few hours of war will decide the outcome.

 

[Sharwood]

I think the big one is nanotechnology. It's incredibly versatile, can be used as a substitute for bioweapons, or more conventionally. Also, the ability to program it would enable someone to go after specific genotypes, or even use it for assassinations. And i strongly suspect several natons are working on it, whether they admit it or not, besides the US and Japan, which are known to be working on it.

 

[Kozmos]

Molecular manufacturing is still dependent upon industrial output, access to resources, intelligence to use it.

Only for the first unit. Once you get it up and running you can program it to build more of itself for a mere fraction of the cost. Then when you have as many as you need you can start churning out incredible numbers of any kind of military hardware for chump change.

 

[kristopherb]

Large laser satalite
A shield that will block a nuclear winter hitting a country.

 

[Rashiminos]

Variations of atmospheric and tectonic weapons. Focused electromagnetic radiation to cause local ionization.

Destroy infrastructure with some earthquakes, flood the ground and inhibit aerial responses with severe storms, and then melt faces.

 

[Kal'thzar]

I have to say that most the weapons that are being proposed are 'superweapons' on one kind or another, in effect once both sides have them they will be scared to use them on each other, if you want to change war you need something that breaks the current ICBM deadlock.

Then we move away from Cold wars to Hot wars again...

 

[kristopherb]

you want to change war you need something that breaks the current ICBM deadlock.

Once that is broken we are screwed we need to find a way of protecting a country from nuclear fallout and ICBM. Then world unification is at hand becasue there will be a few people left to unify.

 

[ThePrussian]

Only for the first unit. Once you get it up and running you can program it to build more of itself for a mere fraction of the cost. Then when you have as many as you need you can start churning out incredible numbers of any kind of military hardware for chump change.

Industry will not matter when your hardware lasts minutes on a battlefield.

The proliferation of intelligence gathering platforms and the speed at which information can be sent, means that those 1000 Autonomous Armored Combat Vehicles you built and sent at your enemy are located, engaged and destroyed in mere minutes.

And weapons systems are improving quickly. Right now a German self-propelled howizer can fire multiple 155mm shells all of which arrive on target at the same instance. A squadron or a wing of strike-fighters have the capability of devastating tank brigades and divisions, rendering them combat inneffective.