Repulse: Europe at War 2062-2064 Read Online Free
Author: Chris James
many armaments should it have to operate effectively?’
In 2041, the UN attempted to impose a ban on wholly autonomous military systems. For the NATO powers, acquiescence came easily as they fully understood the implications of autonomous offensive weaponry; the democracies still enjoyed an expansive measure of open debate, and the humanitarian organisations of that period could make their voices heard. The US placed vast diplomatic pressure on China to accede to the United Nations’ Ban on Autonomous Weapons’ Systems, but Beijing began a procrastination which would last over half a decade. Faced with this intractability, the US Department of Defense in particular began to quietly ignore the ban which its government had signed.
Then the formation of the Caliphate the following year gave the Western powers a new concern. Through diplomatic channels, China and Russia made clear their support for the Caliphate as the only way to stop the bloodshed and finally bring peace to the Middle East.
Over the next two decades, front-line battle management systems evolved to find the most appropriate balance of speed, durability, and firepower: for all the advances in software, ACAs still needed to carry enough military punch to defeat the enemy with sheer destructive force. By the time the US military unveiled the systems with which it would begin the war, they were already obsolete. The Caliphate, it transpired, was far better informed of NATO than NATO was of it. But it would cost many lives before this shortcoming could be corrected.
Another technological development in which, unknown to the West, the Caliphate had exceeded NATO’s abilities, was shielding. First developed as one of a range of defensive battlefield measures by the US Department of Defense, the weight of the equipment needed to generate the protective electromagnetic field around its subject was at the time deemed too great, and would slow ACA response times by an unacceptable margin. In addition, if fitted with shielding, ACAs would also be obliged to forego a fair portion of their armaments.
Much has been written about the controversy surrounding how China began to develop its own shielding program, which it then sold to the Caliphate. The story of hapless Northrop Grumman employee Chet Newman, his disappearance and subsequent murder, is well known even today and need not be repeated here. The fact remains that the US Congressional hearing which reported in October 2057 drew no firm conclusions because no evidence could be found to prove a Chinese connection. In the final analysis, it is equally plausible the Chinese had begun to develop their own version of shielding, without any assistance from Newman. History is littered with examples of separate societies making the same discoveries or arriving at the same scientific conclusions and technological advances without mutual contact. In any case, the concept of shielding had been prevalent in popular science fiction for almost a century, thus it would have been unlikely for any advanced nation not to explore its feasibility.
The mistake of which the US and the NATO allies are undoubtedly guilty is their failure to pursue research into improving shielding with sufficient rigour. Funding was cut back as the US military preferred to concentrate on offensive rather than defensive technologies. There was some justification in this: The N4-1A Abrahams autonomous main battle tank was the best super-AI tank deployed by any combatant during the war. However, other research led down blind alleys. In particular, the faith put in infantry exoskeletons was to prove desperately misplaced when flesh-and-blood troops were obliged to enter the battlefield of Europe.
III. DISTRACTIONS
On 20 January 2061, US President Madelyn Coll was sworn in to begin her second five-year term of office. Aged fifty-four and a former nurse, Coll and her Democrat party had fought a successful
In 2041, the UN attempted to impose a ban on wholly autonomous military systems. For the NATO powers, acquiescence came easily as they fully understood the implications of autonomous offensive weaponry; the democracies still enjoyed an expansive measure of open debate, and the humanitarian organisations of that period could make their voices heard. The US placed vast diplomatic pressure on China to accede to the United Nations’ Ban on Autonomous Weapons’ Systems, but Beijing began a procrastination which would last over half a decade. Faced with this intractability, the US Department of Defense in particular began to quietly ignore the ban which its government had signed.
Then the formation of the Caliphate the following year gave the Western powers a new concern. Through diplomatic channels, China and Russia made clear their support for the Caliphate as the only way to stop the bloodshed and finally bring peace to the Middle East.
Over the next two decades, front-line battle management systems evolved to find the most appropriate balance of speed, durability, and firepower: for all the advances in software, ACAs still needed to carry enough military punch to defeat the enemy with sheer destructive force. By the time the US military unveiled the systems with which it would begin the war, they were already obsolete. The Caliphate, it transpired, was far better informed of NATO than NATO was of it. But it would cost many lives before this shortcoming could be corrected.
Another technological development in which, unknown to the West, the Caliphate had exceeded NATO’s abilities, was shielding. First developed as one of a range of defensive battlefield measures by the US Department of Defense, the weight of the equipment needed to generate the protective electromagnetic field around its subject was at the time deemed too great, and would slow ACA response times by an unacceptable margin. In addition, if fitted with shielding, ACAs would also be obliged to forego a fair portion of their armaments.
Much has been written about the controversy surrounding how China began to develop its own shielding program, which it then sold to the Caliphate. The story of hapless Northrop Grumman employee Chet Newman, his disappearance and subsequent murder, is well known even today and need not be repeated here. The fact remains that the US Congressional hearing which reported in October 2057 drew no firm conclusions because no evidence could be found to prove a Chinese connection. In the final analysis, it is equally plausible the Chinese had begun to develop their own version of shielding, without any assistance from Newman. History is littered with examples of separate societies making the same discoveries or arriving at the same scientific conclusions and technological advances without mutual contact. In any case, the concept of shielding had been prevalent in popular science fiction for almost a century, thus it would have been unlikely for any advanced nation not to explore its feasibility.
The mistake of which the US and the NATO allies are undoubtedly guilty is their failure to pursue research into improving shielding with sufficient rigour. Funding was cut back as the US military preferred to concentrate on offensive rather than defensive technologies. There was some justification in this: The N4-1A Abrahams autonomous main battle tank was the best super-AI tank deployed by any combatant during the war. However, other research led down blind alleys. In particular, the faith put in infantry exoskeletons was to prove desperately misplaced when flesh-and-blood troops were obliged to enter the battlefield of Europe.
III. DISTRACTIONS
On 20 January 2061, US President Madelyn Coll was sworn in to begin her second five-year term of office. Aged fifty-four and a former nurse, Coll and her Democrat party had fought a successful
Readers choose
Christina Brooke
Carey Heywood
Bradford Bates
Monica Dickens
Ron Carlson
Yasunari Kawabata
Jasper Fforde
Thornton Wilder
Rhys Hughes
Carly Carson