War at the Speed of Light

War at the Speed of Light explores the ever-increasing and revolutionary role of directed-energy weapons in warfare, including laser, microwave, electromagnetic pulse (EMP), and cyberspace weapons. In addition, this book delineates the threat that directed-energy weapons pose to disrupting the doctrine of MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction), which has kept the major powers of the world from engaging in nuclear war. Potential U.S. adversaries like China and Russia are developing and deploying supersonic and hypersonic missiles as a means to destroy U.S. aircraft, drones, missiles, aircraft carriers, and space-based assets, such as GPS and communication satellites. Currently, the United States has no defense against these missiles. In response, the U.S. Department of Defense established the "2018 National Security Strategy,” emphasizing directed-energy weapons. The rationale is simple: directed-energy weapons project devastation at the speed of light, making even a hypersonic missile a relatively easy target. Louis A. Del Monte breaks down how modern warfare is changing in three fundamental ways: the pace of war is quickening, the speed at which weapons project devastation is increasingly reaching the speed of light, and now cyberspace is officially a battlefield.

These essential developments in warfare are part of the reason why the United States adopted the Third Offset Strategy, and that strategy now fuels the creation and deployment of even more weapons accelerating the pace of warfare to the speed of light. In fact, Brookings Institute in Washington DC has announced that this process moves so fast, a new term has been coined to embrace the speed at which war will be waged: hyperwar. It adequately describes the quickening pace of warfare resulting from the inclusion of artificial intelligence into command, control, decision-making, and weapons of war. Del Monte breaks down the meaning of this new term and showcases how disturbingly close the world is coming to being fully armed in nuclear warfare.