Can Wonder Weapons Defeat Terror Masters?

Former U.S. ambassador to Israel Michael Oren presented what he calls “the view from Israel’s universe.” After noting that since October 7, 2023 Israel’s terrorist adversaries have fired 25,000 rockets and missiles at the Jewish State, Oren rhetorically asks whether hitting Tehran with 25,000 missiles would be acceptable. He answers: “In practice … there is no effective counter-offensive action that Israel can legitimately take.”

He then explains why the West sees the war so differently than does Israel: “Our Western allies…. inhabit a universe utterly alien to ours. In their world, [Tehran] can be induced to deescalate by means other than escalation…. jihadists can be mollified by creating a Palestinian state.”

Illustrating this dichotomy is Tehran’s October missile strike, when Iran fired 200 missiles, of which 19 failed to launch; 23 struck Israeli air bases, causing little damage; and the remaining 158 were downed or missed their targets. Team Biden/Harris told Israel to make its response “proportional” to the magnitude of Iran’s minuscule destructive results, instead of that which is likely to deter future attacks — let alone serve as predicate to an Israeli victory.

Now, factor in three astonishing, game-changing directed-energy wonder-weapons, two already operational; the other, highly promising, in early stages of development.

Wonder Weapon for Deep Underground Targets

Enter a U.S. super-weapon, Boeing’s Counter-electronic High-power Advanced Microwave Project (CHAMP), which emits high-frequency microwave pulses that can fry computer chips deep underground, effectively zapping Iran’s nuclear facilities. There are 20 CHAMP missiles extant, each equipped with an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) cannon, that properly-equipped combat aircraft can release from 700 miles away, flying at low-altitudes (harder to track); each missile can take out several targets. Moreover, these EMP pulses can also disable radar systems designed to track incoming planes.

The U.S. government estimates that at present, Iran is one to two weeks away from breakout: producing enough weapons-grade fuel for an atomic bomb; Iran would need several months to create a deliverable A-bomb.

At this writing there are three months until a new president is inaugurated. Neither Biden, who has told Israel not to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, nor Harris, who threatens unspecified “consequences” if U.S. policy is ignored, will use the new super-weapon. Thus the “several” months in the Iranian atom-bomb assembly estimate must number at least four, if our super-weapon will ever be at Donald Trump’s disposal.

Former president Trump has said that Israel should destroy Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The only other way to stop this catastrophe from coming to pass would be if Israel carries out its longstanding promise that it will not allow Iran to cross the nuclear threshold. Israel will assuredly do so if Kamala wins, but would have to do it without U.S. help

Two Air-Defense Wonder-Weapons

Boeing has developed the Compact Laser Weapons System (CWLS), powerful and accurate enough, at ranges from 650 feet to 1.6 miles, to destroy incoming first-person view drones, “swarm” munitions and heavy, Group 3 drones. (Here is a list of drone groups used by our military.) Already, in a series of tests conducted jointly with Saudi Arabia in realistic climate conditions, CWLS has destroyed 500 targets, using operators with one hour of training on an X-box controller.

A second air-defense laser system, under development by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., in conjunction with the U.S., is a laser gun that has already in early tests destroyed rockets, mortar shells, drones, and anti-tank missiles (which follow a low, flat trajectory). Significantly, its effective range is six miles, and it detects and tracks targets in seconds, versus minutes for earlier air defense systems. And it costs $3.50 per shot, versus thousands of dollars per shot with kinetic-kill systems. (Lasers are, however, less effective in low-visibility areas, and hence are more useful in the Mideast than in the frequent cloud cover encountered in Europe.)

Bottom Line

Directed-energy weapons are essential for successful, affordable operation in the emerging battlefield environment of significant threats posed by cheap, mass-produced unmanned aerial systems. Israel leads the world, with systems being tested under actual combat conditions.

READ MORE from John C. Wohlstetter:

25th Amendment: Acting President Is Not President

The Summer 2024 Presidential Succession Crisis Explodes

John C. Wohlstetter is the author of Presidential Succession: Constitution, Congress and National Security (Gold Institute Press, 2024)

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