Dumbing Down Warfare

Technology has always been a measurement of warfare—of history. Periods of human history are defined by the tools available at the time—the stone age, the bronze age, the iron age, and the steel age are all named for how mankind has been able to adapt and use such materials. Warfare has evolved with mankind’s discoveries and innovations. The club, the bow and arrow, the sword, the musket, grenade, the machine gun, the airplane, the missile, biological weapons and the atomic bomb have all defined how humans wage war; create destruction. Wars have always been judged by the damage caused, the carnage inflicted. War has always been a serious subject, a last resort, due to the toll it takes on a nation’s population. It has always been personal, bloody, and terrifying. Due to innovations in the last sixty years, the seriousness in which we consider war may have come to an end—thanks to the most advanced harbinger of destruction invented—the “smart” bombs.

“Smart” bombs are explosive devices that can strike pinpoint targets in an extremely accurate fashion from very far away. The first “smart” bomb was deployed by the Nazis in World War II when an Italian submarine was struck by a missile guided by radio. Thanks to the creation of global positioning systems, “smart” bombs can be more accurate than any weapon in history. A famous picture from the first Gulf war depicts a missile blazing through the door of a building—an amazing amount of precision. Part of the pitch for Operation Iraqi Freedom involved Boeing’s Joint Direct Attack Munitions—“smart” bombs which are “10 times more accurate than an unguided bomb but 10 times cheaper than a laser guided bomb.” Theoretically, “smart” bombs such as the Joint Direct Attack Munitions could revolutionize the way wars are approached and fought, yet there are some pros and cons with this technology that should be taken into consideration.

One of the heaviest factors in even deciding whether or not to wage war—to evaluate the worth of fighting for an ideal such as democracy—is the possible casualties. For example, 40 million people died in World War I alone. Ever since, great consideration has been given to stop such casualties from ever occurring again. “Smart” bombs could take away from military casualties. “Smart” bombs theoretically allow a country to strike targets from miles away with absolutely precision, doing away with the need for ground insurgents and brutal campaigns throughout enemy territory. “Smart” bombs increase the opportunity to end wars quickly, eliminating wars of attrition such as World War I, where fighting lasted for four years. Quick wars spare human lives. Due to their precision, “smart” bombs can spare civilian lives on either side of a war, taking away the collateral damage aspect caused by dropping unguided bombs from airplanes. Smart bombs are also remarkable for defense, being able to shoot other missiles straight out of the sky.

No matter how amazing the catalysts of “smart” bombs appear, their corrosions cannot be ignored. Ideally, “smart” bombs such as the JDAM have a 98% hit accuracy, with 2% allotted for technological mishaps , but this is a very rosy figure. While the U.S. Government would have us believe that most of the “smart” bomb attacks at the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom were successful, in the documentary Why We Fight it is reported that virtually none hit their respective targets. U.S. intelligence had Saddam Hussein was visiting his sons and daughters at Dora Farms in Baghdad. Four satellite guided, bunker buster GBU-27s were dropped on the complex. One missile missed entirely, and the other three went over the wall of the complex. The attack killed one civilian and injured 14 others. As it stands, no matter how promising they are “smart” bombs are not yet accurate enough to commit an entire war to—a fact the United States learned the hard way. JDAMs are quite expensive—not as expensive as their predecessors, laser guided missiles, but they still carry a price tag of around $24,000 a piece. This is quite expensive if you imagine the scale at which they are used on both fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan, especially when they are not as accurate as boasted about. JDAMs are susceptible to GPS jamming equipment, which can be made by spare parts in any electronics store. The U.S. military claims that the GPS they use is encoded differently from civilian GPS systems, but that does not bode well for $24,000 investments which are so lauded for their accuracy. Finally, JDAMs, while powerful, have the opportunity to accomplish that which has been feared for a long time—the dehumanization of war. War’s are so terrifying and serious because of the toll they take on humanity; because of the blood, sweat, tears, trials, and tribulations. If “smart” bombs, such as JDAMs, become the standard of warfare, it will be infinitely easier to combat one’s enemies without putting one’s soldiers and civilians in mortal danger. The day war becomes blasé, the day war becomes less personal and horrific is the day that the military-industrial complex is building towards, and the day the world, as we know it, will end.