Pro of Trump's massive defense budget: Better Super Hornet Fighters!

More than a few eyebrows were raised on Capitol Hill and around the world when Trump announced that he would be ramping up the defense budget- not that anyone was exactly surprised. Already, US defense accounted for 16% of its overall federal spending and far outpaced that of any other country. As the image here illustrates, the US's $611 billion budget a year ago was larger  than the next 8 countries, including China and Russia. Maybe a bit more than necessary? Not a chance!

In that spirit, the proposed 2019 defense budget will bring it up to $686 billion- an increase of 8%.

One Forbes contributor suggests that the larger budget may begin to restore power to the navy, which felt it had been hurt in Obama-era cuts. This may start, he suspects, with upgrading their stock of Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighters, as well as those still coming off the production line. They hope to bring all Super Hornets up to "Block III" configuration and to extend their lifespan. This particular model faced adversity under the Obama administration's decreased military spending. Now, under Trump era expansion, the Navy is said to be planning a purchase of 134 Super Hornets within the next 5 years that can all travel 500 miles before needing to refuel (aka with new Block III upgrades). They will also receive improved sensors and data exchange capabilities.

Is the new budget a lot? Kind of. Is it and the Super Hornet upgrades it'll help fund unnecessary? Perhaps not. In light of escalated tensions with Russia and an upcoming and unpredictable meeting with "Little Rocket Man," what will happen next is anyone's guess. The contributing writer himself suggests that these advancements have been made more and more necessary by other countries' investments in long-rang missiles that could put our super-carriers. So why not bulk up and be on the top of our military game?

Laser Weapons in Space: They don’t have to be Science Fiction anymore.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan championed the Strategic Defense Initiative, better known as “Star Wars.” SDI was a Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system famous for using lasers mounted on large planes to shoot down Soviet and Chinese ICBM’s during the boost phase (though directed energy weapons were not the only technology in development). The laser system did not work then; however, we can do it now and do it even better. We can put those lasers in space.

There are several benefits to putting a network of satellites equipped with lasers in Low Earth Orbit for BMD.

• Shoot Down during Boost Phase: With modern MIRV ICBM’s it is imperative to shoot the missile down during Boost Phase when the missile is essentially a single target. Once the final stage is at the apoapsis of its trajectory, the faring can be jettisoned and the warheads separated from the launch vehicle. With some technical work ahead of time, the fairing can be cut and designed so that it will also reenter the atmosphere while appearing to be several warheads on enemy sensors. Now there are potentially dozens of targets requiring shoot down instead of one.
• Readiness: Although lasers on planes could also shoot down an ICBM during boost phase, they would constantly need to be circling outside of an enemy state’s borders waiting to intercept. On the other hand, a network of satellites, despite requiring more setup, would always be on station and potentially orbiting right over an enemy state.
• Effectiveness and Range: One of the largest problems with using lasers in atmosphere is that the atmosphere itself acts as a lens and distorts the beam, thus weakening it at long range. Naturally, this is not a problem in space. A laser fired from a satellite would only begin to distort as it entered the atmosphere.
• Cost: Although a satellite based laser BMD system would be expensive to completely produce, the actual cost per use would be very low, as evidenced by the Navy’s Laser Weapon System (LAWS)

It doesn't have to be this big, but it's a nice ambition to have.

When Star Wars was first envisioned, the laser technology just was not capable of fulfilling the mission. Recent developments in laser technology, especially with the Navy’s LAWS represents a new hope for BMD. Don’t let the Evil Empire strike back: only space lasers can guarantee safety from ICBM’s.