What if: Syria and Iran launch a pre-emptive strike against the US

[My Wife Hates CIV]

The US could take on the entire middle east. and win. and that's still fighting 'nice'.

[My Wife Hates CIV]

since this sorta goes along with this thread thought i would post it here instead of start another thread...

While troops won't be replacing their assault rifles for ray guns just yet, high-tech lasers are nearly ready for other combat uses.
Last year the U.S. and Israeli armies field-tested a chemical laser made by TRW that successfully knocked out 100 mm rockets and artillery shells.

But making powerful lasers fit for use against enemy artillery means that they'll have to be mobile enough to keep up with fast-moving tanks and other units that make up a modern fighting force.

And the key to developing a more agile laser system may lie in research being done at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories.


Making Laser Systems Mobile

"This is actually a very pivotal time in terms of high-powered laser systems," says Brent Dane, project manager for high-energy lasers at Lawrence Livermore Labs.

For about six years he and his team have been hard at work on a high-powered, portable, electric laser for the U.S. Department of Defense.

"If there's one sort of key aspect of a solid-state laser, it's mobility," Dane says. "And the mobility comes from a very high electrical efficiency and architectures which support compact, very lightweight designs."


Humvee-Mounted Defense

Using special "beam director" software, a laser can lock onto an in-flight missile and heat the explosives inside their metal shell, causing them to detonate before they reach their target.

Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has just developed a 25-kilowatt laser and is working on a 100-kilowatt version, which Dane says will supply enough power to knock out a missile in two to three seconds.

The 100-kilowatt laser should be ready for combat by 2010, Dane says. However, the battlefield technology doesn't end with the lasers. The lasers will likely ride into battle atop hybrid electric Humvees.

"If you look at the typical traction battery that's being proposed for these hybrid electric vehicles," Dane says, "that battery will be adequate for actually powering a hundred-kilowatt laser system."


my point being here that the gap just continues to grow. and it's a pretty big gap already.

so... > What if: Syria and Iran launch a pre-emptive strike against the US ???

i really dont think they could. it sure wouldnt be a surprise attack. as i heard someone say on the news the other night. the US is the biggest cat in the world... and syria is a three legged blind mouse. Iran is not much better. I would say Iran better use those nukes now (or anyone else who might have them) - before they also are completly worthless. can you say middle east(ern united states)??

[Sava]

Syria and Iran would get spanked... royally.

Shi: Did your parents tell you there were "leftists" under your bed when you were little?

[Imran Siddiqui]

There were leftists under my bed .

(now they is a leftist IN my bed )

[Eli]

Egypt wont get involved. They need the money.

If Israel enters the picture, Syria will go kaput very quickly.

How many active divisions does the US have? 15? How many of them in the ME? Let's say 8...(WAG)
Israel can mount three times that number of fully trained, fully equiped divisions within 48 hours.

(those numbers are from memory and not really exact... Though I think the true numbers are somewhere within 30% range of the ones I stated )

[raghar]

Well Syria just tried to make another nail to Israel's nuclear weapon program coffin. I think they would try remove NW from Israel and then they would do something.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2954159.stm

[Eli]

Yeah, like Israel would ever disband it's Nuclear weapons.

[Inverse Icarus]

please. if Iran / Syria started to move, we'd nnotice almost instantly. you dont think our satelites are only looking at Iraq right now, do you?

even if they got the initial "shock" attack, we'd take our initial casualities and the pound the poop out of them as soon as everyone knew what was going on.

[Joseph]

Originally posted by UberKruX
please. if Iran / Syria started to move, we'd nnotice almost instantly. you dont think our satelites are only looking at Iraq right now, do you?

even if they got the initial "shock" attack, we'd take our initial casualities and the pound the poop out of them as soon as everyone knew what was going on.

I agree and don't forget there is a SSBN in the Indian Ocean, I wonder why its there.

[Joseph]

Originally posted by UberKruX
please. if Iran / Syria started to move, we'd nnotice almost instantly. you dont think our satelites are only looking at Iraq right now, do you?

even if they got the initial "shock" attack, we'd take our initial casualities and the pound the poop out of them as soon as everyone knew what was going on.

I agree.

[JCG]

They won't, but they'd be doomed within the month if they ever did...

[Wtiberon]

First off Iraq has been secular too long to go back to a fundamentalist nation...The U.S. will see to that as well. Second it would be SUICIDE if they invaded the U.S. Iraq only got a taste of what we are capable of mostly because we relied heavily on Iraqi forces surrendering. Rumsfield challenged the Pentagon to come up with a warplan that used the smallest amount of units possible. Thats why there was that initial rush for bagdad because it was theorized that if they could control bagdad the other cities would revolt and the war would have lasted about a week...of course it didn't happen that smooth but close enough I'd say. Imagine if we had used ALL our resources available to us....Great Jesus In the Morning!!!!

Syria and Iran have already made a preemptive diplomatic strike...Syria in particular. They are planning to present a proposal to the U.N. to make the Middle East WMD free....this of course is targeted at Israel. I think this is a very shrewd maneaver on Syria's part. Iran issued a statement that continuing talks with U.S. was in the best interest of Iran and that any Iraqi fugitives escaping into Iran would be arrested.

They may have alot to learn in warfare but we have much to learn in diplomacy. Think about it...they managed to rally much of the world opinion behind a guy who kills and torturs his people, invades his neighbors, and has (allegedly) WMD...incredible.

[raghar]

Originally posted by Eli
Yeah, like Israel would ever disband it's Nuclear weapons.

Some people in US didn't dream about Patriot act either.

[Az]

I don't think they actually can legally do this, but heck, they can always try.

A UN resolution declaring the law of gravity void!
A UN resolution ordering people to wear purple underpants!

[axi]

It's funny how global threats are created out of thin air, isn't it? A month ago nobody would percieve that Syria could be threatened by the United States. Two years ago, nobody could have guessed either that North Korea would be in a nuclear standoff with the United States. Why do the United States keep surprising us?

Who's next, Guinea-Bissau?