History reveals how 'Star Wars' might have shaped the US military and its operations over the years

No, the US armed forces is not building a Millenium Falcon or an army of Jedi Knights, but Star Wars seems to have inspired the US military and its operations in multiple ways.

History suggests that the Star Wars series and the original trilogy idealised by George Lucas seems to have inspired not only the general population but also the US military.

In October 2015, Lockheed Martin flew 60 test flight outfitting jets with a tactical laser turret, reports Gizmag. The jets had the capacity to fire Tactical High-Energy Lasers (THELs) at 360 degrees, thus targetting enemies in all directions. The technology, called Aero-adaptive Aero-optic Beam Control (ABC) turret might sound similar to the AG-2G quad laser cannon on the Millennium Falcon, the machine which Finn operated in the new "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

The US Air Force Research Laboratory expects that US warplanes should be equipped with a working laser weapon by 2020, reports The Daily Beast. In addition, the researchers are currently trying to figure out whether ABC can be used to build a 360-degree shield around a US warplane.

The Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) was established a year after the release of the Return of the Jedi. SDI was being managed by then US President Ronald Reagan who allocated billions of rupees to build a missile defence system to protect the country against a potential attack by Soviet intercontinental ballistic nuclear weapons.

A Washington Post article published back in 1983 quoted Ted Kennedy accusing the Reagan administration of “misleading Red-scare tactics and reckless Star Wars schemes.” The Daily Beast reports that this was followed by an article published in the New York Post, after which SDI was nicknamed “Star Wars.”

America's 100-Hour War or the Gulf War is considered to be the fastest military victory in the history of the nation, all thanks to the five tacticians who were dubbed “Jedi Knights.” The team of five "Jedi Knights," intended to help break Iraqi forces, were formed by US General Norman Schwarzkopf.

If all this was not enough, US Army Lt. Col. Jim Channon wrote a 125-page operations manual for a First Earth Battalion consisting of “Jedi warriors” after spending a considerable amount of time with a group of Californian hippies. According to the manual, the Jedi warriors could predict the future, pass through walls, kill people by staring at them and become invisible at times.