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Notwithstanding the ongoing missile weapon race among the big and small powers, many experts say the new cold war, shaping up for the coming decades, will be fought in space and not on earth. That cold war will be carried on with new technologies on destructive laser beams. Gradually, It will give a holiday to all arms race around nuclear-tipped missiles.

The laser beams will be capable of travelling at the speed of light, 670 million mph, and can hit targets 50,000 times faster than the fastest missiles. That means laser beams can reach the Earth from a point in the Moon in less than two seconds, after they had been fired, reported Telegraph.

U.S. Efforts

Laser stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation and was invented by Dr. Gordon Gould in 1957. They were developed as tools of the medical field, video game consoles and scanners, for every day use. The super performance of Lasers has been a subject in sci-fi such as Star Trek, Star Wars and in movies like "Hunter from the Future and Masters of the Universe".

There was a time, when using light for warfare seemed like a long-held fantasy. But that fantasy has become a reality, even if it has not matched the imaginary flights of fancy of many sci-fi creators. Unlike the directed-energy weapon devices discussed in science fiction, the laser-based weaponry will be in extensive use, by the mid-2020s, when the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy start deploying more laser DEW devices.

Right now, there is a miniature use of laser beams in terrestrial and sea patrolling purposes. The most recent example is that of U.S. Navy's warship mounted with laser gun facilities patrolling the Persian Gulf. The ship, named as USS Ponce, can carry troops, vehicles, and helicopters close to beaches. On top of the ship, below a radar, the Laser Weapon System (LaWS) has been mounted, reported Popsci magazine.

Military Base in Moon

In futuristic wars, this wil not be the operational model. The option will be that of trageting the enemy from the space. The Chinese state media in the recent past had talked excitingly about the plans to establish a military base on the Moon's surface, from which beams could be directed to destroy any desired target on Earth or in Earth's orbit.

In a report on PLA plans, The Beijing Times had referred to the Death Star from the first Star Wars of 1977. The article was replete with quotes from "experts in China" that boasted "the Moon could be transformed into a deadly weapon." Though it might be a wish or empty boast since such moves could be watched and defensive measures taken, it remains a fact that such a base could be built stealthily anywhere else in the space. The only limitation to the destructive power will be the guidance from Newton's inverse square law, that the strength of a beam will be weaker when it has to cover more distance. Already, there are some stars in the space that evoke such thoughts of war scare, especially the brilliant stars Castor and Pollux in the constellation of Gemini. The twins are usually seen overhead and are named after military heroes of the bygone ages.