cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/44616333
President Donald Trump left out a key detail this week when he outlined his plans for a massive missile and air defense shield over the continent: He can’t build it without Canada.
Ottawa has historically funded about 40 percent of NORAD investments, according to VanHerck, and is putting $38 billion into the command to add new radars in the north over the next two decades. Without those investments — and additional sensors that can peer over the North Pole — officials believe the U.S. will have trouble putting together a credible North American air defense.
42 years of engineering evolution means we can build things now that were impossible back then. The US Army’s DE M-SHORAD and the British Dragonfire, two different High Energy Laser Systems that are already in production, are examples.
The US now has space based quantum sensing systems for God’s sake. That shit was literally unimaginable in 1983!
“Quantum Radar” would have been straight Science Fiction back then and yet at least the US and Australia have already built test systems for it.
The Scientists and Engineers of 1983, even the ones working on SDI, would likely have told you that the SmartPhone in your pocket right now was impossible and could never be built. The screen alone would have had them cumming in their pants and the camera system and processing power in the thing would have blown their minds.
SDI was a long time ago. May as well compare a 1983 Chevy to a 2025 LUCID EV.