The U.S. and China are developing a new type of nuclear weapon called a “hypersonic glide vehicle” (HGV). It is a smaller warhead mounted on a booster rocket that can be launched at up to 17,000 miles per hour, travel through the edge of space, and re-enter earth’s atmosphere to be precision guided to its target. Unlike conventional nuclear weapons ballistic systems, in which the warhead travels only through the earth’s atmosphere in the path of an arc, this HGV warhead rises almost vertically and much higher, to the edge of space, travels through space, and then descends toward its earthly target by aerodynamic controls.
The primary advantage of this HGV over older systems is that it will be able to maneuver to avoid being shot down by antimissile defense systems. Thus, this HGV will render U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s envisioned Star Wars antimissile defense system–which is now a reality and stationed both on U.S. land, some U.S. warships, and lands of U.S. allies–obsolete.
These new HGV systems are expected to be fully developed and produced within less than a decade. They will be much more precise than their predecessor nuclear weapons and thus less destructive. Presumably, there will be less collateral damage and thus less non-combatant deaths. That likely will make their actual use more appealing. This is a frightening scenario.
Russia is also developing another type of new, nuclear weapon. And it may be possible to use nuclear weapons on drones. But it doesn’t stop only with destroying targets on earth. Russia and China reportedly are developing weapons that could destroy military satellites in a cyberattack.
Experts claim this new innovation of nuclear weapons will result in a new arms race. U.S. President Barak Obama recently admitted that he is worried about this possibility. He is the first U.S. President to campaign for the presidency on a platform in which he declared that the world should abolish all nuclear weapons and prohibit any future development and production of them. His administration vigorously pursued such goals. But Obama has complained that the reelection in 2012 of Vladimir Putin as Russia’s president has made Russia an unwilling partner in nuclear disarmament, whereas Russia and the U.S. has been working together bilaterally at reducing their nuclear weapon arsenals.
My book, Warrior from Heaven, is about the second coming of Christ and all that the Bible says will happen thereafter. Thus, it incorporates Ezekiel 38-39. It is about the Antichrist (“Gog”) leading all of the nations’ militaries as they invade Israel at the end of the age to annihilate that tiny nation in what has been erroneously been called Armageddon. (It is properly called the “battle on the great day of God the Almighty” [Revelation 16.14]). Ezekiel 38-39 says repeatedly that these soldiers will fight only with primitive weapons: swords, spears, bows and arrows, etc.
The Hebrew Prophet Joel predicts of this same time and those militaries, saying, “Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare war, stir up the warriors. Let all the soldiers draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears” (Joel 3.9-10). This is just the opposite of what Isaiah predicts, which is so often quoted, and Isaiah adds that there will never be war anymore. But Isaiah was referring to all time after so-called Armageddon.
My book reads on pp. 12-13, “But why did these nations make primitive weapons with which to fight war? Many years ago, the world went through a period when advanced technology continually resulted in the development and production of the most sophisticated military armaments. The increasingly destructive power of these weapons became such an overwhelming threat. The nations finally arrived at a consensus, concluding that such military capacity for human destruction was, frankly, insane. Millions of people in large cities could be instantly annihilated by massive explosive devices at the mere push of a button. Many people argued that this buildup of advanced weapons threatened the ver existence of humanity. The result was world disarmament.”
This world disarmament of all nuclear and even conventional weapons likely would become a reality if nuclear weapons were used again, which has only happened once–in WWII. This new and further development of nuclear weapons is truly frightening. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists says, “Last year, the Science and Security Board moved the Doomsday Clock forward to three minutes to midnight, noting: ‘The probability of global catastrophe is very high, and the actions needed to reduce the risks of disaster must be taken very soon.’ That probability has not been reduced. The Clock ticks. Global danger looms. Wise leaders should act—immediately.”
This Doomsday Clock was created right after WWII. The scientists always set the minute hand a few minutes from midnight, indicating how much the world is in danger. They reset it every few years. So, they now have it set at three minutes to midnight. In all of the nearly 70 years of the Doomsday Clock, only once has it been set closer to midnight than it is right now. It was during the height of the Cold War–the arms race between the U.S. and U.S.S.R.–in about 1960 when it was set for a time at two minutes to midnight.
(Much of this post is taken from “Shades of Cold War in Race for Latest Class of Nuclear Weapons” in the New York Times, April 17, 2016.)
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