Future Weapon Technology

So basically the Transformers movie is pretty bad ass, and it also is like a 2.5 hour commercial for the US Military. Not like there’s anything wrong with that, but the media has, since even before the release of the movie, been debating the pros and cons of the heavily laden promotional content paid for by either US defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT], General Dynamics [NYSE: GD], Boeing Co. [NYSE: BA], and Force Protection Inc. [NYSE: FRPT] or even simply the US Armed Forces themselves. I believe that there is one very notable point when considering the costs and benefits of employing such advertising tactics on the general populace. The first perspective can be derived from my own childhood influences. Having grown up with GI Joes being one of my favorite toys, in fact owning hundreds of action figures and vehicles, I naturally took an interest in all things machinery and especially new and complex weapons. These toys were basically plastic hand-held replicas of the modern weapons we have used on our crusade to bring peace to the Middle East. We have all heard that we can be products of our environment, and now here I am blogging about only the most bad ass military technology to hit the battlefield. All politics aside, the Iraq War has provided the world stage a full screen view of exactly what types of offensive capabilities the US wields in its immense arsenal. Not so ironically, the Transformers movie also depicts the incredible possibilities of appropriately applying US force at just the right places. I mean, they actually take out a robot transformer scorpion from outer space! If they can do that, then surely they can do anything else they put their minds to. Respectively, and likewise in turn, this new transformers enterprise will likely influence the young children of today, given that it contains the appropriate levels of special effects and fast-paced action to hold their attention while the weapons are shown doing their thing. A new and improved tool, the new Transformers enterprise has characters composed by the likes of the newest military machines to storm the scene: Starring as actual transformers: the M1 Abrams tank, the F22 Raptor, a Force Protection “Buffalo” mine-protected vehicle, and the MH-53 Pave Low helicopter. These characters are all going to have their own toys to go along with them, but the movie also displays an awesome scene showing an incredible overhead view of an AC-130 gunship firing its weapons (it’s computer-enhanced though).
All that we can hope for is that this movie hasn’t done wrong for the international audience by portraying some of the US military’s hardware as being on the Decepticon’s side (they’re the bad guys). Somehow, though, it still must be beneficial for others to witness examples of the true power that the bad guys are capable of wielding.

See what the Air force has to say about the movie in the video below.