Warfare Goes Green

Even with the busy task of protecting the World from Evil-doers, the World's mightiest military forces have still manage to spare some morality for the environment.
What started as a typically humorous posting on The Onion 2 years ago, on "Bush's plan to make the War in Iraq more Eco-friendly" has now become a reality.
Jumping on the Green band wagon, some military forces and weapons manufacturers have recently been announcing several new products to ensure that killing people does not harm the environment. Here are some examples:

The US Air Force's A-10C Thunderbolt took to the air for the first time, powered by a blend of bio fuel or 'hydrocarbon synthetic jet fuel' to be specific.

At this year's Earth Day the US Navy launched its new line of "Green Hornets", an environmentally friendly version of its Super Hornet Jets

Being green is not limited to the skies though, most recently, the US Army introduced its new line of 'Green Bullets'.......yes that's right, Green ammunition. The new M855A1 will be replacing the Cold War Era M855 ammo and the 7.62mm rounds that are currently in use. So what makes this bullet environmentally friendly? Well, instead of the traditional lead slug, this new bullet will consist of copper slugs......Copper being kinder to the environment.

The US Defense Department has even included a chapter on "Crafting a Strategic Approach to Climate and Energy" in this quarter's Quadrennial Defense Review Report.


Across the pond, the British weapons manufacture, BAE Systems has spoken of developing a range of green weapons including, a 'bang-free bomb' to ensure the user doesn't choke on smoke when he is blowing people up, lead free ammo, and, my favourite, land mines that turn into manure over a period of time. The spokes woman for BAE said "We all have a duty of care to ensure that from cradle to grave products are being used appropriately and do not do lasting harm."

But it's not only the 'good guys' who are going green. In March, Indian intelligence officials received tips that terrorist groups may be planning an attack on the country using paragliders. It seems that even terrorist have fallen victim to global warming alarmists and are now reconsidering the use of commercial jetliners terrorise the world.

Whilst these ideas and inventions might lead one to believe that Warfare and those involved in it are trying to preserve the environment while they wipe out humanity - kind of like the neutron bomb - sadly, the real reasoning behind these changes are purely strategic. The best of these being the new m855A1 ammo because "troops have widely criticized it, saying it is ineffective against barriers such as car windshields and often travels right through unarmored insurgents, with less-than-lethal effects."

So don't get too hopeful about seeing a new DARPA initiative to create Captain Planet just yet.