six minute war

It’s that crystal balls time of year again. Check this out.

At the same time, the Pentagon launches a series of top-secret wargames and simulations looking at alternative plans for the direct military use of nanofabricators. Scenarios range from just-in-time weapons production to seemingly-radical notions of weapon systems that "evolve" with each successive generation (with each new generation being as little as a few hours). Most of their scenarios assume the United States will deploy nanotechnology-derived weapons first, a reasonable conclusion given that economic competitors Europe and Japan remained mired in biological-model nanotech dead ends, and the CIA has found no evidence that the Chinese have any advanced nanotech research underway.

Keeping its research so clandestine has cost China time, and the Chinese molecular manufacturing project doesn't see success until early 2020. The Chinese prove less worried than the U.S. about public exposure, however. In August 2020, China announces the result of its black MM program by invading and disarming North Korea with lightning speed (the so-called "Six-Minute War"). Kim Jong Il's attempt at a retaliatory nuclear missile attack on South Korea fails to clear the launch pad as thousands of micro-UAVs descend upon the missile bases; the surveillance footage of the missiles being destroyed by swarms of micro-UAVs quickly tops the downloads at GoogleTube. The world is taken by surprise by the power of the new technology, but ultimately applauds the operation. Buoyed by this success, China begins earnestly revolutionizing every aspect of its society through nanomanufacturing.

Via. Current status? Ongoing*.

*see Yorkshire Ranter, passim.