Military/Aerospace technology eventually migrates into civilian use, so: how does the military technology of today become a civilian technology of tomorrow? Is there a civilian equivalent to a Special Forces operative calling in an air strike? How would something like Global Hawk, a robot reconnaissance aircraft, be used in peacetime? What is the civilian equivalent to JStars, an airborne battlefield command post?

There are several analogs: the military of war is the police and fire and medical care in peacetime; the word ‘first responders’ is now used to describe emergency workers more generally. Then there are business organizations, with strategies, technology investments, target markets, and a workforce deployed to compete with other similar organizations for the attention and dollars of consumers. Finally, there is the consumer, someone who draws on natural and human resources to survive and prosper.

The military force presently deployed by the United States is the summation of many plans and programs, some of which were initiated a generation ago. Cruise missiles are older than most of us, having first been used in World War II. The ‘smart’ ones were developed in the 1970's, but not meaningfully used until the 1990's. Global Hawk has many grandparents: V1s, planetary explorers, Burt Rutan’s non-stop round-the-world airplane, target acquisition systems, and so on. Civilian equivalents will require a similarly long term view, and as such the major sponsors are likely to be governments, religious institutions, utilities, or educational establishments: entities that can dribble out resources over decades, if need be.

Individuals that have such long range vision are rare, these are the ones that grew up reading Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy.

WW I through Vietnam were exercises in production: it was believed that the miliary force with the greatest kaboom would win. This culminated in nuclear weapons which could presumably wipe out cities. The migration to precision munitions is a radical rethinking of war, and victory now belongs not to those who can destroy more of the enemy’s assets, but those who can focus their firepower on the truly important targets, while leaving everything else alone. This is a multiple step process: finding potential targets, ranking their significance, and killing the ones that matter. The ‘kill’ may consist of nabbing a terrorist at the airport, or even publicly exposing an otherwise hidden sponsor: the belligerent behavior is stopped without necessarily firing a shot.

In the civilian world the target is the customer: it is not just one that will buy, but one that will buy at the greatest profit to the vendor. Spam is carpet bombing: 1 million e-mails produces 100 sales. Collateral damage is immense. Websites registered with search engines are precision munitions: the customer is looking for you, they are ready to buy, and presumably they have money.

Could we find potholes in city streets with a Global Hawk? Would it be cheaper than what we do now? Supposedly Global Hawk can use ground penetrating radar to find mines; the craterlike shape of a pothole couldn’t be any more challenge. This could apply as well to agricultural pests or pollution. It might also aid in drug interdiction or finding stranded motorists. We have to decide if we like the idea of a robotic spy plane cruising around our airspace at 50,000 feet keeping an eye on us.

JStars is basically the rush hour traffic report scaled up to a 747. Now, instead of reporting the accident at Main and I-35, any car that’s smoking is identified and its owner’s name is handed over to the new car dealers. Any house with a ‘hot spot’ indicating poor or disturbed insulation is visited by someone from Home Improvement. All the chronic tire/brush dumps are inventoried, particularly for stuff that wasn’t there yesterday.

One can imagine that a flying command post would be useful in the aftermath of a natural disaster, particularly one that takes out communications and power. If there are collapsed buildings an airborne radar system would be able to identify all the ‘points of concern’ in a matter of minutes, so that rescue resources can be allocated effectively. Such a system might also be able to identify regions of forest that have a higher propensity to burn, which would give ground crews a better idea where to run if they are in immediate danger.

As a general rule, people write checks to avoid pain. A commercial JStars might take messages from people with toothaches, back pain, or arthritis; situations where medical care isn’t an emergency but where the consumer is interested in the proximity and availability of relief. An analogous situation might occur with car problems or other equipment; something is broken, where is the most immediate support resource, or where is the resource with the least immediate commitment?

If JStars could handle battle management for an army of 100,000 troops and their associated equipment, would that necessarily scale up to a city the size of Dallas full of SUVs trying to get to the airport for the last flight out? The Big Brother aspect is counterbalanced by the sheer magnitude of the data and human involvement required. The use of such services is likely to be sporadic, concentrated say during the day after Thanksgiving or immediately before Christmas. When you’re on the road and frustrated, ask yourself; What would be the most help right now? That’s what’s more than likely to ‘land in your lap’ as a civilian adaptation of military technology.