Nikola Tesla and Contemporary War Technology

Observing the contemporary wars a few are of opinion that they would have been led a different way had there not been some of Tesla’s inventions.

On July 1, 1898, he filed a patent, and then, on Lake Michigan before the commission he demonstrated the ability to operate a boat by remote control. Much later, a whole gamma of remotely controlled missiles will be devised from this invention, without which it would be hard to conceive any battle on the ground, sea or in the air.

In 1917 Tesla gave a detailed description of radar in a science magazine. Truthfully, he had not constructed it, but years later, based on his drawings, this device was constructed, and it fully proved its value in World War II, during the defense of Britain. Today radars are in daily use so it would be impossible to imagine any armed conflict without its wide application.

Also, Tesla worked a lot on the development of the vertical take-off and landing airplanes. The British and the Soviets constructed such airplanes and introduced them in operational use, and Harrier airplanes proved very successful in the Falklands War, which Britain led against Argentina. Thanks to this experience, the experts say that the vertical take-off and landing airplanes will be vastly used in future wars.

Some of Tesla’s discoveries will probably be used in the American space warfare project. But, Tesla was a scientist and a humanist, who created his inventions for the welfare of mankind, not for the destruction of people. When an American journalist stated that the remote controlled boats could be used for war purposes, the great scientist replied: “The greatest significance of my discovery comes from its effect on warfare and armament, because its certainty and unlimited destruction capability will tend to maintain powerful arguments for peace between nations.”

Tesla erred in his humane vision of future. Like many other scientists he believed that weapons which he had put in man’s arms would mean an end to wars, but, instead of that, thanks to those inventions the wars have become bloodier and more vicious, something Tesla never wanted...