Since it was mentioned in the article,
I worked on sub assemblies for that type of technology in the late 70’s (79 - 80), the “F-16 cloaking device” although it was no where near what was described.
It was cool stuff 25 years ago, bet it’s come along way since.
BAE’s Suter program (http://www.defensetech.org/archives/003170.html) shouldn’t have been released into the clear.
For one thing, Remote Data Placement (RDP) is still in its infancy. I was under the impression that there were technological hurdles left to overcome.
For instance, consider how a simple hard drive works. Your computer has data. That data is sent to a controller. The controller tells the hard drive where, when, and how much to magnetize a certain area of disk. Poof, your data is stored on the hard drive.
OK, that’s all well and good. But if a disk is out in the open, not in a hard drive, not inside a computer, not inside a room, then magnetism (e.g. manipulated via laser heat or magnetic pulse or multiple-sourced polarized EM waves) can be directed at the same disk from a distance.
Poof, data is stored onto the disk from some distance away. Hey, it’s a neat technical feat for whiz kids to brag about.
...But it becomes problematic to perform RDP when the disk media is inside a metal hard drive...and even more difficult when the metal hard drive is inside a metal computer case...and more difficult again when the metal computer case is inside a hardened bunker. So useful RDP is a “future technology.”
Of course, data can still be manipulated over open wires like telephone lines (that’s not new), but that runs into routine checksum and static routines for data integrity...such that an ordinary home PC can routinely overcome a large amount of hostile RDP just as it filters out routine static.
But if the U.S. and/or Israel has overcome the hurdles above...it would be big.
Hostile foes would be forced to abandon electronic communications...possibly even having to abandon all computers themselves (which make all smart weapons possible).
If RDP is active in the field without any counter-measures, then our foes would be reduced to pre-1960 weapons technology and communications (even strong encryption would become problematic for them to maintain at any reasonable battle field speed) across the board.
ICBM’s would have to go back to analog targeting and release processes for warheads or risk being reprogrammed in mid-flight, jammed, or otherwise hijacked. Anti-aircraft missiles would have to go back to pure analog detection/targeting.
RDP would give us full knowledge of all electronic funds transfered. We’d have spyware in the very real sense of the term in every bank on the planet.
If we’ve got functioning RDP deployed today, that would place us at the electronic version of the 1945 Trinity test.