WEAPONS OF FUTURE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21852, 24 October 1945, Page 4

WEAPONS OF FUTURE

TERRIFYING PROSPECTS STRATOSPHERE BOMBERS NEW YORK, Oct, 10. The terrifying possibilities of another world war, as pictured in a report made by the Chief of the United States General Staff, General Marshall, have shocked Congress and the nation. Reference in the report to the atom bomb lent urgency to the job Congress faces of finding means to control this newfound power. In his report, which the New York Times calls “one of the most important documents of these great and terrible years,” General Marshall tells something of the air weapons of the future, which will shrink the globe to a single battlefield. . There will be fantastic rockets which will streak unerringly to factory targets, attracted by the heat of the factory’s own furnaces These rockets will be equipped with such sensitive devices that, in the space of a small room, they would aim themselves toward a man entering the room, attracted by the heat of his body. . , , The report says that the potential of such a weapon, carrying an atom bomb warhead, is obvious, and warns that genuine defence against rocket attack has still to be found. Futuristic jet-propelled bombers will speed through the stratosphere at COO miles an hour, carrying 50-ton bombs. These aircraft will have sufficient range to attack any spot on earth and return to a friendly base. Jet-propelled fighters in the next five years will be capable of a speed of about 750 miles an hour and will reach targets 2000 miles away. The report claims that, with war developments as they are at present, American cities might be destroyed from other continents in a matter of hours. The report says the only defence against this kind of warfare is ability to attack. i.