12 Tech Inventions From Star Wars That Already Exist Today

5. Energy Shields

Many Bothans died to bring us this information. During the Cold War, fear of nuclear attack was rife in both the USA and the Soviet Union. A massive arms race began in 1949 in which both nations not only attempted to develop the most powerful nuclear weapons but also ways in which they could defend from them. Enter Star Wars, and I'm not talking about the movie franchise this time. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) of 1984 was a concept proposed in America towards the tail end of the Cold War. Dubbed "Star Wars" by the media, it was effectively an array of orbital satellites that could track and deflect incoming missiles that were on course for the States. In essence, it could create an enormous shield to quell fears of nuclear bombardment. However, it never came into fruition due to expense and time constraints. It's worth noting here that part of the research concerned high-energy orbital lasers that could knock out Russian satellites. That's totally the beginnings of Death Star tech. Fortunately, they never made anything of that either and there's now an international ban on space weapons. But back onto shields, there is something out there much like a Star Wars style deflector shield. Britain's MOD have developed what they are describing as "electric armour", which is able to vaporise rocket-propelled grenades and anti-tank shells when they impact an armoured vehicle. When tested, the shield protected tanks from enough shells to destroy the vehicle multiple times over, many of which were fired point blank. Best of all, the whole thing is powered by the tank's internal battery and so there's no chance of the shield being taken offline by pesky Ewoks.