It looks like Star Trek has influenced another innovation that the US military is taking quite seriously.

Somewhere within the top secret halls of the US Naval Surface Warfare Center, the first test of a “force field” system has already been tested. The testing of what has been tagged the “Trophy Active Protective System” or TAPS was ordered by none other that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld out of the DOD’s Defense Office of Force Transformation (OFT). And you will never guess where the original technology came from. That’s right, those innovative Israelis’ from the Israel Defense Force (IDF) from the inspiration they received from Star Trek. They looked at the technology and said to themselves, “we can do this.”

The purpose of TAPS is to protect soldiers and hardware from attacks from rocket propelled grenades, or what is commonly referred on to on the news as RPG’s. TAPS has the ability to detect the incoming RPG, track it and safely destroy it before it reaches its target.

It is the hope of the US military complex that the success of the tests so far will only improve their ability to protect manpower and equipment in any possible future engagements they may be called upon by the US President or the UN to participate in. Colonel Wade Hall of the Marine Corps stated that, “Our mission is not to discover the 100 percent solution, but to find the best solution that can meet war-fighter needs today. Currently, the war-fighter’s only counter to the RPG threat is armor, more armor and more armor.”

The military leaders firmly believe that vehicles and personnel equiped with a TAPS device will not only have their survivability rates increase dramatically, but will enhance their mission profiles and overall success rate in any combat situation.

One of these days there may be a young man sitting behind the wheel of a tank and he will hear his C.O. say “Shields up Mr. Crusher, at maximum.”