Smart Pebbles Developments For Anti-Aircraft Evolving?

The smart pebbles Star Wars anti-missile development program may have evolved a modern high-speed direct-fire kinetic anti-aircraft weapon trend for shooting at aircraft with a muzzle velocity of 20,000 M.P.H. -who can say what government and industry spend money on?

http://www.9abc.net/index.php/archives/7369

The electro-magnetic anti-aircraft gun isn't like the WW II Bophurs anti-aircraft cannon. Anti-aircraft weapons were largely replaced by anti-aircraft missiles after the Korean War. The newer era of anti-aircraft weapons may be another reason why conventional human-piloted aircraft are slowly being replaced by drone aircraft and stealth; they are smaller and less valuable and easier to conceal from ground crews.

The entire issue of proliferation of electro-magnetic 'cannon' is one that should concern civilians as it could be a future inter-continental ballistic 'stone' technology able to hit cities with conventional sabots. It human beings were as smart at reforming capitalism, communism and other global networks of power that inhibit individual free enterprise as they are at weapons development they would have a better chance for survival beyond a few decades on Earth.

I would guess that for the defense industry finding enemies may be an essential part of the dialectic of defense weapons development. Without credible enemies the rationale for developing large scale weapons programs is difficult to politically justify.

The possibilities for direct electro-magnetic kinetic weapons uses in space may be a driver for the future development of mass-driver accelerators of sabots to supplement the usual laser 'speed of light' technologies.