"I'm not claiming to be a prophet.I merely speculated wildly and, against all odds, hit the mark"

After urgently calling for anti-drone missile technology, Rois is pleased to discover that the MoD has heeded her advice

- ROIS NITHUAMA

Nobody likes a know-it-all. Less appealing still is someone who actually says “I told you so.” But when someone unburdened by any measurable technical expertise happens to blurt something out on a podcast (PC Pro podcast episode 725, viewable at tinyurl.com/370pod725), and it later turns out to be eerily on the money, well - how can one not gloat just a little?

You see, some time ago I asked, possibly with dramatic arm gestures, “Surely to God we have the technology to knock things out of the sky with a beam?” I wasn’t proposing death rays – although who among us hasn't secretly wanted one? - but something a bit more precision-engineered. It turns out, we kind of do.

Now, I'm not claiming to be a prophet. I merely speculated wildly and, against all odds and reason, hit the mark. Besides, I wasn't the first to imagine such a thing. Let us not forget that seminal moment in the late 1970s when Colonel Steve Austin - yes, that Six Million Dollar Man (adjusted for inflation, a very reasonably priced £36 million) - helped exonerate a test pilot whose aircraft was mysteriously downed. The culprit? A disgruntled Navy scientist with a beam that could zap the electrics in a plane or Jeep. Science fiction? Not any more.

RFDEW: it does what it says on the tin

Fast-forward to 2025 and the Ministry of Defence, in collaboration with the private sector, has unveiled a frankly impressive anti-drone system. For a mere £40 million - the same cost, incidentally, to rebuild Steve Austin. Coincidence? I don’t think so. For that same tidy sum, the MoD has developed a Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapon, or RFDEW. No, it’s not the catchiest name - unlike laser, which somehow made the leap from acronym to everyday lingo – but I like it. It’s honest. It does exactly what it says on the tin.