Super Bowl a Chance for More War Hype

Northrop Grumman Commercial Touts Laser Shooting Future Plane

by Jason Ditz,

From the helicopters looming overhead to the troops with assault rifles pretty much everywhere, Super Bowl 50 follows the ongoing trend of making everything about the military. That includes commercials hyping pricey new hypothetical war vehicles.

Northrop Grumman was at the center of this, with its new commercial hyping its as-yet-unnamed new Long-Range Strike Bomber, which doesn’t actually exist yet, and has already won a $60 billion contract purely on hype.

The new Super Bowl ad hypes the sixth-generation fighter, which has no tail and will fire lasers in a way that doesn’t give them away to enemies. Exactly how that’s going to happen is still not really clear.

But a shiny, invisible, super-expensive laser firing plane makes a great show, even if it’s purely a mock-up of a design that is likely many years from existing. As the Pentagon gears up for another massive budget hike, it’s unsurprising that military contractors are turning to the Super Bowl to keep the hype, and money, flowing.

http://news.antiwar.com/2016/02/07/super-bowl-a-chance-for-more-war-hype/