New Breed Of Missile Technology example essay topic

INTRODUCTION Before the war began, a ship stationed a hundred miles offshore fired a duet of cruise missiles. Subsonic, air breathing, low flying, the missiles would take an hour to reach their targets. Inside each missile's on board computer was a map of the terrain, a layout of the route it was to travel, downloaded from a reconnaissance satellite the night before. The missiles sped along at treetop level over a land without trees, constantly examining the terrain and comparing it to the map in their brains, adjusting their course as necessary.

The missiles proceeded to the capital city, where a Special Forces team and a squad of helicopters were awaiting their arrival. Illuminating the target point with lasers, the helicopters fired three rockets at the radar installation, making a gap in the radar defense system, through which a squadron of fighter jets poured in. Seconds later, the cruise missiles hit their target, and in a matter of minutes, the entire communications compound was obliterated. This was the beginning of the Gulf War, and as you can see, computers have changed the face of war as we know it today. They have drastically changed the way we fight, from lines of men marching at each other to no men at all; war has changed for the good and the bad. The first technology to change as a result of the computer was the radio.

We might take it for granted today, but back during World War I, there was no such thing. Men were the main courier for messages at the time. Then in World War II, it all changed, with a device about the size of your arm, and a large pack that you carried on your back. The whole contraption weighed about thirty pounds and was very clunky. Despite all this, the radio did wonders for troop morale, knowing that they were still? in touch?

Today, almost every soldier is equipped with a modern version of the radio, small light, worn on your head and almost unnoticeable, minus the little microphone hanging from one ear. These allow troops to talk to each other, squads to know where each other are and allow command to relay orders to the troops as the operation continues. One problem yet to be overcome however is the problem of battery life. Most radios will last you a day or two at most, but when its battery is dead, its just more weight for the troop to carry.

SENSING TECHNOLOGIES Sensing technologies are technologies that enhance the senses of a human being. One of the most widely accepted sensing technologies is Night Vision. Night Vision does what its name says, it allows a person to see in the dark, without having a light source. Night Vision uses electron filters to enhance the pre-existing light, creating a bright green image of the land and objects around them, in essence they can see in the dark. Infrared technology is a lot like Night Vision in many ways. These sensors display heat in ranges from blue (cold) to red (hot) allowing a troop to see a man in camouflage and hidden from Night Vision, just by the heat waves emanating from his body.

Lasers are used a lot in the battlefield, but mostly in sensing. If mounted on a gun, they designate the point where the bullet will hit, instead of relying solely on the cross hairs of a scope or other such primitive devices, although scopes are still used today. We might not think of it as a sensing technology, but the GPS, Global Positioning System. GPS allows for a squad to know exactly where they are, instead of guessing. A handheld device, the GPS relays satellite signals to tell the user where he is located. They work constantly and globally, you could go anywhere in the world and know where you are because of the GPS?

In a field environment, I have used this in the past and it provides satisfactory results.? Probably the most known sensor is radar. Radar was first created back during World War II and helped the British beat the Luftwaffe pilots. Them knowing where they were and how long ago they took off, gave the British an advantage over the Germans who had no such technology at the time. Today, however, radar is beginning to fade into obscurity, many plane manufactures are developing paints and carbon based materials that absorb the radar waves instead of relaying them to the point of origin, which essentially, radar depends on to work. Radar uses the rebounding waves of radar to point out the location of an object.

PROJECTILE TECHNOLOGIES Ah, the gun, from its first date of use somewhere in the late Middle Ages, it has beaten down every other weapon that has opposed it. Using gunpowder to project a hunk of lead has been our primary source of weaponry for hundreds of years. This simple yet effective task was what most thought was the end of projectile technologies, they were wrong. Smart Projectiles are all the rage in the United States Armed Forces right now, and even some European armies are catching on to this new idea. The most interesting of these new smart rounds are the tank projectiles. The X-ROD is the newest and greatest tank projectile that our military has to offer, second only to the XM 943 round, but both different.

The X-ROD is a depleted uranium kinetic energy round that is shot at the enemy vehicle, the round then scans the terrain, calculating it's route and speed. Once it identifies the enemy vehicle with an onboard picture, it fires a rocket booster one kilometer away, penetrating the hull and causing severe damage and destruction. The XM 943, however is used when the enemy cannot be seen. It is fired into the air, it scans the ground, searching for enemy tanks and cars, once it finds it's target, it turns downward, fires a rocket booster, and slams into the top of the vehicle, destroying it. The only downfall of these rounds is that they cost well over $5,000 a piece.

The Swiss employ a smart mortar, similar to the X-ROD and XM 943. A mortar is a portable, muzzle loading cannon used to fire shells at low velocities, short ranges, and high trajectories. The mortar shell is dropped into a tube, its rear end hits a pin at the end of the tube, igniting the gunpowder and shooting the mortar into the air. Inside the round, however, is an explosive that activates on impact. These smart mortars, like the smart tank projectiles, scan the area and drop onto enemy bunkers, displacements, etc. BOMBS AND MISSILES It seems that all the new, improved computer aided weapons are called? smart?

You might not think of it as possible, but there are actually smart bombs. Bombs that do not merely drop, but more or less glide to their targets on wings. More accurate and more effective, these smart bombs come with a hefty price tag, some even getting into the $200,000 range.? They could be launched by any aircraft that could carry ordinary bombs of the same size, and could be guided by a laser designator on the launch aircraft, on a spotter aircraft, or operated by ground forces.? One downfall of having guided bombs is that they have to be carried by bombers, usually big, hefty planes, not at all stealthy or quiet, and our United States Military's select handful of bombers date back to the beginning of the Cold War, the early 1950?'s. Quickly replacing the outdated bombers are missiles.

The first breed of missiles were semi-guided, long shafts filled with rocket boosters and explosives. These had to be aimed in the general direction of their target, and then the missiles would plunge to the ground after reaching a programmed distance. The first of these types of missiles was used against the British by the Germans during World War II, the V-1 rocket. Since the introduction of the computer, however, smart missiles are taking the stage. Whether heat guided or GPS guided missiles, these are effective, silent, and deadly. The Tomahawk missile is the star of this new breed of missile technology.

Used at the start of the Gulf War, these missiles scan their surrounding territory and adjust their course as necessary. They pack a powerful punch, with 1,000 lbs of explosives, and will quickly decimate anything that they are planned to kill. Because they adjust their path to their surroundings, they will not hit a train or car in their path, they will swerve around it and hit only their designated target. Costing around $1 million each, these missiles mean serious business. However, the first Tomahawk missiles were not normal explosives missiles, but were instead created to carry a nuclear warhead.? The arms limitations treaties signed by the United States and the Soviet Union in the late 1980's singled out A LCMs for elimination as nuclear weapons, but allowed for their conversion to conventionally-armed missiles.?

Missiles, however were not always designed to carry just explosives, the first missiles were in fact invented to carry nuclear explosives. These weighed five tons a piece and had their own GPS systems on board. Used from 1960 until 1972, these big boys were never actually used, yet stood as homage to our military power. A later version of the same missile, the Peacekeeper, weighed 195,000 lbs and had a 50 megaton blast (The bomb that dropped on Hiroshima only had a 20 kiloton blast.) The United States little nemesis during the Gulf War was the Scud missile that the Iraqis used over and over again to disable enemy outposts. The Scuds do not use any guidance system at all, they merely are shot in the general direction of the target and hit within 1 kilometer of their target. Scuds were developed by the Soviets and sold to whoever could afford them.

Iraq bought many of them and used them primarily on the United States during the Gulf War. VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGIES UAV?'s, unmanned aerial vehicles take the prize for being the most technology savvy vehicle in the United States Military. These vehicles are the smallest, cheapest and potentially most effective that the United States Air Force has to offer. Although it is not yet refined to the point that we might make UAV fighters, the technology works fine for reconnaissance missions, considering that when they travel at heights over three thousand feet, they are virtually undetectable. The Pioneer is the prominent UAV in our arsenal. It is controlled by radio, with a controller monitoring its movements via a TV camera inside the Pioneer's head.

Currently, the United States is putting forth over $6.6 billion to form more sophisticated UAV?'s. Another possible use for UAV's might be missile interception. The UAV's would hover miles off the ground, powered by microwave signals sent to it by ground stations. The plane might hover there for days at a time, then they would send out Talons, small missiles that would intercept the oncoming missile, causing it to explode prematurely.

One downfall is that the UAV's might soon be attainable by enemy forces.? The potential threats to the U.S. and its global interests have paid attention to organizing HUM INT assets to watch over U.S. airbases. A warning that a large UAV or airstrike is on its way is only a cell phone call away.? Airborne control centers are another vehicular technology that holds extreme potential. These control centers are large planes, equipped with many different sensing technologies. These planes fly constantly and control the entire battle from the air, be it a land air or sea battle.

AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control Systems) are large planes that control the airborne battle. They are cousins to the JSTARS (Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar Systems) which control the ground battle. The JSTARS were first used in the Gulf War with resounding effects. The aircraft is a Boeing 707 with a twenty-six foot long radar housing underneath the fuselage. The JSTARS are equipped with a Doppler that detects the motion of objects, thus large movements of armored formations can be seen and tracked.

The JSTARS also can make maps of target areas or produce photographs of particular installations. The control center can also detect metallic objects inside the ground, the exact depth it can reach is classified, as well as those on top of the ground: bridges, aircraft on the ground and tanks. Because of this technology, JSTARS were able to map out minefields in south Kuwait during Desert Storm.? An integrated, virtual battlefield picture IS within our scope? REALLY. Would you not, as a commander of an air operation, like to know which sensors are available to you at a given time?

You? d also want to look at a live feed with all the various information so you would know what was terrain masked from JSTARS, AWACS, a UAV? This comment was very well stated by Major J.R. Barely, Commander of the Air Intelligence Agency. 1. Friedman, Meredith and George.

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(1986)? The Automated Battlefield.? Free Press 5. Davidson, Key. (October 10, 2001)? Spy in the sky guide strikes?

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