Modern Warfare

MODERN WARFARE: YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND TOMORROW

Technological Advances in Warfare Lisa Hornef Dr. Carter SCI 110 Argosy University October 18, 2010

2 Abstract As a nation, our defense strategies are continually on the up rise. Our soldiers are much better prepared and armed than they were decades ago. The casualties of war will be significantly lessened as the continued progress and development of the most modernized warfare is introduced to our military. As the latest and greatest technological advances are outfitting our soldiers, we will have much more confidence in their safety and their mission. We will see how our warfare technology, from as early as the 17th century, has improved in so many different aspects or our weaponry. We will also get a glimpse of what is up and coming in the 21st century. There are great costs to develop such enhanced and sophisticated warfare, but I believe we can all agree that the lives that will be spared due to these advances more than makes up for the money being spent.

Modern Warfare There have been some pretty amazing technological advances in our long history of

modern warfare and I believe all these advances have benefitted our country greatly. Back in the 17th century our weapons and warfare (although considered great advances then) had amazing breakthroughs with our smaller means of weapons. Brass cartridge pistols were developed along with self-loading navy pistols, rifles, and multi-shot firearms. Our naval fleets started to gain some prestigious advances. In 1798, Eli Whitney produced the mass production of muskets. In 1813, Fultons steam propelled warship Demologous was borne. In 1863 Charles Burn and Simon Bougeois launched a vessel called the 6 Plongeur (diver). This vessel was 12 ft. long and 20 ft. wide, displacing 400 tons. It was amongst the first powered vessels and the engine ran 180 psi of compressed air stored in tanks throughout the boat. Not too long after that, the U.S. Navy began making the Whitehead Torpedo to be used by surface ships; this helped to spawn another new class:Torpedo Boat Destroyer. Rifles and naval fleets were not the only divisions enhanced by technology, The Carronade, afforded to us in the mid 1800s, a short smooth bore, cast iron cannon with a tremendous amount of increased power. Its hard to claim that these advances could have any negative affiliations attached to them. With each level of technological advances, more lives have been saved. In the early 1900s, we had the Wright brothers introduce their heavier-than-air flying machine, made of wood, fabric, and wire. Initial traveling speed was 30 mph to a 12-hp engine driving two propellers by chains. (Macksey, 1986, p.50). In 1915 the monoplane arrives with the first practical interrupter gear. These allowed a belt-fed gun to fire through the propeller arc and simplify accessibility to the pilot and increase fire power. (Macksey, 1986, p.72). About the same time front-line combat vehicles, tracked and armored made their debut. These tanks got their origin in the U.K. Their suspension was caterpillar tracks and their primary armament was a tank gun. We turn our eyes back to the improvements of our hand-held guns and rifles. Gasoperated machines had begun to arm soldiers. Sniper rifles had enabled us to progress to the point where it was possible to shoot an identified individual at a very long range. (Weapons, p.318). 1914-1945-Light machine guns came with some minor overheating problems but were quickly reconstructed and the system enabled barrels to be changed quickly and easily under

Modern Warfare

combat positions. Since 1945 the barrels of these rifles became shorter and the rounds they fired became lower-powered and lighter. This meant a reduction in the load soldiers had to carry. (Weapons, p.330). Submachine guns too had their continual means of progress along with the ammunition that were loaded in these competitively advanced weapons. To name every weapon and watch and document their progressive stages through the years would keep us from looking into the future even further and the dawn of the nuclear age. As we glance toward 1945 and the age of nuclear power, the hydrogen- bombing of Hiroshima, the first bomb upon consciousness of the world, helped for all to see the newest and latest devastating creation in modern warfare. (Garwin, 1995). The lives lost due to the detonation of this bomb were more than necessary, but it showed our enemies that the U.S. would not stop at anything to defend its country and our allied countries. Nuclear power became better suited to strengthen other divisions of our warfare. These nuclear and atomic bombs existences were bitter-sweet: the bitter- they unnecessarily took too many civilian lives, and the sweet- they were in the hands of the U.S. military at first. In 1954 the first nuclear powered submarine, USS Nautilus SSN-571, was launched. She introduced many firsts aside from being nuclear powered. She completed a submerged transit across the North Pole. The nuclear power allowed her to be submerged far longer than any diesel powered craft had allowed, this was the longest submerged cruise by a submarine with the fastest sustained speed for at least one hour, and was the first to successfully complete a 96 hr.- 2,945 km. run beneath the ice, using torpedoes to break the ice and resurface. Modern Warfare As we glance into the future of our modern warfare, it is completely astonishing the weaponry and arms as well as air craft, and water vessels that have yet to be introduced. We are headed towards a future of technological advances that none can even fathom. Our military defensemen will be able to enter many conflicting situations with much more confidence than they have had in all the preceding years. These men do not even know what is about to hit them, nor do our enemies. How long will it be before we introduce our own robot of war? 5