Military technology
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Military technology is the collection of equipment, vehicles, structures and communication systems that are designed for use in warfare. It comprises the kinds of technology that are distinctly military in nature and not civilian in application, usually because they are impractical in civilian application, have no legal civilian usage, or are dangerous to use without appropriate military training.
It is common for military technology to have been researched and developed by scientists and engineers specifically for use in battle by the armed forces. Many new technologies came as a result of the military funding of science. Weapons engineering is the design, development, testing and lifecycle management of military weapons and systems. It draws on the knowledge of several traditional engineering disciplines, including mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, mechatronics, electro-optics, aerospace engineering, materials engineering, and chemical engineering.
There are a significant number of military inventions whose technologies were originally developed and designed for military purposes, and which are now used by civilians with sometimes minor or no modifications at all.
History
This section is divided into the broad cultural developments that affected military technology.
Ancient technology
The first use of stone tools may have occurred during the Paleolithic Period, about two million years ago, and developed through the Pleistocene Period, about 12,000 years ago.[1] Stone tools are evidence of the earliest technological development to shape and sharpen minerals such as chert, flint, and obsidian (see knapping) into bludgeoning weapons and other trauma weapons.[2]
The earliest evidence of warfare between tribes of humans date back to the Neolithic period (New Stone Age) at Catalhuyuk in Anatolia and Jericho around 7000 to 6000 BCE where primitive fortifications and stone weapons have been found.[2]
Humans entered the Bronze Age where they began to smelt copper and make an alloy with tin and make more effective and specialized weapons like swords, spears and shields. This development was delayed Asia where copper-tin ores are rare, thus bronze was not introduced until trading in bronze began in the third millennium BCE. In the Middle East and Southern European regions, the Bronze Age follows the Neolithic period, but in other parts of the world, the Copper Age is a transition from Neolithic to the Bronze Age. Although the Iron Age generally followed the Bronze Age, in some areas, the Iron Age intruded directly on the Neolithic from outside the region, with the exception of Sub-Saharan Africa where it was developed independently.[3]
Craftsmen developed metallurgical techniques to improve the tensile strength of bronze, and then iron alloys, allowing longer blades to be used as swords without bending or breaking.[4] Iron Age weapons introduced finely detailed swords that could be easily sharpened and held their edge longer. The first large scale use of iron metallurgy for weapons began in Asia Minor around the 14th c. BCE and in Central Europe around the 11th c. BCE followed by the Middle East (about 1000 BCE) and India and China.[5]
The Assyrians are credited with the introduction of horse cavalry in warfare and the extensive use of iron weapons by 1100 BCE. Assyrians were also the first to use iron-tipped arrows.[5]
Post-classical technology
The Essentials of the Military Arts ["Wujing zongyao"] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized language code: chi (help), written by Zeng Gongliang, Ding Du, and others at the order of Emperor Renzong around 1043 during the Song dynasty illustrate the eras focus on advancing intellectual issues and military technology due to the significance of warfare between the Song and the Liao, Jin, and Yuan to their north. The book covers topics of military strategy, training, and the production and employment of advanced weaponry.[6]
Advances in military technology aided the Song dynasty in its defense against hostile neighbors to the north. The flamethrower found its origins in Byzantine-era Greece, employing Greek fire (a chemically complex, highly flammable petrol fluid) in a device with a siphon hose by the 7th century.[7]: 77 The earliest reference to Greek Fire in China was made in 917, written by Wu Renchen in his Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms.[7]: 80 In 919, the siphon projector-pump was used to spread the 'fierce fire oil' that could not be doused with water, as recorded by Lin Yu in his ["Wuyue Beishi"] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized language code: chi (help), hence the first credible Chinese reference to the flamethrower employing the chemical solution of Greek fire (see also Pen Huo Qi).[7]: 81 Lin Yu mentioned also that the 'fierce fire oil' derived ultimately from one of China's maritime contacts in the 'southern seas', Arabia ["Dashiguo"] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized language code: chi (help).[7]: 82 In the Battle of Langshan Jiang (Wolf Mountain River) in 919, the naval fleet of the Wenmu King from Wuyue defeated a Huainan army from the Wu state; Wenmu's success was facilitated by the use of 'fire oil' ('huo you') to burn their fleet, signifying the first Chinese use of gunpowder in a battle.[7]: 81–83 The Chinese applied the use of double-piston bellows to pump petrol out of a single cylinder (with an upstroke and downstroke), lit at the end by a slow-burning gunpowder match to fire a continuous stream of flame.[7]: 82 This device was featured in description and illustration of the Wujing Zongyao military manuscript of 1044.[7]: 82 In the suppression of the Southern Tang state by 976, early Song naval forces confronted them on the Yangtze River in 975. Southern Tang forces attempted to use flamethrowers against the Song navy, but were accidentally consumed by their own fire when violent winds swept in their direction.[7]: 89
Although the destructive effects of gunpowder were described in the earlier Tang dynasty by a Daoist alchemist, the earliest-known existent written formulas for gunpowder come from the ["Wujing Zongyao"] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized language code: chi (help) text of 1044, which described explosive bombs hurled from catapults.[8]: 138 The earliest developments of the gun barrel and the projectile-fire cannon were found in late Song China. The first art depiction of the Chinese 'fire lance' (a combination of a temporary-fire flamethrower and gun) was from a Buddhist mural painting of Dunhuang, dated circa 950.[9] These 'fire-lances' were widespread in use by the early 12th century, featuring hollowed bamboo poles as tubes to fire sand particles (to blind and choke), lead pellets, bits of sharp metal and pottery shards, and finally large gunpowder-propelled arrows and rocket weaponry.[7]: 220–221 Eventually, perishable bamboo was replaced with hollow tubes of cast iron, and so too did the terminology of this new weapon change, from 'fire-spear' ["huo qiang"] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized language code: chi (help) to 'fire-tube' ["huo tong"] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized language code: chi (help).[7]: 221 This ancestor to the gun was complemented by the ancestor to the cannon, what the Chinese referred to since the 13th century as the 'multiple bullets magazine erupter' ["bai zu lian zhu pao"] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized language code: chi (help), a tube of bronze or cast iron that was filled with about 100 lead balls.[7]: 263–264
The earliest known depiction of a gun is a sculpture from a cave in Sichuan, dating to 1128, that portrays a figure carrying a vase-shaped bombard, firing flames and a cannonball.[10] However, the oldest existent archaeological discovery of a metal barrel handgun is from the Chinese Heilongjiang excavation, dated to 1288.[7]: 293 The Chinese also discovered the explosive potential of packing hollowed cannonball shells with gunpowder. Written later by Jiao Yu in his Huolongjing (mid 14th century), this manuscript recorded an earlier Song-era cast iron cannon known as the 'flying-cloud thunderclap eruptor' (fei yun pi-li pao). The manuscript stated that:
As noted before, the change in terminology for these new weapons during the Song period were gradual. The early Song cannons were at first termed the same way as the Chinese trebuchet catapult. A later Ming dynasty scholar known as Mao Yuanyi would explain this use of terminology and true origins of the cannon in his text of the Wubei Zhi, written in 1628:
The 14th century Huolongjing was also one of the first Chinese texts to carefully describe to the use of explosive land mines, which had been used by the late Song Chinese against the Mongols in 1277, and employed by the Yuan dynasty afterwards. The innovation of the detonated land mine was accredited to one Luo Qianxia in the campaign of defense against the Mongol invasion by Kublai Khan,[7]: 192 Later Chinese texts revealed that the Chinese land mine employed either a rip cord or a motion booby trap of a pin releasing falling weights that rotated a steel flint wheel, which in turn created sparks that ignited the train of fuses for the land mines.[7]: 199 Furthermore, the Song employed the earliest known gunpowder-propelled rockets in warfare during the late 13th century,[7]: 477 its earliest form being the archaic Fire Arrow. When the Northern Song capital of Kaifeng fell to the Jurchens in 1126, it was written by Xia Shaozeng that 20,000 fire arrows were handed over to the Jurchens in their conquest. An even earlier Chinese text of the Wujing Zongyao ("Collection of the Most Important Military Techniques"), written in 1044 by the Song scholars Zeng Kongliang and Yang Weide, described the use of three spring or triple bow arcuballista that fired arrow bolts holding gunpowder packets near the head of the arrow.[7]: 154 Going back yet even farther, the ["Wu Li Xiao Shi"] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized language code: chi (help) (1630, second edition 1664) of Fang Yizhi stated that fire arrows were presented to Emperor Taizu of Song (r. 960–976) in 960.[11]
Modern technology
Space
During the Cold War, the world's two great superpowers — the Soviet Union and the United States of America — spent large proportions of their GDP on developing military technologies. The drive to place objects in orbit stimulated space research and started the Space Race. In 1957, the USSR launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1.
By the end of the 1960s, both countries regularly deployed satellites. Spy satellites were used by militaries to take accurate pictures of their rivals' military installations. As time passed the resolution and accuracy of orbital reconnaissance alarmed both sides of the iron curtain. Both the United States and the Soviet Union began to develop anti-satellite weapons to blind or destroy each other's satellites. Laser weapons, kamikaze style satellites, as well as orbital nuclear explosion were researched with varying levels of success. Spy satellites were, and continue to be, used to monitor the dismantling of military assets in accordance with arms control treaties signed between the two superpowers. To use spy satellites in such a manner is often referred to in treaties as "national technical means of verification".
The superpowers developed ballistic missiles to enable them to use nuclear weaponry across great distances. As rocket science developed, the range of missiles increased and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) were created, which could strike virtually any target on Earth in a timeframe measured in minutes rather than hours or days. In order to cover large distances ballistic missiles are usually launched into sub-orbital spaceflight.
As soon as intercontinental missiles were developed, military planners began programmes and strategies to counter their effectiveness.
Mobilization
A significant portion of military technology is about transportation, allowing troops and weaponry to be moved from their origins to the front. Land transport has historically been mainly by foot, land vehicles have usually been used as well, from chariots to tanks.
When conducting a battle over a body of water, ships are used. There are historically two main categories of ships: those for transporting troops, and those for attacking other ships.
Soon after the invention of aeroplanes, military aviation became a significant component of warfare, though usually as a supplementary role. The two main types of military aircraft are bombers, which attack land- or sea-based targets, and fighters, which attack other aircraft.
Military vehicles are land combat or transportation vehicles, excluding rail-based, which are designed for or in significant use by military forces.
Military aviation includes any use of aircraft by a country's military, including such areas as transport, training, disaster relief, border patrol, search and rescue, surveillance, surveying, peacekeeping, and (very rarely) aerial warfare.
Warships are watercraft for combat and transportation in and on seas and oceans.
- Submarines
- Complex masting and sail systems found on warships during the Age of Sail
- List of historical ship and boat types
- List of aircraft carriers
- List of submarine classes
Defense
Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defense in warfare. They range in size and age from the Great Wall of China to a Sangar.
Communication
Sensors and communication systems are used to detect enemies, coordinate movements of armed forces and guide weaponry. Early systems included flag signaling, telegraph and heliographs.
- Radar
- Missile guidance
- GPS guidance in guidance weapons
- Norden Bombsight
- Proximity fuse
Future technology
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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technologies for use by the military. DARPA leads the development of military technology in the United States and today, has dozens of ongoing projects; everything from humanoid robots, to bullets that are able to change path before reaching their target. China has a similar agency.
Emerging Territory
Cyber-space
In 2011, the US Defense Department declared cyberspace a new domain of warfare; since then DARPA has begun a research project known as "Project X" with the goal of creating new technologies that will enable the government to better understand and map the cyber territory. Ultimately giving the Department of Defense the ability to plan and manage large-scale cyber missions across dynamic network environments.[12]
Oceanography
Meteorology
See also
- Bellifortis, late medieval treatise on military technology.
- Materiel
References
- ^ Wescott, David (1999). Primitive Technology: A Book of Earth Skills. Layton, UT: Society of Primitive Technology, Gibbs Smith. p. 60. ISBN 0-87905-911-7.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ a b Tucker, Spencer (2010). A Global Chronology of Conflict. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC. p. 3. ISBN 978-1-85109-672-5.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ Iron In Africa: Revising The History : Unesco. Portal.unesco.org. Retrieved on 2014-11-20.
- ^ Drews, Robert (1995). The end of the Bronze Age: changes in warfare and the catastrophe ca. 1200 B.C (revised ed.). Princeton University Press. pp. 197–204. ISBN 0-691-02591-6.
- ^ a b Tucker, Spencer (2010). A Global Chronology of Conflict. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC. p. 6-7. ISBN 978-1-85109-672-5.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "Teachers' Guide for Military Technology" (PDF). 2001-11-26: 1. Retrieved 2014-11-20.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Ping-Yü, with the collaboration of Ho; Gwei-Djen, Lu; Ling, Wang (1986). Science and Civilization in China. The Gunpowder Epic (1. publ. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge U.P. ISBN 9780521303583. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ^ Ebrey, Patricia Buckley (1996). The Cambridge illustrated history of China (1st publ. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN 0-521-43519-6. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ^ Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 224–225.
- ^ Gwei-Djen, Lu; Joseph Needham; Phan Chi-Hsing (July 1988). "The Oldest Representation of a Bombard". Technology and Culture. 29 (3). Johns Hopkins University Press: 594–605. doi:10.2307/3105275. JSTOR 3105275.
- ^ Partington, J.R. (1960). A History of Greek Fire and gunpowder (Johns Hopkins paperbacks ed. ed.). Cambridge: Heffer. p. 211. ISBN 9780801859540. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help) - ^ Pellerin, Cheryl. "DARPA's Plan X Uses New Technologies to 'See' Cyber Effects". American Forces Press Service. US Department of Defense. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
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