Economic Purpose for Designing New Technologies for Modern Day Conflicts - Research Paper Example

? of affiliation: INTRODUCTION Since time in memorial the goal of any warring party has always been simple: to win. However the search for ways to achieve this has always proven difficult even as concerned persons try hard to device new techniques that will give them an upper hand over their opponents. Winning demands one to depict an added advantage when wiping out troops or attacking cities; preserving troops or defending cities; learning the enemy plan or finding targets; or moving on land, sea or over the air. Over the past years the art of war has transformed from using crude technologies to today’s technologies that are more sophisticated both in making and use. It is important to note that the art of war has a long history dating back to the days when people fought wars on foot. Here soldiers would organized themselves in block formation and would fight each other by either using slashing or stabbing weapons. The introduction of chariots brought a new technique that advanced this art and became the first locomotive in the battle field. In fact, many people consider chariots as an ancient tank. The first chariots were used in Mesopotamia at around 3000B.C. These chariots were very heavy and slow a factor that made them inefficient and could only be driven by oxen’s. Following its impracticability in wars, kings would always ride the solid wooden carts until they get to the battle field and the get out and fight on foot. Things changed to the better by around 1800 B.C as the chariots were modified shedding some weight and adding spoked wheels. This advancement allowed an archer and driver to ride together behind the chariot that was drawn by horses (Boot, 2006). These chariots became fast war machines that caused much problem to foot soldiers. Such is the case that Charioteers blaze past infantries, running right over the soldiers or riddling them with arrows. "Chariots were the super weapons of their age," says military historian Dr. Alex Roland. "They trumped everything else and became the decider of warfare." The use of Chariots spread all the way from Egypt and West Asia and to china India and Europe. Nations with lots of money developed thousands of chariots that dominated warfare in the Middle East between 1800 and 1200 B.C. the following work serves to detail the various economic benefits derived from technological advancement that have seen new type of weaponry introduced. In addition, the work will discuss various technologies that have impacted the wars both positively and negatively. ECONOMIC PURPOSE FOR DESIGNING NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR MODERN DAY CONFLICTS During these early periods, wars were costly with regard to lives lost and infrastructures destroyed a factor that necessitated the advent of new technologies that will realize the following economic benefits. i. Decreased Collateral Damage In the early days warring period resulted in great destructions with regard to buildings and other important establishments. Such is the case that regions would be attacked indiscriminately leading to huge losses, affecting unwarranted persons (Civilians). This changed greatly with the advent of sophisticated targeting systems and stealth technologies, a statement that is supported by the study undertaken by the Air Force military college Air University. Here, the collateral damages decreased considerably as new technologies allowed military personnel’s to strategically target important infrastructures and military emplacement(Binnendijk, 2002).Today, this is done with great precision and helps reduce the chances of bombing civilian’s structures by mistake. ii. Lower Civilian Casualties Another important undoing of the early techniques of war was the great number of civilian casualties. With the new technological advancement fewer civilians find themselves victims of military fires owing to the accuracy taken when targeting fortifications and buildings. This has worked to see the military forces undertake combat actions in a manner that ensures the minimal effect on the civilian population. Approaches of this manner can really help to establish goodwill with the citizen of particular states in cases where the government is removed from power and the country must be rebuilt (McKenzie, 2003). It is also important to note that following the decreased civilian casualties the number of personnel’s employed to handle such eventualities has greatly reduced and in the same manner the money spend when paying such personnel’s. iii. Fewer Soldiers on the Ground Unlike today’s wars Olden day’s wars were fought with hundreds of foot soldiers. Technological advancements realized in the war field has realized an increased in air support during war times as well as increased use of unmanned aircrafts. Consequently, the number of soldiers involves on the ground has decreased greatly and thus lessen expenditure on soldiers. In this case, the bombers and fighters take the first assaults aimed at removing defenses laid by the opponent using the precision munitions alone. Later, the ground troops are deployed only to confront a considerably depleted fighting force (McKenzie, 2003). These technologies have a long-term effect of realizing a considerable reduction in the cost incurred when taking care of casualties since there will be very few when compared to a case where ground forces were to be used fully. Following the above it is obvious that technological advancement in weaponry and war has realized positive transformations ranging from reduced collateral damages to few lives lost in the battle field. The following are five in-depth examples of technological advancements that have realized the above positive change with regard to warfare. 1. Artillery Artillery is simply a weapon controlled by a small group of soldiers and possesses a range that greatly exceed majority of the present infrantry weapons. An example of such weapon is the Cannon. Artillery changed warfare, as it made it possible for troops to take cover behind the battle line and still remain effective in the battle. This technology served to not only preserve the lives of the artillery team (since they did not have to move close to the action) but also worked to secure the lives of their comrades, who can move forward and complete their tasks while the opponent is ducking behind cover. Latest artillery advances has realized the development of "warheads" fitted with propaganda flyers, which let incursions into areas that are fully controlled by enemy state-ran media (Stever, 2002). Information has been proven to carry great power, a factor that artillery takes advantage of as it permits soldiers to both empower those suppressed by the enemy as well as remove the enemy leaders from power without risking the precious lives of the soldiers. 2. Armor It all began as leather hides tied around Neanderthals to offer protection against stone spears. Over the years it has advanced to become a virtually impenetrable tank armor that serves to protect warring soldiers as they advance from one area of the battle field to the other. Armor is largely defensive as it fits well into the notion that technology is best employed to preserve the lives of the soldiers as they carry out their assignments. 3. Rubber pellets for shotgun shells. It is sad, yet true, that soldiers participating in peace operations are sometimes needed to disperse civilian’s crowds taking part in riots and other unwarranted behaviors. Typically, soldiers are blunt instruments; they are really not trained to employ non-lethal methods and tactics. Soldiers are required to always react instinctively whenever in danger and this should be immediate. Rubber pellets for shortgun shells find its use here, as the soldiers can use the shooting techniques they have developed in the course of their training, but the aftermath is not dead civilians. In this case the pellets are meant only to hurt, though in rare occasions they can kill. Basically, the rubber bullets should scare the rioters causing them to stop their destructive, behavior and run away. When this happens, the situation is contained and the tension expelled; no person suffers permanent harm, and the soldiers are not forced to compromise their instinctive reflexes. 4. Armored vehicles They are specially designed to clear secure path for troops marching behind. A good example of such vehicles is the US Marines Assault Breacher Vehicle. Typically, these vehicles are not armed with missile. They are characterized with heavily armored underbodies that make them suitable for withstanding mine blasts, and also enable them carry assorted mechanical and electronic devices used to clear improvised explosives gadgets away from the path. “Hidden” dangers are responsible for a greater number of causalities in today’s wars. For this reason, such vehicles help a great deal when working in a warzone. Such is the case that when the adversary is largely invisible and unseen (blending into the population), the defending team will need to device techniques to deal with invisible and unseen threats; this technology serves to accomplish that. 5. Unmanned vehicles and aircrafts Technological advancement with regard to weapons of war has made it possible to use unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV), commonly known as combat drone or drone. Drones are unmanned (no onboard pilot) aerial vehicle (UAV), typically, armed. In addition to unmanned air vehicles, technological changes have realized the development of Unmanned ground vehicle and Unmanned surface vehicle. With such technologies, the number of casualty in the battle is reduced considerably. Unmanned vehicles are usually sent ahead of the soldiers to survey the terrain and spot enemies thus allowing the platoons to avoid ambush by the enemies. Secondly, such vehicles serve to detect land mines and warn the soldiers and even in some cases detonate such mines. In all this cases, lives that would otherwise be lost is saved thanks to the technological advancements. DISADVANTAGES It is no doubt that technological advancement in the warring filed has resulted to substantial decrease in the losses experienced both with regard to human life and property. However, it is also important to mention that the same technology has equally created negative effects in the warring field. The first negative impact regards the cost of developing and maintaining such weapons. Here one is forced to think of the shear cost of firing a rocket, approximated as $ 3000, not forgetting the complexity of its firing mechanism and the fact that its carrier cannot be reused. One can also think of the many planes, tankers, war ships and many other related weapons that have been build expensively and still require much more money for maintenance (Polen, 2008). Certainly, the technological advancement realized calls for great financial sacrifice sometimes at the expense of the citizens. Secondly, technological advancement in wars has resulted in the development of deadlier weapons popularly known as weapons of mass destruction. Whilst we applaud the technology for designing weapons with increased accuracy, it is true that the weapons made are much more deadly than those in the past. A report published on the Fox News' website, has shown the United States military as one of the nations with the world's deadliest weapons in its arsenal. For instance, “the AC-130 aerial gunship mounts a 75-mm cannon which is able to blow through buildings, pierce armored vehicles and remove cover from the enemy. The high rate of fire from a craft like the AC-130 leads to a higher rate of military casualties.” Technological advancement has also increased suspicions and hostility among the nations of the world. Here, it is true that nations with superior technology keep competing with each other as they struggle to develop the most powerful warring weapons. With such hostilities, nations of the world have found themselves opposing each other and in some cases even engage in unnecessary wars. Warring nations find it hard to cooperate in other important activities such as trade hindering their development. A good example of such is the hostility seen between America and North Korea and also the American and Iran. Weapons of mass destruction (WMD) which follow the technological advancements realized has also been found to pose serious challenges to peace and security. This follows the decision by a number of states to build and stockpiled deadly arsenals of chemical, nuclear, and biological weapons and other materials used to produce them (Curley, 2012). Additionally to the danger posed by present stockpiles of WMD, another significant problem arise from the proliferation or spread of WMD and their related technologies to other nations, nongovernmental groups, and non-state terrorist networks via black-market, clandestine programs and related technologies. In 2001, Worries of the terrorist use of WMD escalated in America and around the globe after the terrorist used biological warfare agent anthrax in the U.S. this was followed by an evidence seized by the American forces in Afghanistan which showed that Al Qaeda was aggressively seeking nuclear materials. 1. Fission bomb Contemporary nuclear weapons derive their explosive energy from fission reactions. This weapon makes use of plutonium or uranium (fissile material), which is arranged to make a supercritical mass. With such an arrangement these amount carry the capability to initiate a nuclear chain reaction that grows exponentially. Nuclear weapons are essentially different from other contemporary weapons owing to the vast amount of explosive energy released and many other effects realized. These effects include radiations and high temperatures. The most renowned case depicting effects of a nuclear explosion and fallout is the attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan. 2. Fusion Bomb Also termed as hydrogen bomb, these bombs operate based on the fusion reaction taking place between the isotopes of hydrogen called deuterium and tritium. In 1951 Fision bomb was first made in the United States by Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam. Later in 1955, Andrei Sakharov developed the same separately for USSR (Davis, & Purcell, 2006). This weapon is considered more efficient when compared to fission bomb, though it presents great difficulties when it comes to designing and execution. As at today, only the Americans, United Kingdom, Russia, china, France and India have made successful attempts of detonating a fusion bomb. 3. Historical aspects of biological warfare agents Biological weapons take in all toxins or organisms found in nature and posses the ability to kill, incapacitate, or otherwise hinder an enemy. Typically, these weapons are characterized by high potency, low visibility, extensive availability and fairly easy delivery. The possible scale of bioterrorism ranges from use of non-mass casualty agents by small groups or individuals to international-terrorism that use classic biological warfare agents known to cause mass casualties. Biological weapons cause serious challenges to patients with regard to treatment and also prophylaxis of exposed persons. Additionally, environmental contamination caused is bound to cause long-term threats. The use of biological weapons dates back to the period proceeding the 20th century when it was accomplished in three major ways: (1) intentional poisoning of water and food with infectious substance, (2) use of toxins or microorganisms in some form of weapon system, and (3) use of biologically inoculated fabrics. World War II presents one of the resent usages of biological weapons; during this war the Japanese owned a secret biological weapon research facility in Manchuria and at one moment opted to carry out human experiment using Chinese prisoners. In 1942 another attempt on BW was made by the American War Research Service. In this case, the Americans took a study on the possible use of botulinum and Anthrax toxins as weapons and later employed the technique researched to develop cattle cakes to fight the Germans just in case they first use BW agents. The British are not left behind as they too tested anthrax bombs on Gruinard Island in 1942-43 and later developed and stored anthrax –laced cattle cakes (Stever, 2002). 4. Chemical Weapons Use of chemical weapons was first reported during World War I, when the two opposing sides used poisonous gas to mete out agonizing pain and also increase the number of casualties in the battle field. These weapons are basically formed from commercial chemicals which are enclosed into standard munitions that include artilleries and grenades. Phosgene (a choking agent, chlorine and mustard gas (designed to cause burns on the skin) are among the commonly used chemicals (Stever, 2002). The use of such weapons always gives indiscriminate and mostly devastating results. In conclusion, technological changes in warfare have realized great transformations from the past, a factor that present both positive and negative consequences. It is true that warfare will never be the same as before, even research being worked on today promise greater changes in the future. However, with the many advancements realized, especially those posing negative impacts, international agreements become handy to help check the spread and use of such weapons. Relevant institutions mandated to accomplish this task should closely with concerned states to prevent unnecessary losses that ensue from use of lethal weaponry. References Binnendijk, H. (2002). Transforming America's Military. Ft. Belvoir: Defense Technical Information Center. Boot, M. (2006). War made new: technology, warfare, and the course of history, 1500 to today. New York: Gotham Books. Cross, R. (1994). Technology of war. New York: Thomson Learning. Curley, R. (2012). Weapons of mass destruction. New York, NY: Rosen Pub.. Davis, M. D., & Purcell, A. H. (2006). Weapons of mass destruction. New York: Facts on File. McKenzie, J. (1993). Elegant Irrelevance: Fourth Generation Warfare. Ft. Belvoir: Defense Technical Information Center. Polen, R. A. (2008). Technological innovation roles and implications in Army Aviation Special Operations. Monterey, Calif.: Naval Postgraduate School. Stever, H. G. (2002). In war and peace my life in science and technology. Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press. Read More