Title: Military Technology
1Military Technology
- How We Protect Our Soldiers And Defeat Our
Enemies - By James Mahoney
2M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank
- Weight 69.54 tons
- Armament 120mm Rheinmetall M256 smoothbore
cannon, 12.7mm (.50 caliber) Browning M2 machine
gun, 7.62mm M240 machine gun, 7.62mm M240 machine
gun mounted coaxially - Armor Burlington, or Chobham, composite armor
(exact specifications are still classified) - Maximum Speed 42 mph
3Abrams tanks on exercise in the field. (1)
4Abrams Main Battle Tanks
- Abrams main battle tanks (MBTs) are the main
armored vehicle deployed by the U.S. military.
It has an effective range of almost three (3)
miles and can accurately shoot while moving at
its top speed, thanks to a very advanced
stabilization system. - Its heavy armor, made of the still-classified
composite armor called Burlington or Chobham,
gives it an impressive survivability rate for its
crew.
5Tomahawk Cruise Missile (BGM-109)
- The Tomahawk is a long-range cruise missile
designed for both surface and submarine launch
against surface ship and land targets. - Weight 2,650 lbs. with a 1,000 lb. Warhead
- Range between 288 and 1,555 miles
- Cruising Altitude 50-100 feet
6The first Tomahawk missile fired at Iraq was
launched from the USS Bunker Hill.
(Photographer's Mate 2nd Class (AW) Richard
Moore/AP Photo) (2)
7A Tomahawk cruise missile is launched from the
battleship USS Wisconsin. (3)
8Optic Camouflage
- Optic camouflage is in its infancy, as the
picture to the right indicates. - Optic camouflage bends light around the wearer to
give the appearance that the wearer is not there.
(4)
9Optic Camouflage would enable soldiersparticularl
y special forcesto sneak in and out of
enemy-held territory more efficiently. The
picture below, a screenshot from the anime movie
Ghost In The Shell, indicates how effective this
technology may be in the future.
(5)
10References
- The Website For Defense Industries. 31 March
2003. http//www.army-technology.com/projects/abr
ams/index.html (Back) - ABC News. 22 March 2003. American Broadcasting
Corporation. 31 March 2003. http//abcnews.go.com
/sections/wnt/World/iraq_GPS_030322.html (Back) - Iowa Class Missile Battery. 29 June 2000. Iowa
Class Preservation Society. 31 March 2003
http//www.battleship.org/html/Articles/IowaClass/
Missile.htm - Japanese Scientist Invents Invisibility Cloak.
5 February 2003. Ananova.com. 31 March 2003
http//www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_747591.html?m
enu (Back) - Anime Pictures. Anime Stuff. 31 March 2003.
http//www.geocities.com/s_e_lain/webpics/Kusanagi
_fall.jpg (Back)