Weapons that changed war..

I could also point out that nothing you mention is something we didnt have in some capacity during WW2. None of it 'changed war', if we still fought huge land battles they'd be conducted in the same way with or without those things.

The only thing that has really changed is how well we can plan stuff from half the world away. Gulf War for example, we did the entire thing in 60 days. It was scripted from hitting the beach to restoring kuwait.
 
FlamingGlory said:
I could also point out that nothing you mention is something we didnt have in some capacity during WW2. None of it 'changed war', if we still fought huge land battles they'd be conducted in the same way with or without those things.

The only thing that has really changed is how well we can plan stuff from half the world away. Gulf War for example, we did the entire thing in 60 days. It was scripted from hitting the beach to restoring kuwait.
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iirc, we had radar in WW2 as well. And we certainly didn't have the F117A or Tomahawk, unless you count the Foo Fighters and the B2...
 
fly said:
iirc, we had radar in WW2 as well. And we certainly didn't have the F117A or Tomahawk, unless you count the Foo Fighters and the B2...
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It's been around since 1904, so yeah we had it in WW2. It was during the cold war we made it something to be reckoned with. THe main thrust of my post was 'intelligence/communication' though. GPS, radar, sat images, sat phones etc. A tomahawk is pretty fucking useless if you dont know where to point it ;)

I'd say Nylon is also a huge technology. It hasnt changed war though. It just makes carrying shit easier.
 
Now if they said in the last 100 years. I would say Air Power. Cause that wasnt even a consideration before WW1.
 
FlamingGlory said:
It's been around since 1904, so yeah we had it in WW2. It was during the cold war we made it something to be reckoned with. THe main thrust of my post was 'intelligence/communication' though. GPS, radar, sat images, sat phones etc. A tomahawk is pretty fucking useless if you dont know where to point it ;)
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Well, a Tomahawk is also useless without HE or its original use, nukes. Every new weapon comprises parts of 'old' technology, but that doesn't make it any less of a weapon in itself...
 
I'm going with synthetic rubber. i think it was Malaysia where the real rubber came from. The folks at Dupont saved our asses in the Big One ;) They also allowed the ladies to wear stockings when the silk was used for parachutes. God bless Dupont on this holy day of Easter.

Also, radar was not used successfully until teh British employed it in WWII.
 
fly said:
Bah, that thing hasn't killed that many people in Iraq, statistically speaking...
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It's responsible for what, the majority of our combat deaths? Not to mention having had the single greatest impact on our patrol and checkpoint strategies, among other things. There's really only one thing in Iraq truly kicking our ass, and it's IEDs. Hard to defend against, and harder to detect.


FlamingGlory said:
Or is even new. It's a field expidient explosive. That is how mines were invented!
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If the list only took into account the last 3 or 4 years, there wouldn't be much new weaponry on it, let alone revolutionary new weaponry.
 
Sarcasmo said:
It's responsible for what, the majority of our combat deaths? Not to mention having had the single greatest impact on our patrol and checkpoint strategies, among other things. There's really only one thing in Iraq truly kicking our ass, and it's IEDs. Hard to defend against, and harder to detect.




If the list only took into account the last 3 or 4 years, there wouldn't be much new weaponry on it, let alone revolutionary new weaponry.
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I think if you average military training accident deaths since WW2, you will find they are significantly greater than IED deaths in Iraq (or the deaths in Iraq in general). The sum is paltry. In fact, if you add together both Gulf conflicts (which are really one), they can hardly be called a war at all. The loss to the US has been financial. But I guess that has to be balanced against what we learned. We have fine tuned our front line ground forces with drones, Aim-Point optics, night vision and further finessed the c-130 gun ships. We have improved our front line medical care.
 
Weapons that altered the course of human history huh? Here's some I think they missed out on:
1. The Longbow
2. Roman Short Swords
3. smokeless gunpowder
4. greek phalanx
5. Triremes
6. Torpedoes
7. The Tank
8. The bullet Cartridge
9. The Horse
10. Canons

I could go on and on. Should this list have been weapons that changed history in the 20th century perhaps?
 
lemon_fresh said:
Weapons that altered the course of human history huh? Here's some I think they missed out on:
1. The Longbow
2. Roman Short Swords
3. smokeless gunpowder
4. greek phalanx
5. Triremes
6. Torpedoes
7. The Tank
8. The bullet Cartridge
9. The Horse
10. Canons

I could go on and on. Should this list have been weapons that changed history in the 20th century perhaps?
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it was for the last 50 years

edit: post WWII
 
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The list should've gone like this....

1) Rock
2) Fire
3) Blades
4) Guns
5) Wheels
6) Ships
7) Tanks
8) Planes
9) Smart Weapons
10) AK47. :fly:

Ah, I forgot bow and arrow, that should be in there somewhere. You could also say spear, but that could go under blade.
 
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you forgot the horse. it's been a military weapon for the past 6000 years and was one of the key reasons europeans gained hegemony over half the world
 
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