“Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.” (Roosevelt, 1900) It’s not in every case today that the man with the biggest stick will win, but how he uses the stick will determine the outcome. In this case the stick is the advancement of airpower used in the military. Making its way from hot-air balloons to unmanned super-jets. Unmanned vehicles have been used all across the world since the mid 1800’s, really taking off during and post World War One. Built originally for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), Unmanned systems are taking future of the air to a whole new perspective. “August 22nd, 1849, Austrians who controlled much of Italy at the time, launched some 200 pilotless balloons against the city of Venice. The balloons were armed with bombs controlled by timed fuses -” (McDaid, 2003)With this being the first ever recorded use of unmanned aerial systems, we are given some sort of clarity on how much advancement has taken place in the skies. During the last stretch of World War One, the Navy had brought out an intricate invention that could offset the playing field. “Kettering Aerial Torpedoes”, bi-planes that were modified and laid with explosives to catapult behind enemy lines at select targets. These torpedoes however could not sustain a consistent flight and would drop after a determined amount of time in the air. Planes were later being manipulated by remote controllers in order to crash land into a selected target through radio and television frequencies. The plan immediately had many flaws and needed more time to develop a better outtake. Thus, the era of cruise missiles were brought to the table by German scientists and their crafty engineering. During World War Two the U.S. had a m... ... middle of paper ... ...GHT RESEARCH CENTER. (J. Baer-Riedhart, Editor) Retrieved February 10, 2014, from ERAST - Pathfinder/Pathfinder Plus: http://web.archive.org/web/20030620174825/www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Research/Erast/pathfinder.html General Atomics Aeronautical. (2014, February 10). General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. Retrieved February 10, 2014, from Predator UAS: http://www.ga-asi.com/products/aircraft/predator.php McDaid, H. &. (2003, February 2). Remote Piloted Aerial Vehicles : An Anthology . Retrieved January 17, 2014, from HARCAVE RPAV REMOTE PILOTED AERIAL VEHICLES Aviation and Aeromodelling - Interdependent Evolutions and Histories: http://www.ctie.monash.edu/hargrave/rpav_home.html#Beginnings Roosevelt, T. (1900, January 26). The Phrase Finder. Retrieved January 17, 2014, from The Phrase Finder: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/speak-softly-and-carry-a-big-stick.html
The history of flying dates back as early as the fifteenth century. A Renaissance man named Leonardo da Vinci introduced a flying machine known as the ornithopter. Da Vinci proposed the idea of a machine that had bird like flying capabilities. Today no ornithopters exist due to the restrictions of humans, and that the ornithopters just aren’t practical. During the eighteenth century a philosopher named Sir George Cayley had practical ideas of modern aircraft. Cayley never really designed any workable aircraft, but had many incredible ideas such as lift, thrust, and rigid wings to provide for lift. In the late nineteenth century the progress of aircraft picks up. Several designers such as Henson and Langley, both paved the way for the early 1900’s aircraft design. Two of the most important people in history of flight were the Wright Brothers. The Wright Brothers were given the nickname the “fathers of the heavier than air flying machine” for their numerous flights at their estate in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Orville and Wilbur Wright created a motor-powered biplane in which they established incredible feats of the time. The Wright Brothers perfected their design of the heavier than air flying ma...
When World War I and World War II broke out, communication played a vital role in the sequence and timing of everything that occurred on the battlefield. If communication problems arose, the results could be fatal. Front line units needed to know where their neighboring troops were and commanders could only control the troops if they had a reliable source of communication. Due to modern forms of communication being unreliable, the men who served during these wars used a method that dates back to ancient times. They deployed wartime messengers also known as “carrier pigeons”. Today, communications are more reliable and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) provide us with aerial surveillance.1
Drones and UAVs are remote control vehicles that need no pilot, instead they use a signal coming from a machine that someone is controlling. Although that is not always been the case for drones, the technology in its primitive stage was available during the late 1800’s. It was seen during the civil war in the form of hot air balloons and both north and south possessed a way to create the machines. They contained a timed mechanism that would release an explosive when the time was over, this seemed very clever, but at the time it was not very effective. Years passed and the Wright brothers and created the airplane in the early 1900’s, and they did needed pilots. The concept of airplanes was moved to the next level when in the 1930’s Britain Royal Navy created one of the first UAVs. This particular UAV was know as “The Queen Bee’’. This particular model was driven by what is said to be a radio signal. Much later Drones became much more complex and that is because years of technological advances were added to old models that were being produced in late 1900’s. Today, ...
The airmobility concept is one of Army Aviation’s most prominent battlefield innovations, almost single handedly shaping the Vietnam War and in many ways, helping to influence how we fight wars today. In its essence, airmobility is a concept that utilizes Army aircraft in order to enhance the ground forces’ ability to perform the five fundamentals of combat: command and control, firepower, intelligence, mobility, and communications (Rottman, 2007). At the zenith of the airmobility concept is the airmobile assault or commonly known today as, the air assault. The airmobile assault was more than just moving troops from point A to point B; it involved intense planning and preparation. When implemented correctly, the airmobile assault provided light infantry greater mobility on the battlefield, along with the ability to seize the initiative and to synchronize attacks.
The Vietnam War provided challenging and exciting times for United States (US) military aviation. Jets were still considered new technology at the beginning of the 1960’s and had not been tested thoroughly during the Korean War. As the situation in Vietnam started to escalate, US leadership recognized the importance of air superiority and the need to use and adapt newer technology. Air superiority can be achieved through multiple means, but none as romanticized and iconic as aerial combat. The general concept remains the same even to this day—defeat the other plane. However, the means to winning a dog fight had changed greatly due to the quick advancement in jet propulsion and guided weapon technology. This paper provides a summarization of the US efforts towards achieving air superiority through the means of aerial combat.
"Wrights’ Perspective on the Role of Airplanes in War." Wright Stories Wright Brothers Inventing The Airplane History of Flight Kitty Hawk Wright Contemporaries Military Airplane RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr.
10 years, with the rise of computer technology, the UAV’s largest debut has been in
Since the time of the World Wars and the Wright brothers, aviation has become a huge part of global society. The Orville and Wilbur Wright’s names will forever be remembered into United States history as the first men who were the first to fully realized human flight. Their successful invention of a working, powered airplane brought about whole new ways of wars, including new strategies for both offense and defense. Many technological advances might not have occurred without the need for new weapons and systems for airplanes. Travel and commerce would be much slower without the usage of airplanes. Orville and Wilbur have made a lasting impact on the world with their invention of a working, human-controlled, powered airplane; who knows what the world would be without it.
The book begins with a look into World War II and how the event of Pearl Harbor pressed the need for aerial reconnaissance. The first chapter gives the different technological challenges that had to be faced in order to achieve aerospace superiority. This chapter takes a close look into the development of the WS-117L reconnaissance satellite and how the two projects are related.
2) "The Decade After." Home Page for the Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company and Wright-brothers.org, www.wright-brothers.org/History_Wing/History_of_the_Airplane/Decade_After/Decade_After_Intro/Decade_After_Intro.htm. Accessed 22 Nov. 2016.
"National Aeronautics and Space Administration - Marshall Space Flight Center." NEW FRONTIERS ::: JUNO. NASA, Web. 01 Apr. 2014. .
The first World War expedited the evolution of aircraft technology, which continued through World War II. These developments revolutionized military strategy and contributed greatly to the final outcomes.
The history of aerial flight is often looked at from the perspective of the great moments, from the first flight of the Wright Brothers in 1903, to the Battle of Britain, but many less than stellar moments have perhaps shaped the formation of aviation in ways that may have been overlooked. Heavier-than-air flight, as it were, was in its infancy of development in Britain, due to tightening Government spending and unconvinced investors. For instance, the Wright Brothers were actually invited to come to Britain, but were turned away because the Treasury was unwilling to financially back their aerial experiments. Just the same, the British Balloon Factories were offered meager investments compared to the financial backing that the giant airships, or Zeppelins, were receiving in ...
“I believe that operational-level commanders must first master the basic philosophy and principles of warfare. Only then can they make current or new technologies their servant.” Since 1947, airpower theory had the greatest impact on the employment of American airpower, because the promise of strategic bombing would deliver decisive effects and achieve a swift victory continued throughout the wars in Korea, Vietnam and Iraq. Although strategies, doctrines and technology changed over time, the application of US airpower revealed the dependence on the traditional air power theory in the second half of the twentieth century. In the first part, this paper will present the main prophecies and predictions of two of the most relevant airpower theorists.
Tice, Brian P. (1991). Unmanned Aerial Vehicles – The Force Multiplier of the 1990s. Airpower Journal.