Modern Defense Technologies and their Impact on Society

1045 Words3 Pages

A Look at Modern Defense Technologies and their Impact on Society

As a veteran of the Air Force I’ve had a chance to both witness and work with some of these technologies that I will be discussing throughout this paper. I had a chance to be trained for using a CMOS based program for planning loads on aircraft. The program was very user friendly and fast. This program handled the mathematical part of loading planes such as weight, size, and balance capacities. It also served as logistical database for tracking what cargo increments would be deployed, where they needed to go, when they could be expected to leave, and the estimated time of arrival at the destination. I was also trained on how to plan loads on paper with both graphical and mathematical problem solving in the event of computer failure. Let me tell you, this was a chore and if it wasn’t right the first time I simply had to start from scratch again with the equations. The luxury of the computer was that I could make changes and receive real time reflective information while I made the changes. My skills with this program were called upon during operation DESERT THUNDER. We were able to plan and mobilize over half of the 2nd largest Air Force base in the Unites States in only two days. This helped deter a war with Iraq by proving just how fast we were able to move on any threats that they had against the U.S. This is an example of how technology helped to deter a threat by simply “flexing our muscle”, a term the D.O.D uses to describe deterrence through readiness and firepower. Without the technological advances of our advanced logistical support systems this process could have easily taken 6 to 10 times longer and operation DESERT THUNDER could have resulted in a wa...

... middle of paper ...

...ys some bad that comes with the good. Technology is what also started the nuclear arms race, which has spread worldwide. Hostile counties and terrorists have and always will stop at nothing to get their hands on nuclear technology. Now it’s a constant game of cat and mouse to keep dangerous countries from achieving nuclear capability, which could easily start another world war. Although wars are nothing new to the world, we have found another way to fight them. Hopefully someday with the combined efforts of friendly allied nations the world can rest at peace. Whether someone thinks technological defense has had a negative or positive impact on society, the fact is that it is here and it just needs to be controlled. I wonder how the inventor of nuclear weapons would feel now if he could see what has become of the world. Let’s just pray we never have to see them used.

More about Modern Defense Technologies and their Impact on Society

Open Document