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3). Precision-guided Weapons:
Since the 1970s, one of America’s decisive advantages in war has been its ability to hit targets precisely. During most of history, war has basically been about throwing a huge volume of fire at a target with a small chance of actually hitting anything. The introduction of precision-guided weapons changed all that.
For example, when the 8th Air Force launched a massive air raid to knock out German ball-bearing plants in 1943, it launched around 400 B-17 bombers to hit the targets. Most of the bombs—dropped at appalling cost in men and aircraft—didn’t even come close to hitting their targets. The pattern has repeated itself over and over—and entire squadrons would be launched to hit a single target. More often than not, they wouldn’t hit a thing.
That all changed towards the end of the Vietnam War. In 1972, laser-guided bombs allowed U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy jets to hit targets precisely. Instead of dozens of jets trying to strike a single target in vain, one jet could hit multiple targets during a sortie.
While in 1972 there were only a handful of precision-guided weapons available, in 2015 almost all weapons dropped from American warplanes are precision guided. Precision-guided weapons have given U.S. forces the edge for the past 40 years—but it’s an advantage that is starting to slip as other nations develop their own equivalent weapons.
4). Stealth:
With the development of ever more capable Soviet surface-to-air weapons during the 1960s and 1970s, the United States Air Force had to come up with a solution to defeat the ever increasing threat. The answer was stealth technology—which would reduce an aircraft’s radar cross-section and infrared signature.
Ironically, it was a Soviet scientist by the name of Pyotr Ufimtsev who first discovered the equations to develop a low radar cross-section aircraft. Ufimtsev’s work was eventually came to the attention of Lockheed engineer Denys Overholser, who then developed the configuration for the first stealth aircraft—which he called the “Hopeless Diamond”.
The Hopeless Diamond eventually evolved into the Lockheed F-117, the world’s first operational stealth aircraft in 1981. From that initial starting point, American stealth aircraft development took-off in new directions. The B-2, F-22, F-35 and pretty much every other American stealth aircraft originates from those early efforts to defeat the Soviet air defense system.
The net result today is the nearly unstoppable juggernaut that is the U.S. Air Force.
5). Drones:
When Abe Karem first developed the Gnat—which eventually evolved in the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator—he probably could not have imagined his invention would herald a revolution in the ways wars are fought. Instead of risking lives over the battlefield, American forces can fight remotely with these new systems. While initially considered a passing fad, the past 15 years have shown that unmanned aircraft are here to stay and war will never be the same.
The MQ-1 Predator, which was first introduced over the Balkans in 1990s, is a crude aircraft. Its follow-on, the MQ-9C Reaper, is a little more sophisticated—but it’s the start of something that will change warfare forever. Aircraft like the carrier-based Northrop Grumman X-47B are starting to show the true potential of such machines.
Source: national interest
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