The U-2

As aviation technology improved, planes started to fall under more defined classes. There were now fighter planes, designed to take down other planes. Bombers, which specialised at air-to-ground missions. And just as important as combat planes, there were reconnaissance planes. Perhaps the most famous or significant recon plane of the early cold war was the Lockheed U-2, a high altitude plane used for scouting Communist nations, such as the PRC and the USSR. Due to its design, it is a particularly difficult model to operate, resulting the need for excellent pilots, as its lightweight frame presents little room for error. The U-2 was in operation for over 50 years, demonstrating the usefulness of the aircraft in intelligence gathering.
Perhaps the most well known U-2 pilot is Gary Powers, a CIA pilot who was shot down whilst flying over Soviet Territory. The plane was recovered, and intel that had been gathered was exposed to the Soviets. This event marked a great embarrassment to the United States, and further crippled Soviet-American relations.
The U-2 was a key factor in the Cuban missile crisis, as well. With enough evidence to warrant a U-2 flight, due to previous reports generated by the Corona satellite, the United States authorised a mission to gather information. The resulting flights confirmed the existence of nuclear warheads in Cuba.
The U-2 presented a great advancement in air recon, and due to its exceptional design, remained in service for over half a century, aiding in intelligence gathering all across the globe.

                                                                A U-2 Plane in flight

                                               The CIA taken picture confirming the existence
                                               of nuclear warheads in Cuba

An Introduction to Air Power

Man has pondered about flying for as long as we have records. We have the story of Icarus, in Greek mythology, for example, dating back to the B.C years. We have the early sketches of Da Vinci's flying machines, ingenious designs originating from the anatomy of birds, becoming more complex as practicality dictated that a man just did not have the power to flap mechanical wings to maintain lift.
In 1906, the first unaided takeoff is conducted, by the Brazilian Santos-Dumont, aboard his 14 Bis (Oiseau de proie, in french). With planes that could now fly without needing help to takeoff, the military quickly started to invest in the new technology.
In World War I, we see the first use of actual airplanes in battles, rather than scouting balloons. These primitive planes lacked great firepower, being equipped only with a machine gun, and a few bombs. Well....the bombs weren't exactly equipped to the planes, to be honest.pilots would carry their very small bombload, and drop them like grenades from the plane. In spite of its primitiveness, this was the first instance of aerial strategic bombings.
Their roles were primarily reconnaissance, but they saw more combat as the war went on. These early planes gave rise to the famous Ace pilots, who would engage in dogfights to try to take down another nation's planes. The most effective and well known ace was the German pilot Manfred von Richthofen, better known as the Red Baron. He was so dominant in his time period (8 more confirmed takedowns than the British Ace, 56 more than the American Ace) that most people today still know him, for some reason or another. Interestingly enough, there is a frozen pizza brand named after, and the letters used to write Red Baron can be reorganised to write Bernardo, likely the coolest anagram of my name..
Airplanes would eventually become much more sophisticated, and would become an essential characteristic of the, then, warfare of the future.

The Age of the Aircraft Carrier

World War I was marked by the dominance of the battleship. These heavily armed behemoths of the sea were the highest class of ships at the time. This all came to change with the advent of the aircraft carrier. Although successful air raids had been launched from ships before, the first war where the carrier had its chance to truly shine was World War II. The aircraft carrier could be loaded with a plethora of airplanes, making air superiority easier to achieve, as carriers functioned as mobile bases. The carrier's versatility made it shine over the battleship. Not only more effective in land assaults (airplanes can cover more area than cannons), airplanes could also be deployed to take down battleships, as the anti-air guns on these were not incredibly effective.
As the Navy has been in constant decline ever since World War II, little innovations have arisen, meaning carriers are still the top of the line. Carriers are, however, incredibly expensive by nature. Not only do they require massive amounts of resources to build one (just imagine the steel needed...) but you also need to, well, as the name implies, load it with airplanes. Planes...tend to be on the expensive side..for example, a single AV-8B Harrier II costs anywhere from 24 to 30 million dollars. The larger carries can be equipped with up to 85 planes. In short, aircraft carriers are risky investments, as if one sinks, the losses incurred are tremendous.
Aircraft carriers are predominantly used by the United States, who has 10 Nimitz Class (the big ones) and 9 smaller ones. The United Kingdom, by contrast, has 1. Carriers are only used nowadays to maintain a strong global presence, with the ability to quickly deploy planes anywhere.

Tanks: Differences in World Wars

Tanks were first used in a major conflict in World War I, where they were immovable juggernauts that could relieve some of the horrors of trench warfare. These were not very mobile, and had little success, as they had very little time for testings.  However, tanks were huge in World War II. Completely re-adapted to serve new roles, due to the genius of men like General George S. Patton, and Erwin Rommel, tanks became increasingly more important. All major nations sported their models of tanks. The British had the Churchill and the Cromwell; the Americans had the Sherman and the Stuar. The Germans had the Panzer series, the Panther, and the Tiger models. Even the Soviets had their T-Models (e.g T-38).
Tanks became mobile, support units in World War II. General Patton, who had been a member of the cavalry in World War I, is perhaps the most well known (and controversial) general when it comes to America and tanks. He fully remodeled the ideas on the weapons, and achieved great success with his new strategies. He greatly respected the German General Erwin Rommel, who Patton considered his equal and rival. Patton is well known for his North African campaign, his invasion of Sicily, and 'rescuing' the 101st Airborne Division from Bastogne, during the battle of the Bulge. Of course, if you've watched Band of Brothers, you know that every member of the 101st will, to this day,will claim that  they did not need to be rescued...
Tanks have survived the test of time thus far, and are still used in our military today. Tanks have been upgraded, and due to changes in types of warfare, have lost some of their earlier uses.

                                      vvvvv    A Sherman Tank (American) from World War II

More on Drones

Just a quick note before starting on drones, I will probably discontinue the cyber wars posts for 2 reasons: a. they're a tad restricting on content and most importantly b. I'm running out of bad puns for episode names...
Anyway, onto drones! Drones are the one of the most intriguing developments of recent military technology. Although there are a large amount of different ones, the most well known and relevant are the General Atomics models Predator and Reaper. For those of you who have a tendency to play Call of Duty, you may recognise both of these as unlockable killstreaks (pointstreaks, nowadays?).
Originally used primarily for recon and intelligence gathering, the Predator drone saw its first use as far back as 1995. It has been primarily used by the CIA and the United States Air Force. In 2001, tests were conducted to give the Predator more offensive firepower, and thus, it was equipped with Hellfire missiles. The use of these missiles allows for effective single target elimination. This is due to the Predator Drone's low engine sound, and the fact that Hellfire missiles are not only incredibly accurate, but supersonic (meaning that the target will be hit before the sound of the missile being fired is heard). These missiles are produced by Lockheed Martin, a prominent combat airplane manufacturer, and cost 68 thousand dollars a piece.
The Reaper drone is the upgraded version of the Predator. It fulfills less of an intelligence role, and is instead an actual combat drone. The Reaper has a payload of up to 3,800 lbs, and a more varied selection of weapons, including laser guided bombs. The Reaper saw its first action in 2007. NASA has Reaper drones under its service, as well, though they have been modified (no weapons, larger wingspan). They have also taken the name of "Altair." Just last year, testings were done and the first Reaper upgrade, MQ-9 Block 1-Plus Reaper was developed, and later renamed.

                                               A predator Drone, equipped with two Hellfires

                                                A Reaper Drone, notice slight differences from the Predator

A Hellfire Missile, on a Predator 

CYBER WARS!

A short time ago, in a galaxy not far away....



                                                    CYBER WARS
                                  Episode II
                             The Drone Wars
It is a time of division. The Pakistani and Afghan border is replete with Taliban. The United States' President decides to follow the former president's footsteps and keeps the Drones in Pakistan.

Since the year 2004, the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator Drone had been used by the CIA in the area. The Predator Drone, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), had been used in order to gather information and intelligence through advanced surveillance.

Later, these drones were equipped with AGM-114 Hellfire missiles. The fleet was then reinforced with newer models, the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper Drones, capable of travelling faster, and carrying a much larger payload of Hellfire missiles. With the help of these drones, the United States has managed to limit Taliban control, and eliminate a number of Al Qaeda members in Pakistan....

Agent Orange

Agent Orange was the most well known and utilised Rainbow Herbicide (a group chemical weapons) during Vietnam. Its purpose was to clear the thick jungles of Vietnam, forcing the Viet Cong to leave their hideouts, and cause peasants to move to urban areas, where the United States had more influence. Agent Orange was sprayed largely due to Operation Ranchhand. It was later found that this chemical contained  2.3.7,8-tetracholorodibenzodioxin, a highly toxic substance, commonly (and for good reason...) abbreviated as TCDD. It is estimated that 12% of the total area of Vietnam had been sprayed with this chemical, causing detrimental effects to both the wildlife and locals. There are infamous pictures of Agent Orange being deployed, that stirred large movements against the substance, and painting an even worse image of Vietnam to those at home int he United States. Unfortunately, as the images are quite graphic, I won't be posting them, but a quick Google search should lead you to them, in case you're interested. The use of this substance was a violation of the 1925 Geneva Protocol, but it was still deployed alongside other chemical weapons until the 1970's, when its use was discontinued. 

Uses of weapons like Rainbow Herbicides and Napalm turned Vietnam into a war that mixed the boundaries between total warfare and limited warfare. It was a clear example of a war that had lost its place, as Vietnam was met with the highest disapproval of any war. It reinforced the notion that a new form of warfare had to replace the new, as times had changed.

CYBER WARS!

A short time ago, in a galaxy not far away....

                                                       
                                                 CYBER WARS
                                   
                                               
                                 EPISODE I
                            The Virtual Menace

In the end of the year 2008, the 43rd President of the United States of America is found with a difficult task at hand. The former president requested that a, then classified, program remains active. "Olympic Games," a cyber attack aimed to cripple Iran's nuclear capabilities had been under development and testing for three years. 

An unexpected turn of events, however, takes the team by surprise. Due to an unexpected flaw, and an uncontrollable factor, the virus had strayed from its original target, and spread throughout the network. Through an email account, the virus released itself, and went out into the open world. 

The American-Israeli designed virus was now found in the hands of an multitude of hackers worldwide, and was nicknamed "Stuxnet." The powerful weapon was now available to the world, and it was only time before its origins would be traced back to the United States government. In a bold decision, the president orders the attacks to not be shut down. New versions of the virus are deployed, and the Iranians are not able to trace the code. Although time would eventually run out, the United States were still safe for now....

Washington, We've Got a Problem.

Although these words were never, on record, said, they would be really fitting to describe the United States' involvement in the Middle East. We all know that the wars on terror were (are) a failure. The question is, however, why so? To claim that the goals of the operation were unclear is an understatement. In all technicality, no one actually knew what the goals were. Was the United States fighting to establish a democratic government? Provide the means for these nations to create their own government? Take down Al-Qaeda and the Taliban? All these questions were left unanswered, and different high ranking officials had different understandings of the mission. Now, although it is possible to achieve something without knowing what you are aiming for, when it comes to military involvement, that becomes a tad harder. It's hard to allocate resources when you lack priorities. A broad "war for good" cannot possibly achieve any real results. Operations cannot succeed, as logistics are far behind where they should be at. Take for example Marja, located in the Nad Ali District of Afghanistan. The NATO coordinated operation Moshtarak, aimed to remove the Taliban from the area. However, though the initial mission was successful, the Taliban knew the place was a ticking bomb. As soon as the foreign forces would leave, the Taliban could simply walk back in an regain control. This is a clear situation where planning and logistics were sub-par, allowing for a less than effective means to control an issue. The Obama administration has tried to narrow the goals into, well, goals, but only time will tell if these are clear cut, achievable objectives. If they are not, only more of the same mess will ensue.