Ubaid Ahmed Mir
The advancement of technology is inevitable, due to the rise of wars. The increase in technological sophistication has never been halted by war, at least not for specific types of technology. In fact, technology seems to advance further during wars, as the competitors in conflict produce superior tools of harm to create a deadly impact on the lesser-equipped party. Wars serve to showcase the highhandedness of armory to control the opposition. Technological innovation has revolutionized modern weaponry, with the development of smart weapons, drones, and automated systems leading the charge. The term ‘smart weapons’ is quite ironic; the whole existence of a weapon implies the presence of intelligence. The real question is: how smart can we get?”
The main aim of technology in warfare
There is a misconception among the general masses that weapon development and usage in war is all about increasing destructive force. It’s not just about creating a bigger boom, so to speak. It’s not about who can make a weapon with the biggest area of impact, like atomic bombs. Instead, it’s about developing a weapon that can do the same damage with lesser noise. The goal is to make weapons that can kill from greater distances. This allows us to stay at a safe distance.
Today’s world is all about secrecy and deception. Making a weapon that can kill from afar while concealing the user’s identity and location is far more valuable than a weapon that is a one-use giveaway. The longer a weapon goes unnoticed, the more damage it can do. A great example of this would be modern-day fighter jets. During their conception, it was all about increasing speed, munitions, and agility for air-to-air combat. The Nazis were the first to invent and install jet engines, and from there on out, the rest followed. Slowly the Russians developed their own jets and the west followed, steadily increasing in speed:
US made F-4 phantom with a top speed of Mach 2.2
US made F-14 Tomcat with a top speed of Mach 2.34
Soviet made MiG-25 Foxbat with a top speed of Mach 3
US made F-16 Falcon with a top speed of Mach 2
US made F-18 Hornet with a top speed of Mach 1.80
Russian made Su-27 flanker with a top speed of Mach 2.35
Russian made Su-35 super flanker with a top speed of Mach 2.25
US made F-35 with a top speed of Mach 1.5
The jets’ combat potency increases as you go down the list, even if their speed seems to decrease. This is because technological advancements in systems other than the engines of the aircraft have been made, allowing the jets to be stealthier in the air, thereby taking out their targets before being seen. Gradually, air combat has shifted from traditional dogfighting to a focus on situational awareness, gained from gadgets that provide pilots with a constant stream of information about their opponents. This is true for all operations conducted by the armed forces of every branch of the military, whether it’s the Navy or ground forces. War is all about gaining information on the target and getting the first strike, before they realize what’s going on. With the help of today’s technology, it could not be easier.
The advantages of technology being used in modern warfare
Even as technology evolves to become deadlier for combat, it has somewhat made warfare safer. Technologies developed for war are not always destructive; countries naturally want their soldiers to remain unharmed and healthy. It is in this light that products meant to heal or stop an injury altogether are developed. A question may arise: Is war really needed for such advances? To that, there is a simple answer: What is a better incentive than victory? The satellite—the first one was made by the Soviets—how monumental have satellites been to our progression as a species, and what was the reason for their inception? The Cold War, with the Americans, that too just to prove technological superiority. Call it childish, hell, even pathetic, but you can’t deny that you probably wouldn’t have been able to read this article without the product of their need for victory. The thirst for being better than the next person seems to be at the core of what we are. In war, it is a harsh truth: we save the lives of our own to end the life of another who has his own. Nonetheless, if we are to harm someone, we might as well learn from it. The increase in the combat capabilities of weapons is not necessarily a bad thing. Now more than ever, weapons are more precise and rarely miss their intended target, thus reducing collateral damage and, in many instances, saving innocent, uninvolved lives. Guns have become so accurate that it is possible to take out a hostile who has a hostage, while leaving the hostage untouched and unharmed. Disputes are inevitable, and superior weaponry allows the population of a country to rest easier, knowing their homeland is safeguarded and that they can defeat those who, in their eyes, are the ‘bad guys’.
The disadvantages of technology being used in modern warfare
While it is an undoubtable fact that superior technology provides us with an edge over our adversaries, most of the time, the cost it comes at can be quite hefty. War isn’t cheap, both in a materialistic as well as a sentimental context. It decimates infrastructure, takes lives, destroys memories that locations once held, and replaces them with memories that are not too sweet upon remembrance. War is only ever good for a handful of very special stakeholders, and innocent families are never among them. Technology takes effort, time, money, and resources to develop. These commodities don’t come from thin air and are siphoned from the public, whether in taxpayer dollars or mandatory personnel drafts. There is no denying that such measures are, in most cases, necessary, as the safety of a country is of great significance to all its inhabitants. But over-investing in it when such investment is clearly not needed is a counterproductive move. What’s the point of protecting people from external threats if they are being harmed by internal concerns? A man who would live a better life dead has no need for defence.
Conclusion
Wars, disputes, and disagreements have been around since the dawn of humankind. Violence, as it seems, is second nature to us, but a species as sophisticated, complicated, and, dare I say, cranky as us humans would never allow conflict to be as simple as a fistfight. We have been given the gift of extreme intellect. It has always been said in every culture that a person with his mind set toward a goal can achieve wonders, and sometimes, those wonders lie beside the goal itself. We are complicated creatures. We hate to protect love, express intangible feelings through tangible touch, presence through absence, and, in the case of wars, intelligence through physicality and brawn through brain. It is indeed amazing—our love for hating. For as long as humans exist, we will war, be it for good or bad. The direction technology has pushed us toward has made combat lose its sense of honour, and the gravity of ending a life has been greatly euphemized. These days, life seems to be no more than a statistic. Hence, we should ask ourselves: Wouldn’t all these magnificent inventions be useful elsewhere?
The author is a student pursuing, Cambridge International A Level Course from Foundation World School Mamath, Budgam, J&K, India,