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Aircraft that are designed for highly specialized military applications. Fixed-wing aircraft, rotary-wing aircraft, free-flight balloons, and blimps have all been used in both crewed and crewless flight modes for military purposes.Uninhabited aerial…

Artificial satellites used for a variety of military purposes. Of approximately 4000 satellites successfully launched between 1957 and 1999, about 50% have been either specifically military or usable for military purposes. Major functions of…

Weapons that arm warships. Of the wide variety of such weapons, three important categories are exclusively naval: antiship missiles, torpedoes, and mines. Other weapons all correspond to land-based types, but submarine-launched ballistic missiles…

Multipurpose instruments used to make measurements on a remote object, often an airborne vehicle. These systems are used to provide two basic types of data: accurate measurement of the position, velocity, and other motion parameters of the target;…

An expendable device that enables aircraft to detect underwater objects, such as submarines, acoustically. Acoustics is the preferred energy form for use in salt water, because it tends to be the least attenuated by the medium.A sonobuoy consists of…

When any possible emergency threatens the security or socioeconomic structure of the United States or any political subdivision, an appropriate warning must be made in order for a reaction to occur within an appropriate period of time. Any such…

Surface combatants are required to operate in hostile environments. When underway, combatants are under the constant surveillance of arrays of passive and active sensing devices, designed to detect a range of signals generated or scattered by ships…

Optical instruments that establish an optical line or axis for the purpose of aiming a weapon. The axis includes the observer's eye, a suitable mark in the instrument, and the target. For a pistol, the traditional iron sights employ a rear notch and…

The world's navies continue to explore a variety of ship, landing craft, and amphibian vehicle designs to improve amphibious assaults. There has been an evolution over the last 60 years from ships coming close to shore to deliver troops and supplies…

April 22, 2015 was the 100th anniversary of the first large-scale use of chemical weapons in modern warfare. Some of the best minds in chemistry at that time, including a Nobel Prize winner, used their knowledge of science to build humanity’s…