Technology though isn’t the savior of the military, because it ends up being the weak link on the battlefield. A program started in the early 2000’s was the land warrior system that allowed for instant transfer of information of enemy and friendly positions, it was at first what seemed like a god send to higher command. Individual soldiers now had the ability to communicate with each other providing fluidity to the battle never would squads have to stop and weight to find out were other friendlies were they could always remain in motion; except details were forgotten when the system was developed and tested on the battlefield.
The first thing that was forgotten was weight, the land warrior system which not only had batteries strapped to the back of the soldier but cameras mounted to the gun and an eye piece which flipped over the eye. Combat troops would grow tired trying to carry the system around with the armor and molly vest, leading them to become ineffectively quickly, without even carrying assault packs. Then of course came problems with camouflage a soldiers greatest strength is surprised which was never achieved in the land warrior system, because there was no way to camouflage it in the forest or the desert it painted large targets on the men carrying them who were now open to enemy fire.
Yet the land warrior system isn’t the only dependence we have put on technology, others exist that leave us weak to foreign powers. For instance the chipboards used to carry information are weak and easy to cripple with a simple EMP. One large blast would cripple our computer systems and tanks leaving them worthless. Planes would plummet out of the sky as the computer systems used to power them would fail. Yet that’s just the worst case scenario, when the reality that happens now is so much scarier. Our computer chips responsible for controlling planes, tanks, and battleships can and do occasionally fail due to quality control that leave them crippled. Our national defense security systems are always under attack from foreign hackers and if they ever crack in they would decrypt our files. This would show the entire hand, every weakness, battle plan and technological systems could be accessed and used to cripple the entire military. Plus there always the existence of the human threat that use technology to expose any secrets they can get a hold of and dump them on to sites such as wiki leaks that share this information with the world which endangers the life of our troops and security of the United States.
Works Cited
Coburn, Davin. "Land Warrior System: Inside the Pentagon's New High-Tech Gear - Popular Mechanics." Automotive Care, Home Improvement, Tools, DIY Tips - Popular Mechanics. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. <http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/news/4215725>.
"FRONTLINE: College, Inc.: Watch the Full Program Online | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/collegeinc/view/?utm_campaign=homepage&utm_medium=proglist&utm_source=proglist>.
"M1A1 / M1A2 Abrams - Main Battle Tank." Army Technology. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. <http://www.army-technology.com/projects/abrams/>.
Shachtman, Noah. "The Army's New Land Warrior Gear: Why Soldiers Don't Like It - Popular Mechanics." Automotive Care, Home Improvement, Tools, DIY Tips - Popular Mechanics. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. <http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/4215715>.
"Taking Aim at Military Technology." Wired.com. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. <http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2003/03/58107>.
"The Phoney Chips That Could Cripple Military Tech - Tech - 07 December 2010 - New Scientist." Science News and Science Jobs from New Scientist - New Scientist. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. <http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19819-the-phoney-chips-that-could-cripple-military-tech.html>.
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