CHAPTER 1 the secrecy WEAPON On the battlefield fighting forces look for any means necessary to defeat their enemy while taking as few losses as possible On today’s battlefields it is not the bigger or braver army that gets the upper hand it is the army with the most technologically advanced weapons and defenses To have this advantage armies go to great lengths to keep their scientific breakthroughs a secret SECRET WEAPONS Ever since gunpowder was first used to fire weapons in tenth-century China inventing new weapons and keeping the new inventions secret has been a key part of military planning Today gunpowder is a thing of the past except in fireworks Weapons currently in development make use of scientific breakthroughs that are so new only a few people understand them These breakthroughs include high-energy beams of particles and sonic assaults which use sound to injure or confuse the enemy battlefield can be avoided by Injury on the using secrecy and surprise against an enemy force 4
SECRETS ON THE BATTLEFIELD In addition to building weapons the latest technology can help keep fighting forces informed and protect their secrets Powerful computers are used to code messages to keep them secret from the enemy Other tactics used to fool the enemy include decoys and camouflage Militaries are building bigger and better decoys to draw enemy soldiers out into the open and finding extraordinary ways to camouflage soldiers and equipment They are also using high-tech science to break enemy codes defeat enemy decoys and see through camouflage DARK SCIENCE SECRETS In the 1960s the United States military built a secret base called Camp Century under the ice in Greenland Officially Camp Century was a science station but in reality it hid a deeper secret In Project Iceworm the U S military dug tunnels into the ice as part of a plan to store medium range ballistic missiles to use against Russia It proved too difficult to build such a base however and Project Iceworm was abandoned in 1967 The United States thought the ice would keep the project hidden forever but today the Greenland ice is melting due to climate change This is revealing the base and the secrets that the U S military left behind This 1965 top secret plan shows the network of ice tunnels at Camp Century which were used to hide long range missiles 5
SECRETS AS WEAPONS Military forces want to keep information secret about where or how troops will strike so the enemy will not be prepared when the attack happens But information can be used as a weapon too False information can fool enemy soldiers convincing them that an attack is coming from one place when in fact it will come from another The actual attack is then a surprise and more likely to succeed FOOL THE ENEMY The military uses a number of tricks to fool the enemy In 1943 during World War II 1939 1945 the Soviet Union fought the invading German army in Kursk south of Moscow Russia The Soviet army knew the Germans were listening to their radio broadcasts so it sent fake radio reports saying there were not enough troops to defend the city At the same time the Soviet army attacked the Germans then retreated This convinced the Germans that the Soviets were weak and desperate Meanwhile the Soviet army secretly 6 Today aerial photographs like this one can show detailed images of an enemy’s military base moved in supplies and soldiers during the night laying minefields and improving defenses When the Germans attacked they discovered the Soviets had nearly 4,000 more tanks and more than 1 million more soldiers than they had expected The Soviet victory stopped the German advance into Russia and changed the entire course of the war
tomorrow's secrets VIRTUAL REALITY TACTICS Virtual reality VR is a technology that uses complex computer programs and headsets to give the user the sense that they have entered another world VR is not just for gaming militaries have adopted the technology as a training method to give soldiers the sense of being on the battlefield without putting them in danger When it comes to planning secret attacks and unexpected counterattacks VR simulations of battlefields are ideal They help officers learn new methods of using troops in different battlefield scenarios On the battlefield this would cost lives The U S army uses the Virtual Squad Training System VSTS which allows soldiers to practice tactics as well as to handle the newest weapons and vehicles Technology is making it more difficult for an army to fool the enemy To get clear pictures of enemy positions militaries rely on aerial photographs However planes are an easy target for the enemy on the ground As a result the military has turned to unmanned aerial vehicles UAVs UAV technology has advanced so much that unmanned drones are now used to take aerial photographs of the enemy Drones are small and therefore difficult to detect They also have sensors that can pick up things that are invisible to the human eye such as the body heat of hiding soldiers Drone technology has made it more difficult to hide soldiers and military vehicles from the enemy 7
