Top Secret Science in the Military

Top Secret Science in the Military — page 3 — 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

Top Secret Science in the Military — page 4 — 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

Top Secret Science in the Military — page 5 — SUPERWEAPONS Military scientists are always looking for ways to make bigger and better weapons Between 1942 and 1946 the United States United Kingdom and Canada secretly worked together to build an atomic bomb to use against the enemy during World War II This devastating bomb was dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 killing 129,000 226,000 people Today’s secret weapons have the power to be just as deadly and even more accurate The Manhattan Project created one of the most deadly THE VANISHED CITY The code name for the project to build an atomic bomb was the Manhattan Project To keep the research secret the U S government made a city disappear In 1942 the government atomic bomb weapons ever the bought the homes of Oak Ridge Tennessee and ordered the 1,000 residents to leave Oak Ridge was then removed from official government maps Security officials searched everyone who left the site Thanks to these efforts only a few dozen Americans knew the details of the atomic bombs before they were dropped on Japan The destruction caused by the bombs shocked even the scientists who made them Governments soon realized that atomic bombs and other nuclear weapons threatened all life on Earth From 1968 the United States and 189 other countries signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty promising not to share technology that could help new countries build nuclear weapons Despite this many people worry that countries such as North Korea are working to build nuclear weapons in secret 8

Top Secret Science in the Military — page 6 — NEW TECHNOLOGY The atomic bombs used against Japan got their destructive force from nuclear reactions by splitting apart the nuclei of atoms Atoms are tiny particles that are the building blocks for everything on Earth Splitting them releases a massive amount of energy Today some weapons in development make use of newer breakthroughs in our understanding of atoms and the tiny particles called subatomic particles inside them Particle-beam weapons would use a high-energy beam of subatomic particles to damage the atoms in their target This would kill a human being The U S military is researching such weapons to be used against incoming enemy missiles It is vital that the research remains a secret so these weapons can never be used against people completely undetected Stealth planes have made it possible for the military to spy on and track enemies from the air DARK SCIENCE SECRETS The U S Air Force has experimented with stealth technology since the 1950s It has successfully created stealth planes which are less visible to the human eye because of the way light bounces off them The planes reflect their surroundings Stealth planes are also designed so that they are less likely to be picked up and tracked by radar This allows them to make raids or to take spy photos over countries without being caught While stealth planes are not a secret the military keeps their abilities and their technology carefully guarded and top secret 9

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