Military Cybernetic Enhancements and Soldiers

Christian Boe

The military is constantly working on new technologies for their soldiers. The military produces guns, armor, explosives, vehicles, and even enhancements to soldiers and animals that could potentially increase their running speed, sight, strength, and so on. These weapons increase the power of the military and give troops the edge that has allowed them to perform well on the battlefield as long as warfare has existed.

History:

The military has a history of cybernetic enhancements to weapons and to soldiers. When warfare first began, historians speculate that people fought one another with blunt objects such as sticks and stones. As time progressed, those weapons evolved to sharpened sticks, then to swords, guns, missiles and other more advanced weapons.

The military has so far been unsuccessful in their attempts to create permanent cybernetic enhancements for soldiers, such as better vision, or assault armor, but they have successfully produced armor such as Kevlar armor (1975), thermal lenses, and night vision goggles. Technologies such as those allow soldiers to perform better in combat situations.

These are a couple of examples of early attempts at weapons and armor. The image to the right is a few examples of European swords, and the image to the right is a full plate mail suit of armor. These weapons were revolutionary for the militaries of the world during their time because the use of steel allowed the soldiers to protect themselves more efficiently as well as slaying their opponents with greater ease.

Present:

The military currently uses electromagnetic technology, electric pulse firing weapons, laser guided weapons, Kevlar armor, armor piercing shots, GPS, and other computer controlled or computer based weaponry for their cybernetic weaponry . The military uses weapons such as the Javelin portable anti-tank shoulder mounted warhead. Once the rocket has penetrated its target, a computer delays the explosive by a few milliseconds so that the rocket explodes once it has completely pierced the target tank or building. This cripples the entire tank or structure as opposed to causing mainly exterior damage to the target.

The military uses weapons such as EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) cannons to shut down enemy electric weapons. They also use electric pulses to create weapons such as Metal Storm, which is a vehicle-mounted machine gun that fires 1 million bullets per minute by using electric pulses to trigger the firing and reloading. This weapon takes combat to a new level that was not possible in previous wars because it can be controlled by computers. This allows our soldiers to stay out of combat and control the fight from the sidelines.

Above are some more modern examples of military weapons and armor. To the right is an M-4 Carbine assault rifle and a few of the accessories that the modern soldier can attach to his/her weapon. This type of weapon allows soldiers to kill their target from long distances, has a grenade launcher attachment to destroy tanks, a silencer attachment for stealthy kills, a scope attachment for accuracy, and can switch from semi-automatic fire to full auto fire to kill more targets at once. The armor to the right is Kevlar armor. It is light, quiet, and can stop bullets and flak from harming the person wearing it. Kevlar armor allows soldiers and police officers to move quickly and silently while protecting them from enemy fire.

Future:

The military claims to have many technologies under production: optical enhancements that allow soldiers to see hundreds of feet, suits that allow the soldier to fly or jump giant structures, lasers that can cut through people and buildings, and concentrated sound that can destroy. They claim that they will be able to construct large walking weapons that can have missiles and machine guns attached to them. They also claim to be working on laser guided weapons that can hit a pin from hundreds of miles away. However, given the military's claims compared to their past successes, it is unlikely that they will be successful in the near future for any of these weapons.

The images shown above are the possible future weapons and enhancements that the military may use on the soldiers, or in combat situations. The image to the right is a basic diagram of the optic implant. The implants would allow the military to wire the soldiers with cameras, radios, transmitters, and possibly enhance their vision so that they could see longer distances, at night, or even detect their opponents through the use of heat vision. However, this technology is still being tested and de-bugged. However, the image to the right is the future of machine guns, it is completed, and soon it will be ready for the battlefield. It is a new technology called project Metal Storm that will change warfare forever. The weapon has no moving parts other than the bullets and fires using electrical pulses. The weapon shown above can fire up to 1,000,000 rounds per minute, that's a substantial jump compared to the 6,000 per minute for our last anti-tank machine gun. The technology can be used in hand held weapons as well and could potentially allow soldiers to level any target in seconds, and even destroy enemy missiles. The new technology may change the way that wars are fought. The weapon also runs on very little power, they only require as much power as flashlight batteries to power the weapons.