Xavier University High SchoolAteneo de Cagayan

Modernizing Technology in Military Airplanes

In partial fulfillment of the requirements in English IV

Ms. Pamela Quinto

Justin Alexander C. Abellera4 – Sanvitores

January 25, 2010

Table of Contents

I. Background of Modernizing Technology in Military Airplanes

A. A History of Military Airplanes 1

B. Development Projects for Military Airplanes 4

C. Kinds of Military Airplanes 4

II. Advantages of Modernizing Military Airplane Technology

A. A New Kind of Propulsion 5

B. The Age of Metal Planes 6

C. Avionics control 7

III. Disadvantages of Modernizing Military Airplane Technology

A. Guided Missiles 8

B. Stealth Aircraft Technology 9

C. Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle 10

IV. Conclusion 11

V. BIBLIOGRAPHY 12

Modernizing Technology in Military Airplanes

Thesis Statement: Modernizing Technology in Military Airplanes may be

disadvantageous

Questions

1. What are the dangers of further advancing the technology of military airplanes?

2. Why continue to advance military airplane technology

3. Will wars in the future be all about military planes?

I. Background of Modernizing Technology in Military Airplanes

A. A History of Military Airplanes

According to Andrew Nahum, he says that “it seemed that the future of flight lay

with balloons and lighter-than-air craft. But British engineers Sir George Cayley thought

otherwise. He was convinced that wings, too, would one day carry people into the air,

drawing his inspiration from a familiar toy, the kite. Ingenious experiments with kites

taught Cayley so much about how wings are lifted on the air, that he was able to build a

human-size version - the world’s first real glider. Soon, other would-be aviators were

trying their luck with gliders. It was all hit or miss, because no one had any real idea

how to control their aircraft in the air. Then, in the 1890s, a young German named Otto

Lillienthal built a series of small, fragile gliders – much like modern hang gliders – and

succeeded in making regular, controlled flights with them. His example proved crucial,

and he has rightly been called the ‘world’s first true aviator.’ “

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The base required for airplane flight was already designed by Sir George Cayley

and improved by Otto Lillienthal. But flying was only for a short period of time because

there were no modes of propulsion thought up for the glider then. Andrew Nahum says

that “with a glider, it was at last possible to fly on wings – but not for long. To fly any real

distance, an engine was needed. By as early as 1845, two Englishmen, William Henson

and John Stringfellow, hand built a working model of a plane powered by a specially

made lightweight steam engine – the only engine then available. Nobody knows

whether their model ever really got off the ground, but it showed the idea of a powered

flying machine was no longer just a dream. Over the next fifty years, many imaginative

engineers tried to get steam-powered flying machines airborne, both models and full-

size airplanes. But steam engines proved either too weak or too heavy, and it wasn’t

until the invention of the compact gas engines that powered flight became a real

possibility.”

Steam engine planes just couldn’t fly because of the sheer weight of the engine

or the power it just couldn’t produce. By the new millennium or year 1900, the gasoline

engine was already being used widely on cars. Andrew Nahum says that “one cold

Thursday in December 1903, at Kitty Hawk North Carolina, the gasoline powered flying

machine built by the brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright rose unsteadily into the air, flow

forty meters, then returned safely to the ground again. The world’s first powered,

sustained flight had been made. At first, reports of the Wrights’ achievements were met

with disbelief in Europe, but there success was no accident. They had been

methodically improving their flying skill – since 1899. When Wilbur brought the Flyer to

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France in 1908, it was clear that the Wrights were far ahead of the pioneers in Europe.

But aviation was now progressing everywhere rapidly. Sustained flights were soon

almost routine. Then, in 1909, Frenchman Louis Bleriot flew one of his little aircraft 26

miles right over the English Channel from France to England.” By the year 1909, the

Wright brothers were contracted with the military to build the first military airplanes.

During the First World War, the airplanes being used by the military were for

spying purposes by flying over enemies and photographing or reporting about the

enemies’ operations. The airplanes were also used to help transport people or

equipment and help in any other way they can. During these times, the pilots flew the

planes without having any way of defending themselves in case of gunfire from the

ground. Later on, the pilots started carrying guns and bringing small bombs that they

can drop from the planes to enemies firing at them. What this method of defending did

was create the first bomber airplane. The fighter plane was created when a French pilot

and his observer were spying over a village in Jamoigne, a German plane approached

them. The French pilot’s observer acted quickly and got out his machine gun which he

brought with him. The observer fired onto the German plane and the Germans crashed,

becoming the first to be shot down by the first fighter plane. (A History of Fighter

Aircraft)

The planes used by the military has changed so much that they were the most

expensive product of the 20th century because of all the investments put into

advancements like computers which will assist the pilot in operating the plane, the new

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powerful engines which replaced the propeller engine, and weapons which can follow a

target until it hits it. How the plane looked changed as well, from the old wooden form to

the sleek and aerodynamic metal form. The kill rate has also increased because of the

payload of bombs that a military plane could now carry.

B. Development Projects for Military Airplanes

The military needed a plane manufacturing company to research, develop, and

build military airplanes like fighter jets for the Air Tactical Service Command. They made

an agreement with Lockheed, an established plane manufacturing company in 1943 to

provide the military with newly developed planes for military purpose. This agreement

turned into a development program called Skunk Works which is today a division of

Lockheed Martin. Currently, there are several other competitive companies like Boeing

that test new designs and ideas on new planes for military use.

C. Kinds of Military Airplanes

There are mainly five kinds of military airplanes and three of these are the ones

in the front line, doing the dangerous jobs in war. The three main military airplanes are

the fighters, the bombers, and the multirole planes. The fighter planes are the ones that

go in combat with other airplanes in what is called a “dog fight”. The basic principles of a

fighter plane is to be extremely maneuverable to dodge gunfire and guided missiles

from another fighter, and be extremely accurate in terms of weapon firing to take down

the enemy fighter. The bomber plane has more basic principles, that it should be able to

carry a huge load of bombs and be powerful enough to fly up to high altitudes even

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when it is loaded to the maximum with bombs. The multirole planes are the planes

which are capable of going into combat with other planes and drop a bomb that

damages a small area. The two minor military planes are the reconnaissance planes

and the cargo planes. Reconnaissance planes are just tasked to gather information on

enemies by flying over their area. Cargo planes are just tasked to transport people and

equipment. The two minor planes are kept basic as they don’t need any special

advancement. Reconnaissance planes have not changed so much since the early

versions. They still use powerful cameras to photograph their findings. Today,

reconnaissance planes were also given some upgrades like infra-red cameras to detect

body temperature inside buildings. Reconnaissance planes were not invested on that

much because of a much better and more accurate substitute, the spy satellite. Cargo

planes are just continuously being redesigned to be able to carry more loads and deliver

more power to take it to the skies.

II. Advantages of Modernizing Military Airplane Technology

A. A New Kind of Propulsion

Continuous flying became possible because of the combustion engines used in

cars and motorcycles being put into the body of a glider. Propellers were then

connected to the engine to provide the propelling force. The problem with these engines

was they were always overworked because of spinning fast. To solve this problem, new

engines were built, specifically designed for airplanes. Soon, planes were able to go

higher and faster as engines kept on getting better and better. The materials used for

the propellers has changed from wood to metal and forged aluminum as engines

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became stronger and stronger. This technology has become a success in development

for the airplane that airliners were soon built. The propulsion needed for a glider has

been successfully developed, but the military were in search for more power. This

sparked the development of the jet engine. The jet engine was originally thought up by

Frank Whittle. His intention for the development of the jet engine was for the mail

service. The Germans then developed their own version of the jet engine and

successfully made a working one before Frank Whittle did. The engine made by the

Germans were comparably faster when compared to even the most fine tuned propeller

engine planes of the time. More comparisons showed that jet engines were able to bring

the plane to higher altitudes because of its ability to compress air inside the engine.

The compressed air burned with fuel produces a jet of hot air pushing out of the other

end. Propeller planes couldn’t achieve heights that a jet engine could because of the

decreasing amount of air as the altitude increases causes the engine to lose power as

the fuel gets less air to burn with. The jet engine was also more efficient because it was

able to get more power from the fuel by being able to compress air. This allowed the

engine to use less fuel as more air is added to get the most out of the fuel. Jet engines

are now used in modern military aircraft and in commercial airliners because of the jet

engine’s increased power and efficiency compared to the old propeller engine.

B. The Age of Metal Planes

The planes we see today are all made of several different kinds of metal like

aluminum for example. The planes we see today also have one set of wings. But the

early planes had two, three or more sets of wings. This is because the planes before

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were made of wood. Planes had to use two or more sets of wings because a single set

of wings made of wood could not hold itself together when overstressed. Using too

many wings also created problems as more wings created drag thus losing speed. The

French and British authorities banned the use of single wing planes. The best decision

was to use two wings as a balance between speed and structural stability. When World

War I began, almost all fighters and reconnaissance planes had two wings. The

demands of war then gave a boost in aircraft development. When World War I was near

its end, the supply of wood was not enough to build new planes with. Since the war was

not over, the military needed a constant supply of fighter planes. Plane makers tried to

experiment by using metal instead of wood for the body of the plane. The experiment

was a success because metal was found out to be better in many ways like being

stronger and lighter than wood. Since the discovery that using metal was a better choice

to make airplanes, airplanes were being redesigned to go faster because of the

decreased weight like using single wing designs again. The engines were also made

more powerful since the body could now take the extra power and speed.

C. Avionics control

Avionics as Pick Collinson says “is the system that an aircraft uses to operate properly.”

The avionics was designed to allow the pilot to control his plane electronically. Avionics

was developed because of a need to decrease the crew of a fighter plane. Fighter

planes during the World War I had at least two men operating for flying the plane and

shooting at the same time was too much work for a pilot alone. Fighter planes today are

usually driven by just one person who controls both plane and its weapon systems

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through the avionics. Without avionics systems, controls would be heavy and the

smallest change on the controls could unbalance the plane and make it more difficult to

regain control. Without avionics, huge commercial airliners wouldn’t exist because of the

impossibility of a man to use human strength for controlling a huge plane with traditional

cable systems.

III. Disadvantages of Modernizing Military Airplane Technology

A. Guided Missiles

During the two World Wars, military airplane weapons were developed but still

had the basic principles of point and shoot where the pilot had to work hard to get his

plane pointing straight at the enemy and fire the machine guns bolted onto the wings.

Bombs had to be dropped at a specific point after several mathematical estimations

were made. Now, however, things have changed. Guided missiles were being

developed just after the autopilot system for planes was perfected. Guided missiles are

set to go after a target on a collision course and set off its explosive war head. Since

guided missiles follow on a locked target set by the pilot, pointing the plane directly

towards the enemy is no longer needed. Instead, through the avionics, a fighter pilot just

has to lock on the target and release a missile which has locked on the target. The

autopilot system and avionics within the missile will control it towards the target on a

collision course. This guidance system for missiles is so accurate, efficient, and

effective that modern jet fighter machine guns are rarely being used. And if missile

technology for military airplanes continue to advance, modern air warfare will be entirely

be about firing guided missiles.

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B. Stealth Aircraft Technology

Radar was invented by Robert Watson-Watt in 1935 during the war. He and four

researchers were sent to a military base for the development of radar. His invention was

able to detect planes from afar by sending a pulse through the air and listening for an

echo. This system made early detection of enemy aircraft possible. Soon, radar was

brought to the skies by putting radar into a plane. This made fighter planes capable of

detecting other planes from afar. The pilot can then have more time to determine if the

detected plane is an enemy. However, a new technological advancement in military

airplanes was developed. This new technology is stealth. Through the use of stealth

technology, planes can go through radar without being detected or give false

information about the stealth plane’s location. This technology was achieved because of

exploiting radar’s weak points. Radar sends a beam across the air for detecting

airplanes. But radar also produces weaker, unwanted beams. Computers in the stealth

plane detect when these weak beams hit the plane and immediately send out a radar-

like pulse to confuse the radar that is searching for planes. The computer of the radar

detects the strongest echo, but is confused by the stealth plane’s computer. The result

could be that the stealth plane’s location could be miles away on the radar screen when

the plane is already close enough to drop its load of bombs. The plane could also not

appear on the radar screen at all. Stealth planes are still in use today and are generally

for high risk operations where being discovered early means losing a life or two.

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C. Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle

The unmanned combat aerial vehicle started out as target practice for top fighter

pilots to practice with real missiles. The unmanned aerial vehicles were so useful that

the US army thought of other uses for the unmanned aerial vehicle. After some design

changes, the unmanned aerial vehicle became an unmanned spy plane. The iconic

General Atomics MQ-I Predator is an unmanned aerial vehicle that serves as an

unmanned spy plane. The Predator was a success as an unmanned spy plane. The US

army then planned on giving the unmanned aerial vehicle weapons when the

opportunity comes that an enemy lands on the sights of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

This led to the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper. It is the Air Force’s first purpose

designed Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle. The Reaper is capable of spying through

cameras installed on it and attack targets in its sight with bombs and missiles it could

now carry. The Reaper shows a significant evolution in military airplane technology and

unmanned aerial vehicle technology. The Air Force once used it mainly for spying

purposes but now has become an unmanned combat plane. The Reaper has started

taking over the role of fighter pilots in the military and has started to go through its next

technological advancement; self piloting. Boeing proved that autonomous aircraft was

possible through their unmanned combat aerial vehicle, the Boeing X-45. The plane is

able to operate on its own, choose its target, and take it down. The plane may be driven

remotely at times, but is completely capable of piloting itself and controlling its weapon

systems.

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IV. Conclusion

Through the many years that changed the military plane completely, some of

these changes were good and beneficial even to the public society, but the rest of these

changes were meant for having the upper hand in war. The capabilities of military

airplanes have become dangerous because of the improved accuracy from guided

missile technology and being able to further increase the accuracy of missiles by being

able to fire at close range because of stealth technology hiding the plane from radar

detection. A storm of bomber planes already too late to have been noticed to engage in

combat with as the full load is dropped down to its helpless target. Military planes are

evolving to the point where a human pilot is no longer needed on board the plane.

Planes are just sent out on command to destroy living targets without risking the pilot’s

life. These remotely controlled planes evolved further by taking out the human element

altogether. The planes become autonomous, following their own laws of war, taking

targets down on their own, and creating casualties with no one to blame because it was

a machine that fired the weapon, not man. The technology has become so dangerous

that what we believed was science fiction could just turn into a science fact. We no

longer control what the plane does. It goes on its own to hunt and kill targets. War will

bring more casualties because of modernizing technology in military airplanes.

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V. BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. BooksBlakekok, John H. Automatic Control of Aircraft Missiles. Canada, 1991

Collinson, Dick. Introduction to Avionics. Great Britain: St. Edmunds Press, 1996

Crouch, Tom D. Inventors and Discoverers: Changing Our World. Washington, D.C.: The National Geographic Society, 1988

Heppenheimer, T.A. Flight: A Photographic History of Aviation. London: Carlton Books, 2003

Kindersley, Dorling. Chronicle of the 20 th Century. Henrietta, London: Dorling Kindersley Limited, 1995

Nahum, Andrew. Flying Machine. London: Dorling Kindersley Limited, 1990

No Author. The Military Frontier. Alexandria, Virginia: Timelife Books

No Author. Visual Encyclopedia. London: Dorling Kindersley Limited, 1998

Strebeigh, Fred. Inventors and Discoverers: Changing Our World. Washington, D.C.: The National Geographic Society, 1988

Wooldridge, E.T. Winged Wonders: The Story of Flying Wings. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1983

B. Electronic SourcesBoeing. Phantom Works. Retrieved January 2, 2010, from

http://www.boeing.com/bds/phantomworks/index.html

Centenial of Flight. Stealth Aircraft. Retrieved January 3, 2010 from http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Evolution_of_Technology/Stealth_aircraft/tech31.htm

Global Security. MQ-9 Reaper. Retrieved December 26, 2009, from http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/mq-9.htm

Lockheed Martin. Skunk Works. Retrieved January 2, 2010, from http://www.lockheedmartin.com/aeronautics/skunkworks

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Seorf. Introduction to Stealth Technology. Retrieved December 31, 2009, from http://www.seorf.ohiou.edu/~af641/

Think Quest. A History of Flight. Retrieved December 30, 2009, from http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112389/airplanes.htm

USA World War I. A History of Fighter Aircraft. Retrieved December 24, 2009, from http://www.usaww1.com/World_War_1_Fighter_Planes.php4

Wikipedia. Air to air missiles. Retrieved January 1, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air-to-air_missiles

Wikipedia. Boeing X-45. Retrieved December 26, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-45

Wikipedia. MQ-1 Predator. Retrieved December 26, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MQ-1_Predator

Wikipedia. Radar. Retrieved December 22, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Watson-Watt#The_air_defense_problem

Wikipedia. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Retrieved December 26, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_unmanned_aerial_vehicles

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