Evolution of war technology
Himanshu VinayKumar Singh Himanshu Pradeep Singh
Research Scholar, MCA Research Scholar, MCA
Thakur Institute of Management Studies, Career Thakur Institute of Management Studies, Career
Development & Research (TIMSCDR) Development & Research (TIMSCDR)
Mumbai, India Mumbai, India
[email protected] [email protected]
Abstract— The continued evolution of combat how technological innovation affects armed conflict
technology is examined in this research study, which and the global landscape.
also discusses recent trends, historical developments,
and possible future developments in this important Keywords—war technology; cyber warfare;
area. Throughout history, the quest for military artificial intelligence; unmanned aerial vehicles;
superiority has propelled considerable advancements precision-guided munitions; quantum computing;
in warfare technology. This study provides a succinct autonomous systems; directed energy weapons;
examination of this evolutionary process, shedding
light on historical turning points, modern cutting I. INTRODUCTION
edge technologies, and expected future developments
War has historically been thought of as a form
in combat.
of direct armed conflict characterized by violence
Important advances in the field of military and physical aggression. The main force behind
technology have occurred in the past, including the major advancements in war technology has been
development of gunpowder, the industrialization of the quest for military supremacy, an enduring goal
combat in World Wars I and II, and the use of throughout history. Every era has seen pivotal
nuclear weapons during the Cold war. These moments that have changed the nature of warfare
discoveries had a profound effect on civilian life in and had a significant impact on society as a whole,
addition to changing the character of conflict. from the revolutionary invention of gunpowder to
the industrialization of combat in the heat of World
An outline of modern combat technology is Wars I and II to the terrifying threat of nuclear
provided in this section, with particular attention to
developments in cyber warfare, unmanned aerial
weapons during the Cold War. Today, however, the
vehicles, artificial intelligence, and precision-guided introduction of new forms of military weaponry
bombs. The emphasis of the modern age is on cutting- and technology has morphed the traditional
edge technology, emphasizing information superiority definition of war to include more passive
and blurring the boundaries between conventional approaches.
and unconventional combat.
Future developments in warfare technology, such
as directed energy systems, quantum computers,
hypersonic weapons, and autonomous technologies,
are discussed in this section. The battlefield is about
to change as a result of these advancements, which
presents opportunities and difficulties for military
strategy and policy.
Ethical, legal, and strategic issues are discussed Reportedly more than 100 States have
throughout the paper, highlighting the significance of established dedicated cyber-warfare units within
making ethical decisions when utilizing these their armed forces or intelligence agencies. These
technologies. In order to control the development of units help States fend off hostile cyber-operations
war technology, the possibility of international targeting their national infrastructure and –though
cooperation and arms control agreements is also this mightnot be equally publicized –undertake
explored. such operations against an adversary. Nearly as
many States are said to operate unmanned aerial
Through an analysis of war technology's past, vehicles (UAVs) for intelligence, surveillance and
present, and future, this research emphasizes the reconnaissance, and allegedly some 30 States
importance of making wise decisions in this rapidly already have or are developing armed UAVs.
changing field and advances our understanding of
Military applications of artificial intelligence,
nanotechnology and biotechnology are being
actively devised and implemented.
With global and Asian balance of power in a
state of strategic flux, competition, rivalry, and
conflict-whether violent or otherwise-are again
taking centre stage. Further, driven by
technological innovation and with the advent of
emerging and critical technologies, there are also
possible changes in tactics, strategies, and mediums
of war. The growing importance of cyber warfare,
weaponisation of space, warfare by proxy and With the 1800s came the machine gun age which
influence operations, and misinformation lasted till the end of the second world war. This
campaigns denote that modes of warfighting are saw the rise of modern warfare machinery like
changing. Future battlefields might be aircraft, tanks and mechanized warfare. This
unrecognisable with the growth and advancements marked a significant phase of warfare evolution
in technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), where strategists had to employ creativity to put
quantum, cyber, space, and biotechnology. technology to good use.
Militaries around the world, policymakers, and
strategists are confronted with enormous challenges The end of the second world war saw the
driven by this transformation. Issues such as development of the greatest weapons known to
attribution and deniability pose additional mankind – the birth of the Nuclear Weapon. This
challenges in arriving at suitable policy responses was the time when soft power and intelligence
and dispensing justice of, in, and post-war. Further, started dominating all spheres of International
these challenges are expected to become more Relations.
complex as states aim to devise new ways of
leveraging technological change to wage war. With the onset of the 21st Century, new problems
started taking shape across the world. Lines
The paper carefully balances ethical, legal, and between combatant and non-combatant started
strategic issues in the midst of this technological blurring. Terrorism, lone-wolf attacks, and
odyssey, highlighting how crucial it is to make insurgency became the number one problem of
responsible decisions when utilizing these potent mankind. During this time intelligence has become
tools. Moreover, the investigation of possible the biggest competitive advantage for all Defence
global collaboration and arms control accords aims forces.
to create a structure for overseeing the rapidly
increasing advancement of military technology. It can be seen that with time competitive advantage
on the battlefield was a combination of technology,
II. METHODOLOGY strategy and the human element. This can be
The first major development came in the form of observed in our history:
chariots which created the competitive advantage
Artillery laid the foundation of the Mughal Empire
of speed and agility in the early 400 BCE. The
chariot was the dominating advantage for over a Alexander the Great employed creative tactics on
thousand years, until the birth of the Roman Legion the battlefield which made him a legend in military
and the rise of defensive and phalanx concepts in history.
the early 900 CE.
Tanks were the mean machine that wreaked havoc
A key concept in Strategy is that of Synergy, in the hearts of the enemy Advantages of
military strategists of the late 900s wished to Technology
synergize the competitive advantage of the chariot
and the legions. This led to the birth of the Cavalry If we look at the three key innovations that are
Knight – or mounted terror. A concept that was being put to use in modern day combat a pattern
significant in Anglo Saxon victories in the 900s. emerges.
One of the key developments that shaped the way Tanks: Offer fire and Maneuver capabilities
modern wars was gunpowder. In the late 900s, coupled with a shock element
armies became more formalized and with the
introduction of firepower artillery came into being, Non-lethal weapons: Have been really effective in
this was an invention that is being used by soldiers cutting down on casualties in complex situations
even today. like insurgency
UAV: Have ensured safety of the soldier while
amplifying surveillance capabilities
It can be observed that technology has created a
safety net for the operator.
TABLE I. TABLE TYPE STYLES microorganisms
Hypersonic propulsion
Future technologies and their assessed military
utility for 2012–2018. Non-line-of-sight imaging
Artificial intelligence for military
YEAR TECHNOLOGY(ASSESSED decision support Moderate
BY MILTARY)
Triboelectric nanogenerators
2012 Augmented reality
Nano air vehicles
Solid state laser weapons III. CASE STUDY
Metamaterial cloaking Technology used in the war in Ukraine:
Electromagnetic gun The implications of Vladmir Putin's order for
Small satellites Russian troops to invade Ukraine a year ago have
been dangerous.
Ultra-violet communication
Biomimetic unmanned underwater Western leaders and the Ukrainian armed forces
vehicles claim that 13,000 and 100,000 Russian and
Automated behaviour analysis
Ukrainian service members have lost their lives
thus far. Additionally, according to NBC News, the
Evolutionary robotics conflict has claimed the lives of over 7,000
2013 Alternative fuels civilians in Ukraine in the past year, including at
least 400 children
High altitude platforms
Unmanned aerial vehicles The war has been fought not only on the
battlefield but also in the realm of technologies,
Cyber defence
ranging from disinformation campaigns and
Temporal Analytics cyberattacks to the effects on the global tech
Walking machines economy.
2014 Kinodynamic motion planning
Significant
Technology has also been essential in helping
Bio-inspired adaptive camouflage Ukrainians who want to rebuild territory they have
surfaces Significant
reclaimed or connect with the outside world.
UCAV Significant
Many have dubbed this war the "first cyber
Bulk metallic glass Uncertain world war" of the twenty-first century due to the
2015 3D printers unprecedented speed and scope of the Internet's
Deep learning
impact and cyberattacks.
Nanothermites The illegal invasion, the cyber aspects of war,
and the resulting geopolitical tensions and effects
Unmanned Surface Vessels
have all been extensively covered in the media, but
Structural Health Monitoring TI breaks down ten essential technologies that were
2016 Multi robot systems employed in the most technologically advanced
conflict in human history here.
Over-the-horizon radar
Space-based imaging radar Cyberattacks:
Moving target defence Hours before the actual invasion began, Russia
launched a series of distributed denial of service
Software-defined networking
(DDoS) attacks and used a cyberweapon consisting
Transient materials Uncertain of trojan horse wiper malware, which Microsoft
2017 Nanocarbons for Photonic dubbed "FoxBlade," in an effort to disrupt internet
applications service and disable Ukraine's command and control
Internet of things (IoT) centers. As a testament to modern technology,
some of the first people to notice the attack were
Materials and technologies for employed in Redmond, Washington, half a world
protection against chemical agents
away, according to a Microsoft report. Regarding
Post-quantum cryptography defense, Ukraine has advanced rapidly "by
New applications for hyperspectral deploying its digital infrastructure into the public
image analysis for chemical and cloud, which is housed in data centers throughout
biological agents
Europe." Microsoft also disclosed that it had
2018 Rapid field identification of harmful discovered Russian attempts to breach 128
organizations across 42 nations outside of Ukraine.
A cyberattack also took down the modems of conflict started, and over eight million have fled the
satellite operator Viasat's KA-SAT network in country in search of safety. That amounts to 32% of
Europe at the same time that Russia began its the population of Ukraine.
invasion. In an effort to strengthen the resilience of
Artillery and missile systems:
its encryptions and systems, Ukraine has partnered
with numerous multinational tech companies, For Stanislav Prybytko's eleven-person team at
including Microsoft and Cloudflare. The National Ukraine's Digital Ministry's Mobile Broadband
Coordination Center for Computer Incidents Department, which was preparing to launch an
(NCCC), established by the Federal Security ambitious initiative to transition to 5G technology,
Service (FSB) in response to the Anonymous this was going to be a big year. Rather, they have
hacker group's swift declaration of cyberwar on the devoted the majority of their days to figuring out a
Russian government, rated the threat level as patchwork of simple solutions in an attempt to
"critical" due to reported outages on Ministry of establish a functional connection to some areas of
Defense resources, government, parliament, and the nation. Russia has shelled Ukrainian-held
portions of the Russia Today news agency's territory and targets throughout the conflict using a
website. variety of artillery and missile systems, such as
howitzers, ballistic missiles, and rocket launchers.
Social Media: According to Ukraine's Special Communications
With real-time updates and videos shared on Service, by October 2022, over 4,000 base stations,
multiple social media platforms, the conflict in 60,000 km of fiber-optic lines, and 18 broadcasting
Ukraine has evolved into the most internet- antennas had been taken, damaged, or destroyed.
accessible conflict in history. Ukraine has been able Electronic warfare:
to target particular groups of Russian soldiers by
using the location feature on social media. Electronic warfare (EW) systems, which
interfere with radar systems, communications, and
Satellites: other electronics, have been used extensively
Days after Russia's full-scale invasion, the first throughout the conflict. Before Russia invaded in
5,000 Starlink satellite terminals were launched. late February, Hawkeye 360 analysts had
Maintaining Internet connectivity has been previously picked up jamming signals across
essential for both assisting Ukraine's defensive Eastern Europe with commercial satellites that
coordination and enabling its citizens to remain were interfering with unmanned aerial vehicles
connected. At the time, Fedorov stated: "This is operating in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. In
really the first major war in which open-source late February, they detected GPS interference
information about troop movements, military build- signals near Ukraine's border with Belarus, north of
ups in neighboring countries, refugee flows, and Chernobyl. In order to maintain the security of the
more may play a significant role provided by communications infrastructure, the Ukrainian
commercially available satellite imagery." military has also employed EW systems to jam
Approximately 25,000 Starlink terminals have been GPS signals and Russian communications.
installed so far to support Ukraine's connectivity Drones:
and defense initiatives. Musk's SpaceX, however,
has cautioned that since its Starlink satellite Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being
communications service was never meant to be used by both sides of the conflict for surveillance
weaponized and to thwart any potential strikes on and reconnaissance, making this war the most
Russian soil, it may take action to stop its service technologically advanced ever. Additionally, the
from controlling drones, which are essential to Ukrainian military has employed drones to deliver
Kyiv's forces in fending off the Russian invasion. precision-guided ammunition to enemy positions.
Simple commercial drones with built-in high-
Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF): resolution cameras that connect to smartphones are
As the first non-governmental organization in the most common UAVs used by Ukraine. They
the world to concentrate on emergency response have been utilized by soldiers for intelligence
technologies, TSF has built rapid response gathering, reconnaissance, and surveillance, giving
communications centers for both domestic and them an advantage over the opposition.
foreign responders and entered multiple Additionally, the military has employed 3D printers
humanitarian crises over the past 25 years, enabling to affix tail fins to anti-tank grenades from the
affected individuals to get in touch with loved ones Soviet era that are dropped from these commercial
and start to reclaim their lives. TSF teams drones in the air.
responded to the conflict in Ukraine by traveling to VR & 3D holograms:
neighboring countries to aid refugees and by
entering Ukraine itself to support internally The Ukrainian military has trained soldiers in
displaced people by supplying emergency tactics and procedures by simulating combat
communication equipment. Six million people have scenarios through virtual reality (VR) training
been internally displaced in Ukraine since the systems in advance of the conflict. Before heading
to the front lines, soldiers can rehearse in a secure weapons. There are chances to be precise and
setting thanks to this kind of training. At seven effective, but there are also difficulties that call for
significant European tech events in June 2022, a reevaluation of military strategy and policy.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the prime minister of
Ukraine, appeared in a 3D holographic broadcast to
200,000 elite tech entrepreneurs, investors, and The moral, legal, and strategic aspects raised
corporate executives, utilizing ARHT Media's questions during this investigation. The lodestar
holographic technology. He issued a challenge to turns out to be responsible decision-making, which
tech executives to contribute money and helps those with technological prowess strike a
technology so that Ukraine could start to rebuild. careful balance between accountability and
He declared, "Ukraine is a chance for a global progress. One hope for controlling the rapidly
digital revolution; it's a chance for every advancing tides of war technology is the possibility
technology company and every visionary to of international cooperation and arms control
demonstrate the worth of their technologies, skills, agreements.
and abilities."
This research highlights the need for making well-
Artificial intelligence (AI): informed decisions while also adding to a more
nuanced understanding of the influence of
According to Palantir CEO Alex Karp, the
technological innovation on armed conflict by
successful use of AI by Ukraine to target Russian
teasing apart the strands of the past, present, and
forces has elevated the technology from primarily
future. The need for responsible stewardship is
an ethical dilemma to a major concern high on the
urgent as we stand at the nexus of evolving warfare
agenda of military and political leaders worldwide.
—a stark reminder that wisdom and progress go
He further stated that the deficiency of AI
hand in hand in this field that is always changing.
technologies in use has put Russian forces at a
"massive disadvantage" at the recent Responsible Acknowledgment
AI in the Military Domain (REAIM) event This research was done under the guidance of
organized by the Dutch government. The Anamika Dhawan ma’am, who are our mentors.
commercial AI-enabled voice transcription and
translation service offered by Ukrainian AI startup Thanks for all the support by the teachers and
Primer was modified to process intercepted Russian Thakur Institute of Management Studies, Career
communications and automatically highlight Development and Research.
information pertaining to Ukrainian forces. In order
References
to inform their relatives of their deaths and send
their bodies to them, Ukraine has also utilized
cutting-edge AI-based imaging and facial
recognition software from Clearview AI to identify
deceased Russian personnel through their social
media profiles.
.
IV. CONCLUSION
Through the detailed history of war technology,
this research sheds light on the profound
implications etched into the annals of history as
well as the mechanical gears that drive conflict.
The explosive invention of gunpowder and the
subdued effects of nuclear power echo historical
shifts in the ways that technology has affected
warfare and society.
As time goes on, unmanned aerial vehicles,
artificial intelligence, and cyberwarfare are
changing the face of warfare and transforming it
into a digital domain. The necessity of strategic
adaptation and information dominance mastery is
highlighted by the blurring lines that separate
conventional and unconventional warfare.
But danger and promise meld in a symphony as the
future beckons. The cutting edge of a new era
includes autonomous technologies, directed energy
systems, quantum computing, and hypersonic
