11/07/06
Catapults to RPGs & Dirty Bombs
Before gunpowder, man had to use catapults and human powered battering rams to try to breach castle and city walls from close range where archers could defend the walls. Today we have RPGs, biological weapons and dirty bombs.
From The University of Victoria:
- Cannon take over
- The tide of war turned against the English largely due to Charles VII's creation of the first standing army in Western Europe since Roman times, and his effective use of siege cannons to reduce English strongholds. The introduction of gunpowder revolutionized warfare. Crude siege artillery, used as early as 1326, developed by the mid-15th century into massive cannons able to hurl stones weighing 350 kilograms. Such cannons were instrumental in the Muslim conquest of Constantinople (1453), the mightiest citadel of Western Christendom in the Middle Ages. The fall of Constantinople was such a shock to the Christian world that it is often used as a reference point marking the end of the Middle Ages.
Using gunpowder, cannons and rifles used the black powder to launch a projectile towards its target. Cannons could take down walls at a distance safe from archers just as bows and arrows were impotent against rifles.
From cannons and rifles, warfare evolved to self-propelled rockets that could deliver an explosive right to the target. Today rocket propelled grenades, aka RPGs, allow a solitary user to take out tanks, helicopters and even planes.
Technology to Protect Civilian Targets
I windsurf near the San Francisco International and Palo Alto regional airports. Even before the 9/11/01 terrorist attack on the US, I was worried about how vulnerable commercial aircraft are to attacks from the ground. I grew up in Daly City, California directly below the flight path of commercial airliners flying over the small mountain we lived on. As kids playing "combat" we'd often shoot our pretend machine guns at the commercial jets since they were barely a stones throw away as they roared over us.
One of my biggest fears for the direction of warfare is the direction terrorists have taken in attacking civilian targets. Terrorists hit civilian targets to cause fear and to demoralize the people they hate. Stopping terrorists is creating a completely new industry. As investors, we might find great opportunity investing in these new technology companies. I'd like to use the attached Technology of Warfare Discussion Forum to track this new technology.
More Information
Come join us in our Technology of Warfare Discussion Forum to discuss anything and everything to do with the technology of war.
Free Charts and Other Stuff
Since beating the market is hard for most to do, I recommend a "Core and Explore" approach to investing. Core means place 80 to 99% of your money into a CORE, buy-and-hold, no load, mutual fund portfolio and then EXPLORE with the remainder. To build your core portfolio, I suggest a diversified basket of index funds.
I welcome suggestions for future articles at Kirk's Market Thoughts.
Kirk Lindstrom:
DISCLAIMER: Answers & my words are general in nature, are not meant as specific investment advice, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of anyone but Kirk. Individuals should consult with their own advisors for specific investment advice.
