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Top 10 Best Wartime Technology

Wednesday, February 12, 2014 19:21

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Unfounded, destructive and causing irreversible damage, these top ten war machines have changed the course of history time and time again. Today we live in a nuclear age where even a small mistake can result in the downfall of a beautiful world. Here’s the list of top ten war machines of all times.

Rich Top 10

10. Greek Torsion Ballista

The ancient Greek Ballista first appears in historic literature in the 4th century b.c. and made very creative use of the newly invented Torsion Spring. The design of the ballista was such that it could be built in small to large sizes and could be configured to throw either stones or bolts.

Eventually becoming primarily a bolt thrower, the ballista was used by attackers and defenders alike as an effective anti-personnel weapon. For defenders, the positioning of ballistas (ballistae) upon the walls of a fortification would afford additional range to the weapon, and some versions were built on a pivoting frame to allow for quickly repositioning a shot. For attackers, another version of the ballista was wagon mounted, the carro-ballista, allowing it great mobility in the field. The ballista could also be a powerful delivery system for the launching of flaming bolts over distant walls.

9. Ottoman Heavy Cannon

The Heavy Cannon is a long ranged artillery piece that can do a lot of damage to its target. It is slow like other cannons and vulnerable once units can get close enough to attack it. The Heavy Cannon is only available from the Factory or the Home City. It can not be conventionally trained like other military.

When Ottoman Empire saw the power and worth of gunpowder, they decided to make use of it as warfare solution. They could not penetrate the walls of Constantinople until 1453 but afterwards brought around 60 huge cannons and continued to fire at the walls for fourty days. When finally the Constantinople fell, the world was never the same again. Thus, these cannons resulted into the fall of an empire and its walls which stood strong for so many decades.

8. R-7 Semyorka ICBM

The world’s first intercontinental ballistic missile, developed during the Cold War by the Soviet Union. This ultimate war machine was widely called “semyorka”, which in Russian means the digit ‘7’ or a ‘group of seven’. First deployed in 1959, the costs of this missile system were huge, due to the large launch sites required in remote areas. These mammoth missiles were built for the kill, but had their own disadvantages. It took over 24 hours to prepare these missiles for launch, and they cannot be left on alert for more than a day due to cryogenic fuel system. Nonetheless, R-7 played a significant role in giving Soviet military a boost during the cold war era.

7. Jet Engine

Ironically, the British scientist Sir Frank Whittle finalized the functioning prototype for jet engines long before the Germans, but the government showed limited interest in the invention and awarded him very low funds. This is the reason why the German army that poured massive funding and manpower into the development of this technology was able to reap the benefits sooner. The Messerschmitt ME 262 (fighter jet) and the Arado Ar 234 (bomber) were among the most feared weapons of the Axis, particularly the former one which was allegedly able to gun down 5 allied planes on average before being destroyed. The principle behind the original jet engines is still used for commercial flights nowadays.

6. Luke’s Binoculars

Officially, this technology was named the Cognitive Technology Threat Detection System, but even DARPA (the guys making it) have been referring to it as Luke’s Binoculars. It’s still in development, so right now the system doesn’t look anything like binoculars. It’s actually just a high-megapixel camera mounted on a tripod, allowing people to see UV and regular light up to 10 kilometers (6.8 mi) away, provided there’s nothing blocking the view.