-22—
\
Apart from the possible irrelevancy for the future of this observation—
against which the phrase "at least up to this time" provides only formal protection—the fact is that it is not historically accurate.
A casual reading of
the history of military technology does, to be sure, encourage such a doctrine.
The naval shell gun of 1837, for example, was eventually met with iron armor, and
the iron armor in turn provoked the development of the "bujite-up" geun with
greater penetrating power; the submarine was countered with the hydrophone and
supersonic detector and with depth charges of various types; the bombing airplane
accounted for the development of the specialized fighter aircraft, the highly
perfected antiaircraft gun, and numerous ancillary devices.
So it hasalways
been, and the tendency is to argue that so it always will be.
|
In so far as this doctrine becomes dogma and is applied to the atomic bomb,
it becomes the most dangerous kind of sens
ER have already seen that the
defense against the V-1 was only rélativel eifectiye ; and something approaching
much closer to perfect effectiveness would Deaton: necessary for V-1 missiles
carrying atomic bombs.
As a matter of fact, the defense against the V~2 rocket ?
were of practically zero effectiveness, and those who know most about it admit |
that thus far there has been no noteworthy progress against the v-2./
These, to be sure, were new weapons.
weapons?
But what is the story of the older
After five centuries of the use of hand arms with fire-provelled
missiles, the large numbers of men killed by comparable arms in the recent war
4
indicates that no adequate answer has yet been found for the bullet. 8 {or
ordinary
TNT, whether in shell, bomb, or torpedo, can be "countered" to a degree by the
e
dispersion of targets or by various kinds of armor, but the enormous destruction
wrought by this and comparable explosives on land, sea, and in the air in World
~~
i
7. See Ivan A. Getting, "Facts About Defense," Nation, Special Supplement, Dec.
22, 19145, p. 70h.
Professor Getting played k
a eypart in radar development
j
for antiaircraft work and was especially active in measures taken to defend
London against V-1 and V-2.
8, The new glass-fiber body armor, "Doron," will no doubt prove useful but is
not expected to be of more than marginal effectiveness.
7