Weapons Technology

Unless this increase is significant, however, it can be masked by the inefficiencies of disseminating the agent. Consequently, later development has focused on the methods for delivering the agent efficiently to the target. 

The chemicals employed before World War II can be styled as the classic chemical weapons. They are relatively simple substances, mo.si of which were either common industrial chemicals or their derivatives. An example is phosgene, a choking agent 

Between the world wars the development of chemical weapons included adaptation to aircraft delivery (bombs) and exploitation of lewisite, since the more potent mustard was, from a battlefield perspective, slow in producing casualties. Independent experiments in several countries led them to consider/adopt mixtures of mustard and lewisite as fills for chemical munitions. 

The 1960 s saw continued development in nonleihal agents, or riot control agents, first used in World War I. Most notable is CS. These agents are strong irritants of the mucous membranes. The purpose of CS and similar materials is temporary incapacitation without permanent harm. 

Incapacitating agents. These were initially seen by some as a panacea to make warfare safe and humane. Thousands of potential compounds were screened, obtained from government sources in the United States and from commercial pharmaceutical companies around the world. Although there were several promising materials, primarily menial incapacitants, only BZ was ever standardized. 

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Airborne poisons in the nuclear weapons progam were not limited to radioactive materials released from weapons. The weapons technology involved the use of many exotic materials, some of which were toxic (e.g., beryllium). Hazardous releases of these materials occurred in industrial settings in urban areas and were studied by the Atomic Energy Commission as occupational and public health problems. 

Interest in polynitroarylenes has resumed over the past few decades as the demand for thermally stable explosives with a low sensitivity to impact has increased. This is mainly due to advances in military weapons technology but also for thermally demanding commercial applications i.e. oil well exploration, space programmes etc. Explosives like 1,3-diamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (DATB) (13), l,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB) (14), 3,3 -diamino-2,2, 4,4, 6,6 -hexanitrobiphenyl (DIPAM) (15), 2,2, 4,4, 6,6 -hexanitrostilbene(HNS, VOD 7120 m/s, = 1.70 g/cm ) (16) and A,A -bis(l,2,4-triazol-3-yl)-4,4 -diamino-2,2, 3,3, 5,5, 6,6 -octanitroazobenzene (BTDAONAB) (17) fall into this class. TATB is the benchmark for thermal and impact insensitive explosives and finds wide use for military, space and nuclear applications. 

W. Marina, Weapons, Technology and Legitimacy, in D. B. Kates, Firearms and Violence. Pacific Instimte for Public Policy Research, San Francisco, 1984, p. 429. 

Heiney, O.K. (1973) Advanced Gun Propellants, Weapons Technology, National Defence, vol. LVIII, American Defense Preparedness Association, pp. 152-157. 

Representing a recent development in advanced weapons technology, FAE weapons employ foliage discriminating fuzes that actuate on target contact and rupture thin-walled warheads to disperse highly volatile liq chemicals in aerosol... 

B. A. Bydal, Percussion Primer Mixes, Weapons Technology (November/ December 1971) 230. 

Petrov, V.G., and A.V. Trubachev. 2000. On certain problems of technical and ecological safety during chemical weapons destruction in the Udmurt Republic. Proceedings of Munster 2000, The 2nd International Symposium, Destruction of Chemical Weapons—Technologies and Practical Aspects, July 30-August 3, 2000. Munster, Germany Munster Expo 2000 Committee. 

Symposium, Destruction of Chemical Weapons—Technologies and Practical Aspects, July 30-August 3. Munster, Germany Munster Expo 2000 Committee. 

The main advantage of a heavy water reactor is that it eliminates the need for building expensive uranium enrichment facilities. However, D2O must be prepared by either fractional distillation or electrolysis of ordinary water, which can be very expensive considering the amount of water used in a nuclear reactor. In countries where hydroelectric power is abundant, the cost of producing D2O by electrolysis can be reasonably low. At present, Canada is the only nation successfully using heavy water nuclear reactors. The fact that no enriched uranium is required in a heavy water reactor allows a country to enjoy the benefits of nuclear power without undertaking work that is closely associated with weapons technology. 

On 23 February 1993, following the Persian Gulf War and the breakup of the Soviet Union, a panel of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services submitted a special report,2 Special Inquiry of the House Armed Services Committee Into the Chemical and Biological Weapons Threat. This report concluded that despite the decrease in absolute quantities of chemical weapons, the potential diversity and the frequency with which such weapons could be encountered were increasing. The threat had shifted to Third World scenarios, with deployed U.S. military forces facing new threats from chemical and biological weapons. Technological advances have increased the diversity of poten-... 

Certainly." Parker didn t like to think what lone Saldana would say about that. Her one principal limitation on the project was the right to embargo weapons technology. 

The rules of the Paris Declaration (1856) and the London Declaration (1909) on naval blockades have more or less survived, although the modem weapons technology has made the establishment and enforcement of a close blockade virtually impossible. Military manuals and contemporary State practice provide ample proof of the continuing validity of the traditional mles. ... 

Weapons Technology, The Importance of Pyrotechnics in Modern Weaponry, American Ordnance Association, Wash., D. C., Technical Division Report, November, 1960. 

J. Brin, Ending the Scourge of Chemical Weapons, Technology Review, vol.93 (April 1993), pp.33-40. 

KING, J., The Threat of Biological Weapons , Technology Review, vol.85, May/June 1982. 

The biological environment may be disrupted in many ways as a result of weapons technologies. Nuclear weapons production, testing, use, and disposal may release ionizing radiation shells hardened with depleted uranium also release ionizing radiation. Conventional and chemical weapons may release toxic substances... 

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