Page 85 - All About History - Issue 18-14

Today,Earth’smostadvancedmachineofwaris TheF-35,fittedwithitsarrayofsixexternal andMk.20RockeyeIIclusterbomb.Justincase
theF-35LightningII,amulti-rolejetfighterthat wing pylons and brace of four internal pylons, thatarsenalisn’tquiteenough,theF-35canalso
costsover£185million($300million)tobuyand grantstheaircraftacombinedweaponspayload bestrappedwiththeworld-endingB61mod12
operate.Themachineisthecombinedresultof of 8,100 kilograms (18,000 pounds. This allows nuclear bomb, which can deliver a variable yield
over70yearsofadvancementinthejet-fighter it to carry a range of air-to-air missiles such the of up to 340 kilotons. This is currently the most
field. From the day the Messerschmitt Me 262A AIM-120AMRAAMandAIM-9XSidewinder,air- complexmachineofwarontheplanet,butit
took to the skies in 1942, the jet-fighter class of to-surfacemissilessuchastheAGM-158JASSM surely won’t be long until it is superseded by new
aircrafthasbecometheworld’smosthigh-tech aswellasanti-shipmissiles.Awidevarietyof inventions such as drones, which don’t even need
killer,allowingitspilottoobliterateenemieswith conventional bombs can be carried and released, to be piloted, but are controlled from thousands of
a range of advanced smart munitions. such as the Paveway series of laser-guided bombs miles away.

TheGlosterMeteorwasthe
first British fighter jet

21ST-CENTURY
KILL

KILL EFFICIENCY:
COLLATERAL DAMAGE:
SHOCK FACTOR:
ENGINEERING GENIUS: Fighter jets are a prime
example of the rapid
advancement of war machines

THREEMENOFWAR

Richard Jordan Gatling Mikhail Kalashnikov Reginald Mitchell
1818-1903 1919-2013 1895-1937
Gatling gun AK-47 assault rifle Supermarine Spitfire
American inventor Richard Thedesignerofthemostwidely Acelebratedaeronautical
Gatling became famous during his used assault rifle of all time, engineer, Mitchell was
lifetime for his invention of the Kalashnikov was one of Russia’s responsible for designing the
Gatlinggun,amachineofwarthathesaidwould most decorated men, receiving the Stalin Prize, Type 300, an all-metal monoplane that would
“enableonemantodoasmuchbattledutyasa Lenin Prize, USSR State Prize and Hero of Socialist be transformed into the iconic Spitfire. Mitchell’s
hundred [and] supersede the necessity of large Labour Prize for his invention of the AK-47. Despite machine of war proved to be incredibly adept
armies.” The Gatling gun certainly didn’t reduce the Kalashnikov’sbeliefthathisriflewasdesignedas“a at killing and over 22,000 Spitfires were built.
size of armies, or cease warfare, but it did lead the weapon of defence, not a weapon of offense”, the SpeakingofthenametheRAFchoseforhisfighter,
worldintothemachine-gunage,withaseriesofhis AK-47 has been used in most warfare over the past Mitchell reportedly stated that, “Spitfire was just
and rivals’ automatic cannons swiftly following suit. 60 years, with over 70 million rifles in circulation. thesortofbloodysillynametheywouldchoose.”