Re: Playboy needs our help!

"James A. Wolf" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> In another NG, someone's started a thread about a top 50 list
> in the 50th Anniversary issue of Playboy.  It's the top 50 inventions
> that changed the world in the time that Playboy existed.
> Interestingly enough, the only military device is #4, the AK 47 (which
> was invented before the fist centerfold, but became well known during
> the 60s.)
> So I got to thinking about better military selections.  So far
> I came up with...
>
> Strela man portable SAM (Or Redeye, which came first)
> Sagger man portable ATGM (Or TOWs and Dragons which came first)
> RPG-7
> Bell UH-1
> Bell AH-1
>
> So, can we think of any naval systems?  How about when
> precision guided munitions first came about?  I eagerly await your
> response!

For world changing weapons, I'd say the number one choice would have to be
one that has never been used - the ICBM (if you want to specific system, the
credit should go to the Atlas probably - the first effective ICBM system).

The ability to deliver annhilation almost anywhere in less than an hour,
with no practical means of defense permanently changed the geopolitical
scene in profound ways that not even the advent of the atomic or hydrogen
bomb did, by themselves.

For weapons actually used - the laser guided bomb, the first truly effective
PGM. The successful attack on the Ham Rung, or Dragon's Jaw, Bridge in Than
Hoa, North Vietnam on  May 13, 1972 with laser guided bombs is a landmark
event.

(The selection of the AK-47 clearly indicates that "first of a kind" does
not count for this list, it is the actual success of the device for its
intended use.)

[Speaking of the hydrogen bombs, the first weapon entered service in
December 1953, and the first deliverable design were tested in the spring of
1954, within the time period of the Playboy list.]

Carey Sublette