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(dramatic music)
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The ancient Chinese military strategist
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Sun Tzu wrote that all warfare is based on deception.
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And, on the modern battlefield, deception means stealth.
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In the 21st century, being unseen to the enemy
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has become a dominant focus of military technology.
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From deadly snipers
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to aircraft that are invisible
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to the most sensitive tracking systems.
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From surface ships that seem to vanish,
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to the ever increasing sophistication
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of the silent killers beneath the waves.
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The quest to be unseen continues to change
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the way we engage in battle.
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This is the story of stealth.
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(dramatic music)
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The role that aircraft play in battle
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has changed dramatically since the First World War.
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No longer simply airborne observation platforms,
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today's aircraft are a vital part
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of a mobile attacking force.
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And to be as effective as possible, it helps to be stealthy.
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In the past, stealth meant a healthy dose of speed
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combined with high altitude and a fancy paint job.
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But that fanatical drive to go faster and higher
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has given way to a more potent ambition,
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the ability to operate without forewarning,
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to seem to be invisible.
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A fifth generation fighter and perhaps the most capable
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air superiority weapon in the world,
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the F-22 Raptor is the product
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of 60 years of active stealth research.
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Designed as a successor to the F-15,
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arguably the most capable fighter of its generation,
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the Raptor was created to meet the threat
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from the Russian built Su-35.
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Giving the U.S. Air Force an air dominance fighter
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that was lethal,
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fast, but, more importantly, almost impossible to detect.
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It's principle differences to the F-15,
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were in two aspects,
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the first of those aspects was in observability and stealth.
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Unlike the F-15,
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which had been optimized for its aerodynamic performance,
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the F-22, from the outset, was optimized
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so that it could not be seen by the adversary.
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So how do you make an aircraft invisible?
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You limit what's called it's radar cross-section.
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As radar works on the principle of reflected radio waves,
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to not be seen requires a surface
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that refracts radar signals
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so that they don't bounce back to the source.
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To help achieve this, the F-22's outer shape is very clean,
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great care has been taken to align
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all hard edges on the wing, tail and engine inlet
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so that the radar return from any given point
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is aimed in a number of limited directions.
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This results in a few relatively large,
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but narrow radar spikes that are difficult to detect
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and, if detected, almost impossible to track.
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Improvements in the design of radar absorbing materials,
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or RAM, contribute to weight savings,
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making the F-22, while similar in size to the F-15,
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over a ton lighter.
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As aircraft speed increases,
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the infrared signature also increases due to
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the friction caused by air moving over the outer surface.
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And so an infrared topcoat is used on the F-22
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to ensure that the radar
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and infrared signatures are balanced.
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Employing the latest turbofan engines,
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the F-22 cruises at unprecedented speeds
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without engaging afterburners,
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a prime source of heat and noise.
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And to further reduce the heat signature of the engines,
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the plane employees engine vectoring.
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The integration of which, combined the ability to reduce
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the infrared signature of the exhaust of those engines,
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with the ability to vector that exhaust
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to increase the maneuverability of the aircraft at speed.
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In fact, to the point of which the aircraft
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had departed the normal flight envelope.
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The result?
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The F-22 has a top speed of 2,300 kilometers per hour.
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While the Raptor may be one of the most
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technologically advanced machines on the planet,
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like much of the machinery of war,
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it's design stems from the need to overcome
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the strategic importance of another invention.
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For the F-22, that invention is radar.
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(dramatic music)
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In 1935, Hitler announced that he was breaking
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the First World War Armistice agreement
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and was rearming Germany.
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Since the war, the rapid increase in airstrike capability,
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most notably the emergence of long range bombers,
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was viewed as a dire threat.
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And so a race began to find a technology
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that was able to counter it.
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In the early 1930s, the British physicist,
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Robert Watson-Watt was working on devices
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for tracking thunderstorms.
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He had developed a system
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of plotting their locations using oscilloscopes.
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So when, in 1935, Watt suggested that he could use
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similar principles to track aircraft,
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the British government jumped at it.
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Radar uses the same sort of approach
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that a bat uses to navigate in the dark.
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If you can send out some form of energy in waves,
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then some of those waves will bounce off
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and some of them will be reflected directly back to you.
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And so if you can set up a system of emission
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and receivers that can detect those bounced radar waves,
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then you can pinpoint objects that
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you perhaps would not normally see visually.
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Within weeks of Watts' claim,
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a test was conducted employing a BBC radio tower
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as the signal transmitter.
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Using an oscilloscope, changes in voltage
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bouncing back from a test aircraft
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emerged as a blip on a screen.
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And when the time delay of the signal
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was plotted against a calibrated scale,
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it pinpointed the aircraft's location.
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They had successfully tested radar.
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But the range at which the aircraft was detected was short
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due to the lack of transmission power
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and the relatively low signal frequency.
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Watt and his team decided that, to be effective,
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the system had to emit waves at a very high frequency.
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By pushing the capacities of existing technologies,
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they continuously upped the range until, by 1938,
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a working system of stations that could detect aircraft
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at 160 kilometers was built along the English east coast.
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The British successfully developed radar assets
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along the coast of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
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guarding against the bomber fleets
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that the Luftwaffe were sending out
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during the Battle of Britain.
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Not that the whole process was automatic,
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far from it.
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In our admiration for radar,
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don't let's forget the men and women
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in the plotting center, for instance.
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At the outbreak of hostilities,
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Chain Home, as it was called, consisted of just 21 stations.
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By war's end, there were over 100,
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all capable of detecting a target threat
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at distances of over 250 kilometers.
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It was the world's first early warning radar network
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to achieve operation.
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Radar picks up all planes,
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but it enables you to distinguish enemy aircraft
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by the constant unvarying pattern.
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Allied planes are equipped with apparatus
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that varies the oscillation.
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In 1939, the British invented another device,
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the cavity magnetron oscillator,
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and its compactness was a game changer.
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So subsequent to the Second World War,
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advances in electronics allowed radar hardware
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to be reduced in size and volume enough
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to actually put them onto air craft.
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And so, to this day, we continue to see
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radars located in the noses of combat air craft.
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Radar rapidly became an all purpose device,
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one plane could spot every ship in an enemy fleet or convoy.
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The magic eye misses nothing.
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Over 12,000 German bombers
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were intercepted and destroyed during World War II.
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Many of them with payloads that, had they been delivered,
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would have decimated Britain and her allies.
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Radar prevented that.
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And, relatively unchanged,
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it has influenced every conflict since.
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There's no such thing as dog fighting nowadays.
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You don't go Battle of Britain stuff anymore.
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Fighters don't see each other.
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Their radars see each other but they don't.
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Changing the very meaning of stealth,
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radar remains, to this day,
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one of the most powerful machines of war.
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After two world wars, the world slipped into a period
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of espionage, secrecy and intrigue.
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A war in which stealth was the byword.
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It was the Cold War.
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The Cold War was a race between
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two nuclear armed super powers
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to secure political and ideological dominance.
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And it fueled a race for technological supremacy.
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But who was in the lead?
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Who had made the latest breakthrough?
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Out of this anxiety came the fastest
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non-rocket propelled aircraft ever built,
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the Sr-71 Blackbird.
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When the Cold War started,
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the U-2s were flying all over the world.
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During one of the missions, Francis Gary Powers,
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one of the U-2 pilots, was shot down.
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Three surface to air missiles fired at him.
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One of them came close and blew the aircraft up
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and blew him out of it.
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And so he ended up ejecting.
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Powers' capture
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was a huge embarrassment for the United States.
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President Dwight D Eisenhower reacted swiftly.
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He went straight to the top secret Skunk Works division
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of Lockheed Martin and placed an order.
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He wanted a reconnaissance aircraft that could fly higher
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than a U-2, fly faster than a missile
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and he wanted it tomorrow.
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It seemed impossible.
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Building an aircraft that was going to fly faster
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and higher than the U-2 had never
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even been contemplated before.
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No air craft had ever flown that high,
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no aircraft had ever flown faster than a missile.
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And they were given, finally,
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20 months to build such an aircraft.
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20 months to create an aircraft
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that could outrun a missile meant building an airplane
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that could travel at over 4,200 kilometers per hour
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at altitudes beyond human tolerances.
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Immediately, the designers knew
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it couldn't be built from traditional metals,
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it needed to be fashioned from titanium.
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But America had limited supplies of rutile,
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the rare, sandy soil from which titanium is extracted.
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The world's largest producer, ironically, was Russia.
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Which caused a bit of a problem
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because the Russians weren't really excited
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about providing titanium to the United States.
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So what they did was go to offsite companies,
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off shore companies,
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and they went and bought the titanium from Russia.
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Initial trials found that the heat generated
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meant the entire aircraft expanded at speed.
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The expansion would have caused a smooth skin
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to split or curl.
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So they decided that they would have to build the airplane
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with the ability to actually grow in flight.
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And so the aircraft was built to actually grow
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15 inches in flight, from takeoff.
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Then there was the question of altitude.
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The Blackbird was designed to reach altitudes
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into the stratosphere.
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But at 24,500 meters, nitrogen in the blood
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would make the skin boil.
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To combat this pilots, had to breathe pure oxygen
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for an hour prior to a flight
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to expel nitrogen from their blood.
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While the SR-71 was designed to rely largely
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on altitude and speed to avoid detection,
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it did have significant stealth capability.
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The underside of the fuselage
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was drawn out like a small boat,
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which limited radar cross-section.
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Special radar absorbing alloys were incorporated
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in saw tooth sections on the aircraft skin
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and the wings and tail fins were tilted inwards,
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reducing direct radar reflection.
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We did have defensive systems, but again,
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our defensive system primarily was speed.
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Faster you go and the higher you go.
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That was how we got away from things.
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The first operational Blackbird flight
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00:14:42,970 --> 00:14:44,823
was in December, 1964.
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When it flew, it became, and it remains,
270
00:14:49,070 --> 00:14:52,370
the fastest jet powered aircraft ever made.
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With the capability of achieving a staggering top speed
272
00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:59,003
of over 3,500 kilometers per hour.
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It's top speed's well over Mach 3.2.
274
00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:06,640
The SR's the only manned airplane that's ever done that.
275
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But Mach 3 was a different world.
276
00:15:09,930 --> 00:15:12,850
You can't imagine how quick you can get lost
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at that speed if something fails.
278
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You can get really lost, really quick.
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32 were built, none were shot down.
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It was only because of the development
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of satellite surveillance technology
282
00:15:30,250 --> 00:15:33,220
and high operational costs that the SR-71
283
00:15:34,100 --> 00:15:37,360
was eventually retired in 1998.
284
00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:39,220
It was a cost issue.
285
00:15:39,220 --> 00:15:41,940
Flying the SR-71 was not cheap.
286
00:15:41,940 --> 00:15:42,950
You know, every estimate
287
00:15:42,950 --> 00:15:45,230
I've ever heard was a million dollars a flight,
288
00:15:45,230 --> 00:15:47,830
whether or not it really was I don't know.
289
00:15:47,830 --> 00:15:49,130
But that's a lot of money.
290
00:15:50,170 --> 00:15:52,050
But the lessons learned from its design
291
00:15:52,050 --> 00:15:53,930
proved invaluable in developing
292
00:15:53,930 --> 00:15:56,083
the next generation of stealth aircraft.
293
00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:01,553
And that aircraft was the F-117 Nighthawk.
294
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It looks like it shouldn't fly.
295
00:16:08,220 --> 00:16:11,700
And it deserves its nickname, the Wobbling Goblin.
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But, though it may be ugly,
297
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the F-117 is another cutting-edge design by two names
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00:16:17,270 --> 00:16:19,870
that recur in relation to stealth aircraft:
299
00:16:19,870 --> 00:16:22,403
Skunk Works and Kelly Johnson.
300
00:16:23,990 --> 00:16:26,980
Johnson led the design of the SR-71.
301
00:16:26,980 --> 00:16:29,840
And the Nighthawk was one of his last projects.
302
00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:32,540
Born after combat experience in Vietnam,
303
00:16:32,540 --> 00:16:35,680
where increasingly sophisticated surface to air missiles
304
00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:38,640
repeatedly downed U.S. heavy bombers.
305
00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:40,600
I mean in Vietnam, I think the tally
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00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:43,753
was up to over 800 missiles fired at the SR.
307
00:16:45,350 --> 00:16:47,580
The most striking thing about the Nighthawk
308
00:16:47,580 --> 00:16:49,230
is it's faceted design,
309
00:16:49,230 --> 00:16:51,140
which incorporates the most sophisticated
310
00:16:51,140 --> 00:16:52,713
stealth thinking of its time.
311
00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:57,310
This meant that, despite it being the same size as an F-15,
312
00:16:57,310 --> 00:17:00,493
it appears on radar screens the size of an average bird.
313
00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:04,700
One of the main reflectors of radar
314
00:17:04,700 --> 00:17:06,320
is actually the fan face.
315
00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:08,500
And so modern self designed to try and hide
316
00:17:08,500 --> 00:17:10,633
that fan face from direct view.
317
00:17:11,570 --> 00:17:14,293
The F-117 did this in an interesting way.
318
00:17:19,210 --> 00:17:20,730
The designers at Skunk Works
319
00:17:20,730 --> 00:17:22,933
set the engines deep within the airframe.
320
00:17:23,810 --> 00:17:26,250
The inlet screened with rotatable louvers
321
00:17:26,250 --> 00:17:28,023
to deflect any radar signal.
322
00:17:29,750 --> 00:17:33,030
The Skunk Works team also added noise minimization
323
00:17:33,030 --> 00:17:35,930
to counter the whine that jet engines produce,
324
00:17:35,930 --> 00:17:38,313
making the Nighthawk unnervingly quiet.
325
00:17:40,630 --> 00:17:43,970
The F-117 Nighthawk was the first production,
326
00:17:43,970 --> 00:17:46,410
truly stealth design that had been optimized
327
00:17:46,410 --> 00:17:49,880
from the beginning for reduced observability.
328
00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:52,290
Principally again in radar cross-section,
329
00:17:52,290 --> 00:17:53,913
but also in infrared signature.
330
00:17:55,700 --> 00:17:58,700
The result is an aircraft that is quiet,
331
00:17:58,700 --> 00:18:02,033
all but invisible and extremely lethal.
332
00:18:03,650 --> 00:18:07,730
During the early morning hours of January 17th, 1991,
333
00:18:07,730 --> 00:18:10,603
in response to Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait,
334
00:18:11,610 --> 00:18:14,150
a fleet of Nighthawks slipped over Baghdad
335
00:18:14,150 --> 00:18:18,683
unseen by Iraqi radar and neutralized 37 targets.
336
00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:22,190
Over the ensuing weeks,
337
00:18:22,190 --> 00:18:24,363
they would strike with remarkable accuracy.
338
00:18:25,860 --> 00:18:27,090
Less than three percent of
339
00:18:27,090 --> 00:18:29,810
the American aircraft in Iraq were Nighthawks.
340
00:18:29,810 --> 00:18:34,530
Yet they accounted for 40% of all strategic targets hit.
341
00:18:34,530 --> 00:18:38,733
And of the 64 made, only one was ever lost in combat.
342
00:18:40,700 --> 00:18:44,870
But while the F-117 was deadly, it carried a limited payload
343
00:18:44,870 --> 00:18:48,963
of just two laser guided bombs of up to 900 kilograms each.
344
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:53,430
The next challenge for aircraft designers
345
00:18:53,430 --> 00:18:55,980
was to create a strategic weapons platform
346
00:18:55,980 --> 00:18:59,063
that combined stealth with massive firepower.
347
00:19:01,420 --> 00:19:03,960
An assessment published by the U.S. Air Force
348
00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:06,050
concluded that two of these aircraft,
349
00:19:06,050 --> 00:19:07,960
armed with precision weaponry,
350
00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:11,570
could do the job of 75 conventional aircraft.
351
00:19:11,570 --> 00:19:13,460
It's the B-2 Spirit,
352
00:19:13,460 --> 00:19:16,083
the latest generation of stealth aircraft.
353
00:19:18,610 --> 00:19:23,060
With a wingspan of 52 meters, the B-2 is big.
354
00:19:23,060 --> 00:19:26,030
And yet, when a former head of the U.S. Air Force
355
00:19:26,030 --> 00:19:28,740
was asked the size of its radar signature,
356
00:19:28,740 --> 00:19:31,647
he described it as, "Insect category."
357
00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:34,670
Conceived during the Cold War
358
00:19:34,670 --> 00:19:37,480
to infiltrate the Soviet air defense network
359
00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:40,370
and attack targets with nuclear weapons,
360
00:19:40,370 --> 00:19:45,370
the B-2 Spirit is a high lift, low drag flying wing design.
361
00:19:47,779 --> 00:19:50,112
(exploding)
362
00:19:53,846 --> 00:19:55,690
(dramatic music)
363
00:19:55,690 --> 00:19:58,130
Engineers have long known that flying wings
364
00:19:58,130 --> 00:19:59,793
have minimal radar signature.
365
00:20:01,270 --> 00:20:03,760
They surmised that, properly shaped and constructed
366
00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:06,130
using advanced composite materials,
367
00:20:06,130 --> 00:20:09,170
they could create the ultimate penetration bomber,
368
00:20:09,170 --> 00:20:10,723
undetectable by radar.
369
00:20:11,950 --> 00:20:15,420
So almost 80% of the B-2 is constructed
370
00:20:15,420 --> 00:20:17,973
out of a woven carbon graphite composite.
371
00:20:19,090 --> 00:20:21,320
With the aid of modern supercomputers,
372
00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:24,770
the outer skin was shaped to deflect radar energy in a way
373
00:20:24,770 --> 00:20:26,920
that is far more subtle than the Nighthawk.
374
00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:31,750
And a new alternate high frequency radar absorbent coating
375
00:20:31,750 --> 00:20:33,363
is applied to each B-2.
376
00:20:34,980 --> 00:20:38,230
It's four turbofan engines are internally mounted
377
00:20:38,230 --> 00:20:40,620
and have an exhaust temperature control system
378
00:20:40,620 --> 00:20:42,363
to minimize thermal signature.
379
00:20:43,250 --> 00:20:46,160
And its weapons capability is up to a devastating
380
00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:49,660
18,000 kilograms in a single payload.
381
00:20:49,660 --> 00:20:52,670
That can include a mix of weapons, allowing it to engage
382
00:20:52,670 --> 00:20:55,143
up to four different target types on any mission.
383
00:20:56,170 --> 00:20:58,770
It can also carry air to surface missiles
384
00:20:58,770 --> 00:21:01,393
with ranges up to 370 kilometers,
385
00:21:02,230 --> 00:21:04,050
allowing it to stand off and attack
386
00:21:04,050 --> 00:21:05,913
from well outside a conflict zone.
387
00:21:07,190 --> 00:21:08,610
Capable of attack missions
388
00:21:08,610 --> 00:21:11,240
from altitude's above 15,000 meters,
389
00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:15,020
with a range of more than 11,000 kilometers unrefueled,
390
00:21:15,020 --> 00:21:19,220
at over 18,000 kilometers with a single refueling,
391
00:21:19,220 --> 00:21:22,670
the Spirit has the ability to fly to any point on the globe
392
00:21:22,670 --> 00:21:25,583
and engage a target without ever being seen.
393
00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:33,620
While stealth technology is essential
394
00:21:33,620 --> 00:21:35,093
to modern aerial combat,
395
00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:39,353
on the ground, different tactics are needed.
396
00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:43,900
During covert operations,
397
00:21:43,900 --> 00:21:46,130
to take out a target from a distance
398
00:21:46,130 --> 00:21:49,503
requires a weapon that is both silent and deadly.
399
00:21:52,010 --> 00:21:54,150
Up until the end of the 19th century,
400
00:21:54,150 --> 00:21:57,480
armies marched into battle with soldiers in orderly lines,
401
00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:01,330
wearing brightly clad uniforms to aid identification.
402
00:22:01,330 --> 00:22:03,410
But when a small Boer force,
403
00:22:03,410 --> 00:22:05,380
either concealed in the landscape
404
00:22:05,380 --> 00:22:08,530
or using skirmishing techniques, very nearly defeated
405
00:22:08,530 --> 00:22:11,430
the mighty British empire in South Africa,
406
00:22:11,430 --> 00:22:13,363
it ushered in a new way of fighting.
407
00:22:14,700 --> 00:22:16,750
We know it as guerrilla warfare,
408
00:22:16,750 --> 00:22:19,573
a tactic that values stealth over strength.
409
00:22:23,430 --> 00:22:27,100
In 1898, at the Battle of San Juan Hill in Cuba,
410
00:22:27,100 --> 00:22:30,170
750 Spanish regulars delayed the advance
411
00:22:30,170 --> 00:22:32,143
of 15,000 U.S. troops.
412
00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:37,260
The Americans were armed with single-shot rifles,
413
00:22:37,260 --> 00:22:40,390
the Spanish were using the same rifle as the Boer
414
00:22:40,390 --> 00:22:43,253
in South Africa, the Mauser 93.
415
00:22:45,170 --> 00:22:49,220
The first major war that the U.S. army had fought
416
00:22:49,220 --> 00:22:50,807
since the American Civil War
417
00:22:50,807 --> 00:22:53,463
was the Spanish-American war of 1898.
418
00:22:54,710 --> 00:22:58,570
In that campaign, the Americans realized
419
00:22:58,570 --> 00:23:02,810
that their existing rifle was obsolete
420
00:23:02,810 --> 00:23:05,460
and they needed to come up with a new design.
421
00:23:05,460 --> 00:23:08,110
The Americans paid $200,000
422
00:23:08,110 --> 00:23:10,360
to license the design from Mouser
423
00:23:10,360 --> 00:23:12,993
and modified it at the U.S. Armory in Springfield.
424
00:23:13,950 --> 00:23:17,510
They installed adjustable iron sights at the front and rear
425
00:23:17,510 --> 00:23:19,340
to assist accuracy at range
426
00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:23,700
and reduced its barrel length by 300 millimeters,
427
00:23:23,700 --> 00:23:26,130
creating a hybrid long gun that could serve
428
00:23:26,130 --> 00:23:29,380
as both a service rifle and a carbine,
429
00:23:29,380 --> 00:23:30,763
making it easier to handle.
430
00:23:33,110 --> 00:23:36,863
And so, the M-1903 Springfield was born.
431
00:23:42,490 --> 00:23:44,490
The Springfield has a muzzle velocity
432
00:23:44,490 --> 00:23:47,580
above 850 meters per second,
433
00:23:47,580 --> 00:23:51,720
over 250 meters per second faster than his predecessor.
434
00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:55,690
Meaning its effective range was doubled to almost 550 meters
435
00:23:56,540 --> 00:24:00,463
and absolute range was increased to well over 3000 meters.
436
00:24:02,990 --> 00:24:05,600
This vastly improved range of the Springfield
437
00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:07,160
was in part due to the decreased
438
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:10,080
aerodynamic drag of the French Spitzer round,
439
00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:12,540
which replaced the standard bullet's rounded nose
440
00:24:12,540 --> 00:24:14,300
with a pointed tip.
441
00:24:14,300 --> 00:24:16,420
And it was smooth and reliable
442
00:24:16,420 --> 00:24:19,130
under the worst battlefield conditions.
443
00:24:19,130 --> 00:24:21,823
The Springfield rifle was a robust design.
444
00:24:22,740 --> 00:24:25,680
New recruits in that vastly expanding army,
445
00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:29,300
which the Americans created in the First World War in 1917,
446
00:24:29,300 --> 00:24:31,710
found it relatively easy to train
447
00:24:31,710 --> 00:24:33,523
and become competent in the weapon.
448
00:24:35,900 --> 00:24:39,340
10 to 15 shots a minute was easily achievable.
449
00:24:39,340 --> 00:24:40,710
With the shooter able to fire
450
00:24:40,710 --> 00:24:43,770
from a safer range using smokeless powder,
451
00:24:43,770 --> 00:24:46,153
making them far more difficult to detect.
452
00:24:47,780 --> 00:24:50,230
Over three million were produced.
453
00:24:50,230 --> 00:24:51,940
The Springfield rifle was renowned
454
00:24:51,940 --> 00:24:54,350
for its reliability in combat,
455
00:24:54,350 --> 00:24:57,250
and it was such a sound design
456
00:24:57,250 --> 00:25:00,310
that a sniper variant of the rifle
457
00:25:00,310 --> 00:25:03,350
continued to be used during the Second World War,
458
00:25:03,350 --> 00:25:06,733
more than 40 years after the original design was conceived.
459
00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:11,200
In the hands of an expert marksman,
460
00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:15,203
it could reliably take out a target at over 1.5 kilometers.
461
00:25:17,460 --> 00:25:19,100
Add an optical sight,
462
00:25:19,100 --> 00:25:21,793
and what you had was a potent specialist weapon.
463
00:25:23,370 --> 00:25:26,950
And they gave a name to the man who operated such weapons.
464
00:25:26,950 --> 00:25:28,573
They called them snipers.
465
00:25:33,660 --> 00:25:35,320
When Germans on the Western Front
466
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:37,890
began consistently claiming lives
467
00:25:37,890 --> 00:25:40,603
firing across seemingly impossible distances,
468
00:25:41,690 --> 00:25:44,173
the Allies initially assumed it was potluck.
469
00:25:45,970 --> 00:25:48,970
It wasn't until they began moving through German positions
470
00:25:49,860 --> 00:25:53,400
and stumbled upon rifles equipped with telescopic sights
471
00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:55,650
that they understood what had been happening.
472
00:25:56,490 --> 00:25:59,830
Really the story of the sniper and the sniper rifle
473
00:25:59,830 --> 00:26:02,230
begins in earnest in the First World War.
474
00:26:02,230 --> 00:26:04,070
When each of the participant nations
475
00:26:04,070 --> 00:26:07,520
realize they needed a much more precise version
476
00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:10,170
of their infantry rifle, their standard,
477
00:26:10,170 --> 00:26:12,890
usually bolt-action, infantry rifle.
478
00:26:12,890 --> 00:26:15,590
And that's really what these early sniper rifles were.
479
00:26:17,180 --> 00:26:18,830
The British wasted no time
480
00:26:18,830 --> 00:26:20,900
in emulating the German tactic.
481
00:26:20,900 --> 00:26:22,713
And they elevated it to a new level.
482
00:26:24,150 --> 00:26:27,470
They established training camps where British snipers
483
00:26:27,470 --> 00:26:29,760
honed their shooting skills and learned to gain
484
00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:33,830
advantageous positions using improvised camouflage,
485
00:26:33,830 --> 00:26:35,453
known as ghillie suits.
486
00:26:36,690 --> 00:26:38,260
The underside of the ghillie suit
487
00:26:38,260 --> 00:26:40,890
is reinforced with heavy canvas
488
00:26:40,890 --> 00:26:45,050
to help pad a sniper's torso during hours or days
489
00:26:45,050 --> 00:26:46,373
of lying on his stomach.
490
00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:49,730
Camouflage netting is attached.
491
00:26:49,730 --> 00:26:52,010
To this is added shredded hessian
492
00:26:52,010 --> 00:26:53,800
and other frayed materials,
493
00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:56,043
as well as elements of local vegetation.
494
00:26:57,650 --> 00:27:02,120
Early snipers often acted alone, many used iron sights,
495
00:27:02,120 --> 00:27:05,860
but optics helped realize a rifle's potential.
496
00:27:05,860 --> 00:27:08,640
It meant that you didn't have to line up mechanically
497
00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:11,210
your front and your rear sight with your eye,
498
00:27:11,210 --> 00:27:12,520
with the target.
499
00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:15,720
You just have to put the cross hairs on the target.
500
00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:17,470
It makes it sound simple, it's not.
501
00:27:18,890 --> 00:27:21,320
But as sniping became more effective,
502
00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:23,133
so too did countermeasures.
503
00:27:24,100 --> 00:27:28,060
We can see the classic contest between offense and defense
504
00:27:28,060 --> 00:27:29,373
beginning to take place.
505
00:27:30,250 --> 00:27:33,240
We have snipers who are highly trained,
506
00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:36,180
and we have the opposition, in this case the Germans,
507
00:27:36,180 --> 00:27:38,543
developing armor to protect themselves.
508
00:27:41,020 --> 00:27:42,440
The increasingly mechanized
509
00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:44,400
battlefields of World War II
510
00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:47,780
dramatically changed military tactics on the ground
511
00:27:47,780 --> 00:27:49,930
and naturally armies across the world
512
00:27:49,930 --> 00:27:53,300
began to look at the potential for specialist snipers
513
00:27:53,300 --> 00:27:56,370
to inflict damage on more than just men.
514
00:27:56,370 --> 00:27:59,100
But how on Earth does the individual infantryman
515
00:27:59,100 --> 00:28:04,100
harness physics in a portable weapon to perhaps kill a tank?
516
00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:07,660
It's an extremely difficult thing to pull off
517
00:28:07,660 --> 00:28:09,793
and different answers were arrived at.
518
00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:14,330
Early anti-tank or anti material weapons,
519
00:28:14,330 --> 00:28:17,083
as they became known, were extremely cumbersome.
520
00:28:19,660 --> 00:28:23,880
More mobile than an artillery piece, but only just,
521
00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:27,410
the British Boys anti-tank rifle of World War II
522
00:28:27,410 --> 00:28:29,940
was over one and a half meters long,
523
00:28:29,940 --> 00:28:32,240
weighed almost 20 kilograms
524
00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:34,573
and required a crew of two to operate.
525
00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:38,050
And their story kind of peters out
526
00:28:38,050 --> 00:28:42,000
as tank armor just gets too thick to defeat reliably.
527
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:43,620
And there's a point in the Second World War
528
00:28:43,620 --> 00:28:44,880
where the anti-tank rifle becomes
529
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:46,823
absolutely useless, essentially.
530
00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:48,670
But tanks were not
531
00:28:48,670 --> 00:28:51,300
the only armored vehicle on the battlefield.
532
00:28:51,300 --> 00:28:54,760
A weapon was still needed that could stop lighter armor.
533
00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:57,500
And to make that weapon difficult to detect
534
00:28:57,500 --> 00:29:00,610
meant reducing its weight, suppressing its noise
535
00:29:00,610 --> 00:29:03,893
and taming the incredible recoil forces it would generate.
536
00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:07,300
In the 1980s, a weapon arrived
537
00:29:07,300 --> 00:29:09,113
that filled all those criteria,
538
00:29:10,030 --> 00:29:11,493
the Barrett M82.
539
00:29:15,630 --> 00:29:18,980
The Barrett M82 sniper rifle is the benchmark
540
00:29:18,980 --> 00:29:21,640
large caliber anti material rifle
541
00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:24,453
that revolutionized the field of military sniping.
542
00:29:30,630 --> 00:29:33,330
Referred to as a multi-role weapon system,
543
00:29:33,330 --> 00:29:38,250
the M-82 has an effective range of over 1,800 meters.
544
00:29:38,250 --> 00:29:41,700
But anti-personnel work is not the weapon's primary purpose.
545
00:29:41,700 --> 00:29:44,540
It is more commonly deployed against hard targets
546
00:29:44,540 --> 00:29:46,240
like buildings,
547
00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:48,170
armored vehicles,
548
00:29:48,170 --> 00:29:49,180
parked aircraft
549
00:29:50,330 --> 00:29:51,943
and communication systems.
550
00:29:59,350 --> 00:30:02,570
To create a weapon of this power and portability
551
00:30:02,570 --> 00:30:05,240
first required a reduction in weight.
552
00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:08,770
There's a constant quest to lighten all weapons,
553
00:30:08,770 --> 00:30:10,160
but especially weapons that tend
554
00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:12,580
to be very heavy and cumbersome.
555
00:30:12,580 --> 00:30:15,173
Simply because you can use them much more flexibly.
556
00:30:16,700 --> 00:30:19,740
To achieve this, the Barrett's barrel is fluted,
557
00:30:19,740 --> 00:30:22,423
a design that also improves heat dissipation.
558
00:30:25,700 --> 00:30:27,410
Elements of the stock are constructed
559
00:30:27,410 --> 00:30:28,903
using lightweight plastics,
560
00:30:30,010 --> 00:30:32,210
but what's truly unique about the Barrett
561
00:30:32,210 --> 00:30:33,310
is it's buffer system.
562
00:30:38,190 --> 00:30:40,370
The entire barrel is set on rails
563
00:30:40,370 --> 00:30:44,300
and travels back 3.8 centimeters against springs,
564
00:30:44,300 --> 00:30:47,360
a revolutionary development that allows it to be fired
565
00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:50,430
from the shoulder, unaided by tripod bracing.
566
00:30:50,430 --> 00:30:53,610
The Barrett's recoil operated system
567
00:30:53,610 --> 00:30:58,420
sacrifices a little accuracy for low recoil,
568
00:30:58,420 --> 00:30:59,730
which is very important when firing
569
00:30:59,730 --> 00:31:01,330
an extremely powerful cartridge
570
00:31:01,330 --> 00:31:04,203
like the 50 Browning machine gun cartridge.
571
00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:10,190
All of this allows the M82
572
00:31:10,190 --> 00:31:13,440
to deliver previously unheard of levels of energy
573
00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:16,103
and distance with low observability.
574
00:31:17,860 --> 00:31:21,890
A sniper rifle capable of putting a 50 caliber round
575
00:31:21,890 --> 00:31:23,830
through the block of a truck engine
576
00:31:23,830 --> 00:31:25,513
from over a kilometer away.
577
00:31:30,970 --> 00:31:33,340
But the effectiveness of a modern sniper
578
00:31:33,340 --> 00:31:35,973
is enhanced not just by the rifles they use.
579
00:31:37,450 --> 00:31:39,560
Advances in glass manufacturing
580
00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:43,220
have led to massive increases in standard magnification.
581
00:31:43,220 --> 00:31:46,140
And the increasing use of transparent polymers
582
00:31:46,140 --> 00:31:47,230
has greatly improved
583
00:31:47,230 --> 00:31:49,363
the light transmission of modern scopes.
584
00:31:51,190 --> 00:31:55,510
Such scopes fitted to rifles like the M110 Sniper System
585
00:31:55,510 --> 00:31:58,483
equip the sniper with what is a true precision weapon.
586
00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:08,833
With the M110 that precision begins with the barrel.
587
00:32:09,910 --> 00:32:11,990
If you think about the microscopic
588
00:32:11,990 --> 00:32:14,100
imperfections in a rifle barrel,
589
00:32:14,100 --> 00:32:17,263
every one of those can upset the bullet very, very slightly.
590
00:32:19,330 --> 00:32:22,200
And so, if you're able to go down to that microscopic level
591
00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:25,130
and if you're able to remove all of those imperfections,
592
00:32:25,130 --> 00:32:29,370
in theory, you will have an ultra precise bore.
593
00:32:29,370 --> 00:32:32,273
Something that they couldn't have dreamed of in 1918.
594
00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:40,020
The M110's 50 centimeter chrome-plated barrel
595
00:32:40,020 --> 00:32:42,540
is made from the highest quality modern steel
596
00:32:43,860 --> 00:32:45,903
with greatly reduced imperfections.
597
00:32:48,420 --> 00:32:51,563
It also features what is called 5R rifling.
598
00:32:52,860 --> 00:32:53,980
The important thing with sniper rifles
599
00:32:53,980 --> 00:32:57,020
is that you minimize barrel vibration
600
00:32:57,020 --> 00:32:58,550
when you fire the projectile.
601
00:32:58,550 --> 00:33:01,560
And that is so important for accuracy because,
602
00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:03,610
as you fire the projectile,
603
00:33:03,610 --> 00:33:06,520
the barrel may have a tendency to vibrate.
604
00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:09,120
And if you minimize the amount of vibration,
605
00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:12,263
then that's going to improve the level of accuracy.
606
00:33:15,780 --> 00:33:18,780
5R rifling reduces projectile damage,
607
00:33:18,780 --> 00:33:22,000
ensuring the projectile remains more uniform.
608
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,040
And a more uniform projectile
609
00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:27,473
translates into less vibration and improved accuracy.
610
00:33:32,420 --> 00:33:34,450
The changing nature of battle
611
00:33:34,450 --> 00:33:37,040
revealed the limited engagement capabilities
612
00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:39,803
of traditional single shot bolt action rifles.
613
00:33:43,340 --> 00:33:46,440
This was particularly problematic in urban Iraq
614
00:33:46,440 --> 00:33:48,500
during the U.S. led invasion,
615
00:33:48,500 --> 00:33:50,750
where non-repeating sniper rifles
616
00:33:50,750 --> 00:33:52,923
became a tactical liability.
617
00:33:55,130 --> 00:33:57,420
With a larger 20 round magazine,
618
00:33:57,420 --> 00:34:01,690
a sniper carrying an M110, who finds themselves under threat
619
00:34:01,690 --> 00:34:04,910
can easily switch the weapon into automatic mode,
620
00:34:04,910 --> 00:34:07,460
allowing them to fight their way through to safety.
621
00:34:09,340 --> 00:34:12,263
Two weapons in one and yet extremely accurate.
622
00:34:13,300 --> 00:34:15,300
In the hands of a skilled sniper,
623
00:34:15,300 --> 00:34:18,720
the M110 can group 10 shots fired rapidly
624
00:34:18,720 --> 00:34:21,050
over a distance of more than 90 meters
625
00:34:21,050 --> 00:34:24,083
within a radius of less than one and a half centimeters.
626
00:34:27,010 --> 00:34:30,360
Stealth on land relies on silence,
627
00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:33,430
camouflage and guile.
628
00:34:33,430 --> 00:34:36,090
But in the wide expanse of the open ocean,
629
00:34:36,090 --> 00:34:37,853
it's much more difficult to hide.
630
00:34:39,410 --> 00:34:41,380
At sea, the stealthiest place
631
00:34:41,380 --> 00:34:44,510
from which you can do damage to enemy shipping
632
00:34:44,510 --> 00:34:47,413
is not from the surface, but below it.
633
00:34:50,193 --> 00:34:52,470
(dramatic music)
634
00:34:52,470 --> 00:34:56,070
On the morning of the 5th of September, 1914,
635
00:34:56,070 --> 00:34:59,300
HMS Pathfinder, the lead ship of the British
636
00:34:59,300 --> 00:35:03,030
Pathfinder class of cruisers was spotted
637
00:35:03,030 --> 00:35:05,223
by the German U-boat U-21.
638
00:35:07,820 --> 00:35:09,823
Stalking her at periscope depth,
639
00:35:10,860 --> 00:35:14,303
U-21 fired a single 50 centimeter torpedo.
640
00:35:16,670 --> 00:35:18,493
At a range of 600 meters.
641
00:35:20,830 --> 00:35:22,703
Within minutes, she was lost.
642
00:35:24,530 --> 00:35:27,530
It was the first sinking by a U-boat in World War I.
643
00:35:28,590 --> 00:35:30,970
Thousands more were to follow.
644
00:35:30,970 --> 00:35:34,800
Many naval people in the beginning of the 20th century,
645
00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:38,780
regarded the submarine as a really underhanded weapon,
646
00:35:38,780 --> 00:35:41,223
a weapon to be used by the coward.
647
00:35:42,630 --> 00:35:45,400
Yet the ability to approach unseen
648
00:35:45,400 --> 00:35:49,443
and to reap damage revolutionized warfare at sea.
649
00:35:50,570 --> 00:35:54,950
The Unterseeboot, or the U-boat as they became known,
650
00:35:54,950 --> 00:35:57,770
was more a submersible ship than a submarine
651
00:35:57,770 --> 00:35:59,430
as we think of them today.
652
00:35:59,430 --> 00:36:00,760
They were fast on the surface,
653
00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:03,140
they could do something like 17 knots.
654
00:36:03,140 --> 00:36:05,550
But dived only about seven.
655
00:36:05,550 --> 00:36:08,540
So they would do most of their hunting on the surface
656
00:36:08,540 --> 00:36:10,373
and then dive for the attack.
657
00:36:11,570 --> 00:36:13,557
There were many Allied submarines.
658
00:36:13,557 --> 00:36:15,770
But what made the U-boat superior
659
00:36:15,770 --> 00:36:17,890
and gave it its tactical edge
660
00:36:17,890 --> 00:36:20,263
was its diesel electric propulsion system.
661
00:36:21,780 --> 00:36:25,470
The Germans had long understood the value of diesel engines
662
00:36:25,470 --> 00:36:27,263
and led the world in their design.
663
00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:33,870
In 1915, a reliable four stroke diesel engine was produced
664
00:36:33,870 --> 00:36:35,650
that far outstripped the performance
665
00:36:35,650 --> 00:36:37,023
of any Allied equivalent.
666
00:36:40,630 --> 00:36:42,000
The U-boat could keep pace
667
00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:44,180
with most merchant ships of the day.
668
00:36:44,180 --> 00:36:45,510
With a range that allowed them
669
00:36:45,510 --> 00:36:47,313
to choose their time to attack.
670
00:36:49,180 --> 00:36:52,260
Using electric motors to get them within range,
671
00:36:52,260 --> 00:36:54,160
they would surface and either engage
672
00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:57,063
with deck mounted guns or torpedoes.
673
00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:00,750
U-boats quickly became
674
00:37:00,750 --> 00:37:02,823
the most prolific killers on the seas.
675
00:37:04,410 --> 00:37:08,970
While in 1914 German surface ships sank 55 ships,
676
00:37:08,970 --> 00:37:11,500
compared to only three by U-boats,
677
00:37:11,500 --> 00:37:14,300
the following year, this was reversed
678
00:37:14,300 --> 00:37:18,120
with U-boats sinking 396 Allied ships
679
00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:21,113
compared to only 23 by surface craft.
680
00:37:23,790 --> 00:37:28,790
Between 1914 and 1918, nearly 10,000 ships,
681
00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:31,810
thousands of planes and dirigibles,
682
00:37:31,810 --> 00:37:34,730
and more than 100,000 mines were deployed
683
00:37:34,730 --> 00:37:39,223
to combat a U-boat fleet which totaled just 340 submarines.
684
00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:43,350
The Allies may have eventually won the war on land
685
00:37:44,350 --> 00:37:46,610
but the success of the U-boat campaign
686
00:37:46,610 --> 00:37:49,740
underscored how important and devastating
687
00:37:49,740 --> 00:37:52,120
submarine warfare could be.
688
00:37:52,120 --> 00:37:53,830
A lesson that was repeated
689
00:37:53,830 --> 00:37:57,273
to an almost decisive effect in the Second World War.
690
00:37:59,042 --> 00:38:01,230
(dramatic music)
691
00:38:01,230 --> 00:38:03,890
The Type VII U-boat was the workhorse
692
00:38:03,890 --> 00:38:06,583
of the German submarine fleet during World War II.
693
00:38:07,980 --> 00:38:10,690
They were designed really for service in the North Sea
694
00:38:10,690 --> 00:38:13,210
and in the Western approaches to Europe.
695
00:38:13,210 --> 00:38:16,910
They were very effective in their job of trying to cut off
696
00:38:16,910 --> 00:38:18,523
sea communications to Britain.
697
00:38:20,350 --> 00:38:23,400
And there were more Type VII U-boats built
698
00:38:23,400 --> 00:38:26,050
than of any other submarine ever.
699
00:38:26,050 --> 00:38:28,400
Over 700, in fact.
700
00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:31,140
But the Type VII was more an evolution
701
00:38:31,140 --> 00:38:33,700
rather than a revolution.
702
00:38:33,700 --> 00:38:35,230
They were kind of small submarine and,
703
00:38:35,230 --> 00:38:37,930
in terms of their technology, they will little changed
704
00:38:37,930 --> 00:38:40,160
from the submarines of World War I.
705
00:38:41,070 --> 00:38:44,430
With similar size and similar capability.
706
00:38:44,430 --> 00:38:47,060
Additions included large external tanks
707
00:38:47,060 --> 00:38:51,400
holding 33 tons of extra fuel, which increased range,
708
00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:53,360
and supercharged diesel engines
709
00:38:53,360 --> 00:38:55,573
gave a slight increase in overall speed.
710
00:38:59,260 --> 00:39:02,030
Improvements in the efficiency of the electric motors
711
00:39:02,030 --> 00:39:04,460
extended the time they could remain submerged
712
00:39:06,590 --> 00:39:09,023
and they carried an increased load of torpedoes.
713
00:39:11,060 --> 00:39:14,210
But it was improvements in shipboard communications
714
00:39:14,210 --> 00:39:16,540
that was their deadliest asset.
715
00:39:16,540 --> 00:39:19,630
It allowed German submarines to hunt in groups,
716
00:39:19,630 --> 00:39:22,387
groups that became known as wolfpacks.
717
00:39:23,649 --> 00:39:24,482
Well a wolfpack was a group
718
00:39:24,482 --> 00:39:26,373
of submarines operating together.
719
00:39:28,190 --> 00:39:29,880
They could be very, very effective
720
00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:33,130
because they could surround a convoy
721
00:39:33,130 --> 00:39:35,783
and attack it from multiple directions all at once.
722
00:39:37,590 --> 00:39:38,630
Undoubtedly, one of the most
723
00:39:38,630 --> 00:39:40,540
formidable assets of the Axis Powers
724
00:39:40,540 --> 00:39:42,840
in the present phase of the war is the U-boat.
725
00:39:47,300 --> 00:39:49,720
Initially they were very effective
726
00:39:49,720 --> 00:39:51,460
in disrupting supplies to Britain.
727
00:39:51,460 --> 00:39:54,040
In the first six months of the Second World War,
728
00:39:54,040 --> 00:39:56,650
Britain lost more than 300 ships,
729
00:39:56,650 --> 00:39:59,693
while the Germans lost just 17 submarines.
730
00:40:01,140 --> 00:40:03,900
And, as the war spread with America's entry,
731
00:40:03,900 --> 00:40:05,993
so too did the Battle of the Atlantic.
732
00:40:07,250 --> 00:40:08,360
The U-boat campaign,
733
00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:09,860
certain to be intensified,
734
00:40:09,860 --> 00:40:12,700
is Hitler's greatest hope of staving off defeat.
735
00:40:12,700 --> 00:40:15,095
He has hundreds of U-boats at sea now.
736
00:40:15,095 --> 00:40:17,980
He'll undoubtedly have more.
737
00:40:17,980 --> 00:40:20,690
The answer is to destroy them.
738
00:40:20,690 --> 00:40:22,520
Good luck began to run out
739
00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:24,883
as submarine countermeasures evolved.
740
00:40:26,060 --> 00:40:27,930
Allied air patrols over the North Atlantic
741
00:40:27,930 --> 00:40:32,190
became more effective and radar became more available,
742
00:40:32,190 --> 00:40:33,790
which made them very vulnerable.
743
00:40:35,230 --> 00:40:38,050
If you want to combat an air attack on a submarine,
744
00:40:38,050 --> 00:40:42,470
you have to stay well submerged and keep out of the way.
745
00:40:42,470 --> 00:40:45,950
And that was difficult because, like many early submarines,
746
00:40:45,950 --> 00:40:49,420
the Type VIIs were basically a surface ship,
747
00:40:49,420 --> 00:40:50,563
which could dive.
748
00:40:52,350 --> 00:40:54,220
The Germans realized they needed a way
749
00:40:54,220 --> 00:40:57,553
to carry out such operations while remaining submerged.
750
00:40:58,800 --> 00:41:01,520
And the answer to that was the snorkel.
751
00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:05,540
The Germans adopted the Dutch snorkel and retrofitted it
752
00:41:05,540 --> 00:41:08,380
to quite a number of the Type VII submarines,
753
00:41:08,380 --> 00:41:10,353
which made them much less vulnerable.
754
00:41:13,690 --> 00:41:16,243
Although the snorkel improved the odds,
755
00:41:17,090 --> 00:41:19,550
improvements in detection technology,
756
00:41:19,550 --> 00:41:21,820
combined with the development of specialist ships
757
00:41:21,820 --> 00:41:23,493
to hunt and destroy you boats,
758
00:41:26,180 --> 00:41:27,520
meant that they were no longer
759
00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:29,570
the supreme stealth weapon they had been.
760
00:41:31,150 --> 00:41:36,150
In fact, by 1945, U-boat losses were routinely 30 per month.
761
00:41:36,630 --> 00:41:39,573
And in April of that year, they exceeded 50.
762
00:41:41,060 --> 00:41:43,140
Not so long ago, the Battle of the Atlantic
763
00:41:43,140 --> 00:41:45,650
was the most critical factor in the war.
764
00:41:45,650 --> 00:41:48,550
Now convoy after convoy, all strongly escorted,
765
00:41:48,550 --> 00:41:51,100
crosses the Western ocean virtually unmolested
766
00:41:51,100 --> 00:41:53,100
in comparison with those days of crisis.
767
00:41:54,040 --> 00:41:56,943
When U-boats appear, it's they who are hunted now.
768
00:41:59,260 --> 00:42:01,230
But the end of the war
769
00:42:01,230 --> 00:42:03,740
and the birth of the nuclear age
770
00:42:03,740 --> 00:42:07,200
unlocked a power source that would redefine submarines
771
00:42:07,200 --> 00:42:09,990
and restore their place as perhaps the most feared
772
00:42:09,990 --> 00:42:12,013
of all stealth weapons on the planet.
773
00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:15,770
After World War II, the British put
774
00:42:15,770 --> 00:42:19,452
most of their effort into commercial nuclear development.
775
00:42:19,452 --> 00:42:21,780
But in 1947, Westinghouse were authorized
776
00:42:21,780 --> 00:42:24,810
by the U.S. government to develop a nuclear reactor
777
00:42:24,810 --> 00:42:27,743
which was capable of being fitted into a submarine.
778
00:42:28,730 --> 00:42:30,070
That reactor was fitted
779
00:42:30,070 --> 00:42:32,883
to a submarine named the USS Nautilus.
780
00:42:33,870 --> 00:42:35,363
And it was revolutionary.
781
00:42:36,957 --> 00:42:38,510
(dramatic music)
782
00:42:38,510 --> 00:42:41,760
Launched in 1955, the Nautilus was able to achieve
783
00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:44,617
a submerged speed of 23 knots
784
00:42:44,617 --> 00:42:46,850
and her hull could withstand pressures
785
00:42:46,850 --> 00:42:49,053
at depths over 200 meters.
786
00:42:51,027 --> 00:42:52,720
The important thing about the nuclear submarine
787
00:42:52,720 --> 00:42:55,680
is it can remain submerged really
788
00:42:55,680 --> 00:42:57,610
for a very long period of time.
789
00:42:57,610 --> 00:43:01,250
And the submarine's endurance is really determined,
790
00:43:01,250 --> 00:43:05,020
not by the fuel or the battery capacity,
791
00:43:05,020 --> 00:43:07,290
but by the amount of food you can carry
792
00:43:07,290 --> 00:43:09,170
and the endurance of the crew.
793
00:43:09,170 --> 00:43:13,310
And that was a major evolution in submarine design.
794
00:43:13,310 --> 00:43:16,400
From 1955 to 1957,
795
00:43:16,400 --> 00:43:19,360
the Nautilus was put through a series of trials.
796
00:43:19,360 --> 00:43:22,860
Trials which showed her revolutionary teardrop shaped hull
797
00:43:22,860 --> 00:43:26,120
would allow her to match speed with those on the surface.
798
00:43:26,120 --> 00:43:27,590
No longer would the submarine
799
00:43:27,590 --> 00:43:30,920
be a fast surface ship that temporarily submerged,
800
00:43:30,920 --> 00:43:33,410
but a fast submersible ship.
801
00:43:33,410 --> 00:43:35,320
I think the most important thing about Nautilus,
802
00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:38,973
is that she proved the value of nuclear power in submarines.
803
00:43:39,850 --> 00:43:42,980
By the mid 1950s, the United States had stopped building
804
00:43:42,980 --> 00:43:44,980
conventional diesel electric submarines.
805
00:43:47,780 --> 00:43:50,340
To prove the supremacy of nuclear power,
806
00:43:50,340 --> 00:43:52,593
on the 1st of August, 1958,
807
00:43:53,430 --> 00:43:55,390
the Nautilus submerged near Alaska
808
00:43:57,270 --> 00:44:01,680
and surfaced 96 hours later, Northeast of Greenland
809
00:44:02,950 --> 00:44:04,270
having completed the first
810
00:44:04,270 --> 00:44:06,373
submerged voyage under the North Pole.
811
00:44:08,930 --> 00:44:10,250
And all went without a hitch.
812
00:44:10,250 --> 00:44:14,010
Nautilus passed safely on her route right under the pole.
813
00:44:14,010 --> 00:44:16,460
A tremendous achievement and the moment of relief
814
00:44:16,460 --> 00:44:18,960
I should think for all on board when she surfaced.
815
00:44:21,700 --> 00:44:23,240
The Nautilus had demonstrated
816
00:44:23,240 --> 00:44:25,990
that she was at the cutting edge of stealth technology.
817
00:44:26,870 --> 00:44:28,283
But during the Cold War,
818
00:44:29,140 --> 00:44:32,340
as the Soviets developed their own nuclear submarines,
819
00:44:32,340 --> 00:44:34,573
the U.S. was compelled to stay ahead.
820
00:44:42,690 --> 00:44:46,050
62 Los Angeles-class Submarines.
821
00:44:46,050 --> 00:44:47,910
The largest group of vessels constructed
822
00:44:47,910 --> 00:44:50,363
for the United States Navy during the Cold War,
823
00:44:51,880 --> 00:44:55,400
were specifically designed to counter the Soviet submarines
824
00:44:55,400 --> 00:44:57,450
that the Americans believed would,
825
00:44:57,450 --> 00:45:01,053
in the event of hostilities, target the heart of their navy,
826
00:45:02,130 --> 00:45:03,313
the carrier groups.
827
00:45:05,930 --> 00:45:07,110
Much of the information
828
00:45:07,110 --> 00:45:09,423
about the Los Angeles-class is classified.
829
00:45:10,340 --> 00:45:13,393
We know that it is capable of 20 knots on the surface.
830
00:45:14,270 --> 00:45:18,550
And its reported top speed while submerged is 33 knots.
831
00:45:18,550 --> 00:45:21,750
If continuously operated, it's propulsion plant
832
00:45:21,750 --> 00:45:25,173
requires refueling just once every nine years.
833
00:45:26,570 --> 00:45:28,490
The Los Angeles-class submarines
834
00:45:28,490 --> 00:45:30,670
are armed with a mix of both land attack
835
00:45:30,670 --> 00:45:33,173
and anti-ship versions of the Tomahawk missile.
836
00:45:35,430 --> 00:45:38,900
Complimented by 25 torpedo tube launched missiles,
837
00:45:38,900 --> 00:45:41,313
including the Harpoon anti-ship missile.
838
00:45:42,900 --> 00:45:45,820
Submarines, of course, are a pressure vessel.
839
00:45:45,820 --> 00:45:48,790
They consist of several major components.
840
00:45:48,790 --> 00:45:51,739
The most principle one, of course, is the pressure hull.
841
00:45:51,739 --> 00:45:53,060
And the more cylindrical that is,
842
00:45:53,060 --> 00:45:54,760
the better it withstands pressure.
843
00:45:55,700 --> 00:45:57,000
The deeper you go,
844
00:45:57,000 --> 00:45:59,220
the more difficult you are to detect
845
00:45:59,220 --> 00:46:00,743
and depth means pressure.
846
00:46:01,860 --> 00:46:04,030
Increased power from nuclear reactors
847
00:46:04,030 --> 00:46:06,700
allow submarine hulls to be thicker.
848
00:46:06,700 --> 00:46:08,500
But a hull's strength is also measured
849
00:46:08,500 --> 00:46:11,520
by how elastic it can be under pressure.
850
00:46:11,520 --> 00:46:15,123
And this yield strength requires special steel alloys.
851
00:46:16,330 --> 00:46:19,490
Although the operating depths of submarines are secret,
852
00:46:19,490 --> 00:46:21,730
they're crush depth can be calculated
853
00:46:21,730 --> 00:46:23,480
if you know what they're made from.
854
00:46:25,270 --> 00:46:27,740
The Los Angeles-class have pressure hulls
855
00:46:27,740 --> 00:46:31,200
made with HY-80, a nickel-chrome alloy
856
00:46:31,200 --> 00:46:33,403
with incredible strength and elasticity.
857
00:46:34,400 --> 00:46:37,763
This puts their crush depth somewhere around 600 meters.
858
00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:40,623
Deep and stealthy.
859
00:46:45,830 --> 00:46:47,850
But stealth at sea is no longer
860
00:46:47,850 --> 00:46:49,633
the sole domain of the submarine.
861
00:46:52,740 --> 00:46:56,280
At almost 183 meters, the largest destroyer
862
00:46:56,280 --> 00:46:58,970
ever commissioned for the U.S. Navy,
863
00:46:58,970 --> 00:47:01,520
the Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer,
864
00:47:01,520 --> 00:47:05,380
is as close as any ship has come to being invisible.
865
00:47:05,380 --> 00:47:07,760
They're big ships, they're something like 15,000 tons.
866
00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:10,960
So to call them a destroyer is something of a misnomer.
867
00:47:10,960 --> 00:47:12,510
But it's a very stealthy ship,
868
00:47:12,510 --> 00:47:14,410
which is difficult to find with radar.
869
00:47:16,810 --> 00:47:19,440
To make a ship of this size difficult to detect
870
00:47:19,440 --> 00:47:22,310
has required a complete shift in naval design thinking
871
00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:25,570
and the application of lessons learned
872
00:47:25,570 --> 00:47:29,843
from aviation stealth technology, beginning with the shape.
873
00:47:30,960 --> 00:47:33,660
The structure is designed with a lot of tumblehome,
874
00:47:33,660 --> 00:47:36,963
so that the upper deck is narrower than at the waterline.
875
00:47:38,110 --> 00:47:40,540
The opposite to that of traditional vessels.
876
00:47:40,540 --> 00:47:42,490
Resulting in a significant reduction
877
00:47:42,490 --> 00:47:44,053
in its radar cross-section.
878
00:47:46,040 --> 00:47:49,043
Like the F-22, the weapon systems are discreet.
879
00:47:51,870 --> 00:47:54,600
The decks are clear with virtually no sharp lines
880
00:47:54,600 --> 00:47:57,033
that could return a radar signal to its source.
881
00:47:59,210 --> 00:48:00,440
On a typical warship,
882
00:48:00,440 --> 00:48:03,730
you see an arrangement of spinning dishes and antennas
883
00:48:03,730 --> 00:48:05,803
sitting atop a high profile mast.
884
00:48:06,760 --> 00:48:10,410
The Zumwalt's deck house is a clean angled structure
885
00:48:10,410 --> 00:48:12,923
straight out of the F117 design book.
886
00:48:17,700 --> 00:48:21,170
It's array of radar sensors and communications hardware
887
00:48:21,170 --> 00:48:24,240
is integrated directly into the deck house skin,
888
00:48:24,240 --> 00:48:27,433
which is built of composites much like the B-2.
889
00:48:30,030 --> 00:48:32,080
By incorporating these lessons,
890
00:48:32,080 --> 00:48:34,490
designers have managed to give the Zumwalt,
891
00:48:34,490 --> 00:48:38,180
on almost 15,000 ton heavily armed warship,
892
00:48:38,180 --> 00:48:40,570
capable of 36 knots,
893
00:48:40,570 --> 00:48:43,853
a radar cross-section the size of a fishing boat.
894
00:48:45,540 --> 00:48:47,530
Improvements in stealth design
895
00:48:47,530 --> 00:48:49,600
are continually being counterbalanced
896
00:48:49,600 --> 00:48:53,020
by the ongoing development of detection methods.
897
00:48:53,020 --> 00:48:55,180
The Zumwalt represents another beginning
898
00:48:55,180 --> 00:48:56,840
in the race to appear invisible
899
00:48:57,870 --> 00:49:00,380
and science continues to push the boundaries
900
00:49:00,380 --> 00:49:02,550
of what seems possible.
901
00:49:02,550 --> 00:49:06,033
Current studies involve cloaking aircraft in plasma shields,
902
00:49:07,510 --> 00:49:11,300
fields of ionized gases that absorb all radar signals
903
00:49:12,150 --> 00:49:15,460
and experiments with technologies that bend light waves
904
00:49:15,460 --> 00:49:18,180
to render objects, or even people,
905
00:49:18,180 --> 00:49:19,963
invisible to the naked eye.
906
00:49:21,010 --> 00:49:23,510
It seems that, if science fiction can think of it,
907
00:49:24,420 --> 00:49:27,073
militaries will try to make it a reality.
908
00:49:29,393 --> 00:49:32,226
(dramatic music)
72519
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