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(dramatic music)
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Speed has always been
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one of the greatest weapons of war.
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To take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness,
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to travel by unexpected routes,
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and strike quickly where it is least expected
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is the key to battlefield success.
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And throughout the 20th century and into the 21st,
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the speed with which technology has altered
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the machinery of war has been electrified.
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From bolt-action rifles to machine guns
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that can deliver over 500 rounds per minute.
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The first jet fighters,
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to long range ballistic missiles.
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And the humble Jeep,
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to the most advanced high speed troop carriers.
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The capacity to shoot, move men,
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and strike with speed and flexibility
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is synonymous with modern warfare.
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This is the story of agility.
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(dramatic music)
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(dramatic music)
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Since they first appeared over the battlefield,
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the sheer wonder of flight
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has made aircraft perhaps the most glamorous of all
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the machinery of war.
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Machines that have continuously pushed the boundaries
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of technology in the quest for speed and agility.
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Modern fighter aircraft are designed
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to respond to threats quickly and effectively
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in situations where mere minutes can determine outcomes.
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They are the pinnacle of a quest for agility
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that began in World War I.
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A quest that appeared to have stalled during World War II.
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But one that gained new life
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in the dying days of the war,
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with the introduction of a new power source,
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the jet engine.
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Introduced in 1944, the first jet powered combat aircraft
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to enter service, the Gloster Meteor,
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very nearly didn't get off the ground.
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The heat generated by the new turbo jet engines
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were deemed beyond the bounds
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of metallurgical science of the period.
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But it did, and those engines,
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designed by Englishman, Sir Frank Whittle,
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opened a new world of possibilities for aviation.
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The turbo jet engine was a dramatic change
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in the design philosophy.
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The conventional piston engine was incredibly complex.
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We ended up with radial engines that were multi-rowed,
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even up to four rows,
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heating was a problem.
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And then Frank Whittle designed this thing called the jet,
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which was so simple because it was all rotating
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basically on one shaft.
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It had a compressor at the front of the engine.
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It was in its early days, incredibly simple.
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The advantages of jet propulsion were many;
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More power was the most obvious,
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which allowed greater payloads.
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And in wartime that translated
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to greater all-round attacking and defensive capability.
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While the combustion efficiency of jet engines
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gave them the ability to operate effectively
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at higher altitudes,
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importantly, jet power meant the meteor
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could also maintain top speed at lower altitudes.
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Something which piston driven aircraft could not,
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which gave it the speed
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to catch the low level V-1 flying bomb.
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The meteor was in every way a record breaker
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with a top speed of 960 kilometers per hour
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when it entered service,
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it was faster than anything that preceded it.
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And its excellent rate of climb
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of over 760 meters per minute,
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made it possible to reach its service ceiling
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of 10,000 meters in as little as 12 minutes.
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While the meteor design was not without issue,
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it served a greater purpose
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in advancing a technological cause.
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A cause the Harrier Jump Jet would take to another level.
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Speed is one aspect of agility in the air,
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flexibility of purpose is another.
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As fighter aircraft increased their airborne capabilities,
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they also required increasingly large infrastructure
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to support their operations.
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To overcome these service limitations,
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the British came up with the Harrier,
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the only true vertical short takeoff and landing aircraft
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created during the cold war.
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And with it came a new dimension in airborne agility.
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It was an aircraft that was developed
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to remove reliance on runways.
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And so it could be operated
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right at the front of the combat arena.
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What allows the Harrier
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to provide that frontline support
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directly from improvised bases
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such as car parks and small flight decks,
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is a rather unique high bypass turbo fan engine
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working with an ingenious engine vectoring system.
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Four exhaust nozzles,
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two operating off the fan at the front of the engine,
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and two off the exhaust at the rear,
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are used to direct a proportion of the overall thrust.
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And it could swivel these exhaust nozzles
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from pointing backwards,
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which you would normally do on an aircraft, down to vertical
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so that it could take off vertically if needed.
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It could land vertically,
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and even it could swivel, lean slightly forward,
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thus moving the thrust vector
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and allowing it to maneuver quite differently
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than a normal aircraft.
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This ability to vector thrust
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makes the Harrier capable of incredible maneuverability
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at speed in normal operations.
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Continuously revised and updated
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since it was introduced into operational service in 1969,
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the current Harrier II is an evolution of the original
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that has transformed the aircraft
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into a more versatile combat platform.
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No longer tied to basic close support sorties
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as it's only forte,
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modern systems have given the Harrier combat capabilities
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that make it a premier ground strike aircraft
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with unparalleled attack helicopter-like agility
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that no conventional aircraft could match.
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But one thing it doesn't have is raw speed,
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something the MIG-29, has in spades.
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(jet engine roars)
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As with so many weapons developed during the cold war,
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the MIG-29 was designed to be the number one
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air superiority fighter in the world.
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In this case, it meant it had to be faster
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and more maneuverable than the lightweight F-16.
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An aircraft with an impressive thrust to weight ratio
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that could perform radical maneuvers
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with surprisingly little energy loss.
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First flown in October, 1977,
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the MIG-29 matched its competitor
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in almost every performance measurement.
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Both have top speeds of 2,400 kilometers per hour,
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both have a thrust to weight ratio of 1.09,
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but where they differ is in wing area.
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The MIG has 30% greater,
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and that makes it significantly more stable
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and maneuverable at lower speeds.
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Utilizing this super maneuverability,
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the MIG-29 can perform the highly complex Pugachev's Cobra,
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an aerial fete
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which would cause a conventional aircraft to stall
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and lose altitude rapidly.
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And while both can maintain sustained vertical flight,
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the MIG can achieve it surprisingly quickly after takeoff.
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And its capacity to maintain a very high angle of attack
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means that it climbs at an astonishing 330 meters per second
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significantly quicker than the F-16.
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But as technology continued to alter the tactics
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on the battlefield, neither the F-16 nor the MIG-29
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were ever truly tested as fighters
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in the way they were designed.
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(dramatic music)
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Despite the end of the cold war,
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both militaries continued to push the boundaries
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of aeronautical engineering.
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And when the Americans took the means of propulsion
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first used in the meteor,
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added the aerodynamic agility and the speed of the MIG-29,
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the operational flexibility of the Harrier,
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and then installed the latest weapons
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and electronic systems,
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they created an aircraft that is beyond compare.
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The F-35B Lightning II.
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(pensive music)
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The basic concepts behind the F-35B
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were actually developed by Lockheed Martin Skunk Works
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as a potential replacement for the Harrier
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over a decade ago.
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That idea was originally shelved, but it resurfaced
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as part of the joint strike fighter program.
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Which then evolved into the F-35 A, B and C.
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This was a design that was promised
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to be able to replace, not just the Harrier,
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but a whole range of aircraft in a range of missions,
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both in the Marine role of STOVL,
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of short takeoff and vertical landing,
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but also in the more traditional fighter
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and ground attack role for the US air force.
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(dramatic music)
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What has emerged is an aircraft
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that has all the attributes of a frontline strike fighter,
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but with the capacity for STOVL.
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One of the three variants of the F-35, the F-35B,
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is a short takeoff and vertical landing aircraft.
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Which can take off without the need
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for a dedicated large runway,
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but then you can have all the attributes
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of a fixed wing aircraft in terms of speed and range
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during most of your flight.
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But then when you want to come back and land,
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then you can land vertically
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again without the need, perhaps for that dedicated runway.
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Which it does in a stealth package
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with a top speed in excess of twice the speed of sound.
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The F-35B uses some of the ideas from the Harrier,
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but takes quite a different approach
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in terms of the propulsion system.
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Unlike the Harrier,
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the F-35B incorporates a separate lift fan system
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powered via a drive shaft from the front of the engine,
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which works in conjunction with the aft thruster.
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Operating in tandem,
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they can direct up to 80,000 Newtons of thrust
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from the engine to the vertical
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in just two and a half seconds.
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The F-35B also has the most complex
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electronic sensor package ever fitted to a fighter aircraft.
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Which allows a pilot,
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via the very sophisticated head up system in the helmet,
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to basically look anywhere they like.
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Around the aircraft, through the walls of the aircraft
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and see what is going on in various wavelengths,
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the visible wavelengths but also in the infrared.
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All of the sensor data is collected and passed
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via the latest generation communication systems
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to other assets in the field,
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optimizing the aircraft as a part of a bigger system,
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hugely increasing its effectiveness
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and ultimately the capacity
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to effectively prosecute that conflict.
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(explosion blasting)
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The sum of over 60 years
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of technological advancement in aviation,
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it is an example of the constant growth
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in the performance requirements of the machinery of war,
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brought about by new technologies
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and battlefield innovation.
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(dramatic music)
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Innovation that hasn't just affected
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fighter aircraft design,
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but also the design of their larger cousins.
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(explosions blasting)
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To attack from long range
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and to limit your opponent's capacity for agility
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is crucial in modern warfare.
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For many years, heavy bombers were the most effective way
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to damage infrastructure and supply lines,
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to soften targets, and to give attacking forces
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the best chance of exploiting their offensive capabilities.
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But World War II saw a rapid improvement
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in the performance of fighter aircraft
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and ground based air defenses.
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So much so that by the middle of the war,
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the old adage that the bomber would always get through
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was being well and truly tested.
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Even the most heavily armed bomber squadrons
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began suffering crippling losses.
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But in the immediate post-war years,
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the jet engine more powerful
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and crucially able to operate at higher altitudes,
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not only saved the bombers reputation,
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but made it all the more deadly.
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First flown in 1949, the Canberra was the world's first
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jet powered strategic bomber,
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and its advanced design
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completely changed the rules for long range,
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strategic air warfare.
271
00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:35,470
It was built by a company called English Electric,
272
00:14:35,470 --> 00:14:37,640
they were only a very small company.
273
00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:39,490
They came up with the design,
274
00:14:39,490 --> 00:14:42,270
which was a revolutionary design at that time.
275
00:14:44,250 --> 00:14:45,560
It bears some resemblance
276
00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:46,950
to the Gloster Meteor,
277
00:14:46,950 --> 00:14:48,770
but unlike the first jet fighter,
278
00:14:48,770 --> 00:14:51,260
it was built without any defensive armament
279
00:14:51,260 --> 00:14:53,530
and simply relied on its top speed,
280
00:14:53,530 --> 00:14:56,840
which was in excess of 960 kilometers per hour,
281
00:14:56,840 --> 00:14:58,123
to outrun fighters.
282
00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:01,510
There was need for an aircraft that could fly
283
00:15:01,510 --> 00:15:04,480
at a fairly low level and at high level.
284
00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:06,860
We knew they were going to be ground to air missiles
285
00:15:06,860 --> 00:15:10,530
coming about and so the greatest defense was altitude.
286
00:15:10,530 --> 00:15:13,270
The Canberra's clean aerodynamic design
287
00:15:13,270 --> 00:15:16,380
could approach altitudes of 21,000 meters,
288
00:15:16,380 --> 00:15:19,103
well beyond the range of ground-based deterrence.
289
00:15:20,070 --> 00:15:23,350
But it wasn't aerodynamics that gave it the edge,
290
00:15:23,350 --> 00:15:26,233
it was an all-new axial flow jet engine.
291
00:15:28,670 --> 00:15:32,120
The Avon engine in the Canberra was a pure jet,
292
00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:35,717
and it just had one shaft and all the compressive blights,
293
00:15:35,717 --> 00:15:38,900
the 12 stages, they are all on that one shaft.
294
00:15:38,900 --> 00:15:41,030
And so you get lots of thrust out the back
295
00:15:41,030 --> 00:15:42,780
and it kept the compressor working.
296
00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:46,910
Produced by Rolls Royce,
297
00:15:46,910 --> 00:15:49,150
the Avon engine was a turbojet
298
00:15:49,150 --> 00:15:51,693
based on the earlier designs of Sir Frank Whittle,
299
00:15:53,470 --> 00:15:55,780
but one that produced significantly more power
300
00:15:55,780 --> 00:15:57,043
than anything before it.
301
00:16:00,284 --> 00:16:02,250
They were very good for high altitude work.
302
00:16:02,250 --> 00:16:04,890
And they became quite efficient with fuel,
303
00:16:04,890 --> 00:16:06,800
the wings were designed to carry fuel
304
00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:09,303
as well as bladders in the fuselage.
305
00:16:10,260 --> 00:16:12,140
Those bladders gave the Canberra
306
00:16:12,140 --> 00:16:15,633
a range in excess of 5,500 kilometers.
307
00:16:17,330 --> 00:16:19,960
All in all, it was three times as quick,
308
00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:22,170
could fly three times as high,
309
00:16:22,170 --> 00:16:26,000
and go 30% further than the Avro Lancaster,
310
00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:29,240
the ubiquitous bomber of World War II that preceded it,
311
00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:33,800
carrying and only marginally lighter 4,500 kilogram payload.
312
00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:37,010
So the Canberra could take off with a full bomb load,
313
00:16:37,010 --> 00:16:39,540
quite a lot of fuel, go in low,
314
00:16:39,540 --> 00:16:43,120
and if it couldn't deliver the weapons on the first pass,
315
00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:44,520
go to another target.
316
00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:47,600
And so the Canberra was a very successful airplane
317
00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:49,483
with the armament load that it had.
318
00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:54,800
So well was the Canberra designed
319
00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:57,940
for its purpose, that there was no need to replace it.
320
00:16:57,940 --> 00:17:00,580
And it remained active with the British, US,
321
00:17:00,580 --> 00:17:03,623
and Australian Air Forces for over 50 years.
322
00:17:05,460 --> 00:17:08,170
Whereas one of the aircraft that took over its role
323
00:17:08,170 --> 00:17:12,780
in the late 1950s, one of Britain's famous three V bombers
324
00:17:12,780 --> 00:17:14,640
flew only once in hangar,
325
00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:17,333
almost 30 years after it was first commissioned.
326
00:17:20,010 --> 00:17:21,123
The Avro Vulcan.
327
00:17:27,560 --> 00:17:30,610
The British had always valued strategic bombers,
328
00:17:30,610 --> 00:17:32,320
but as the cold war progressed
329
00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:34,690
and advances in surface to air missiles
330
00:17:34,690 --> 00:17:37,333
made Soviet airspace virtually impregnable,
331
00:17:38,380 --> 00:17:41,843
the requirements of a strategic bomber dramatically changed.
332
00:17:43,700 --> 00:17:47,180
When the cold war started to get really, really cold,
333
00:17:47,180 --> 00:17:50,080
the Americans put the heavies on the Brits
334
00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:51,497
and said, "Look, you got (indistinct).
335
00:17:53,170 --> 00:17:55,080
And what was needed to do that,
336
00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:56,580
was something that could attack
337
00:17:56,580 --> 00:17:59,570
from outside hostile airspace.
338
00:17:59,570 --> 00:18:03,280
The Vulcan, the one I flew on,
339
00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:06,633
carried a nuclear missile as opposed to a bomb.
340
00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:11,893
That weapon was a missile called blue steel.
341
00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:16,330
Blue Steel missile could get an incredible range
342
00:18:16,330 --> 00:18:17,693
of 100 miles.
343
00:18:19,100 --> 00:18:21,863
You dropped it 100 miles away from the target.
344
00:18:23,140 --> 00:18:25,960
Blue steel was not a small weapon.
345
00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:28,300
Rocket science was in its infancy,
346
00:18:28,300 --> 00:18:31,600
and in order to deliver its 1.1 mega ton warhead,
347
00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:33,690
it was over 10 meters in length
348
00:18:33,690 --> 00:18:37,150
and weighed over 7,700 kilograms,
349
00:18:37,150 --> 00:18:39,720
almost double the Canberra's payload.
350
00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:42,420
And to get within range to fire blue steel,
351
00:18:42,420 --> 00:18:44,070
the aircraft that delivered it
352
00:18:44,070 --> 00:18:46,150
would have to penetrate enemy lines
353
00:18:46,150 --> 00:18:49,400
at either great height or extreme low levels,
354
00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:52,850
and at high speed to avoid interception.
355
00:18:52,850 --> 00:18:55,823
The Vulcan itself was a delta shape.
356
00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:00,500
The Delta wing design of an aircraft
357
00:19:00,500 --> 00:19:04,200
adds the capability of super high speed.
358
00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:07,890
The straight leading edges are more aerodynamic
359
00:19:07,890 --> 00:19:11,073
and allow the wing to go through the air a lot faster.
360
00:19:13,357 --> 00:19:15,420
(dramatic music)
361
00:19:15,420 --> 00:19:17,690
The delta wing housed the four engines,
362
00:19:17,690 --> 00:19:19,490
initially rolls Royce Avon's
363
00:19:19,490 --> 00:19:21,140
that it shared with the Canberra.
364
00:19:22,740 --> 00:19:25,540
And as advances in engine technology progressed,
365
00:19:25,540 --> 00:19:27,653
the Vulcan was repeatedly upgraded.
366
00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:31,340
The original Avon engines
367
00:19:31,340 --> 00:19:34,063
produced nearly 30,000 Newtons of thrust.
368
00:19:35,660 --> 00:19:37,380
In its final incarnation,
369
00:19:37,380 --> 00:19:41,540
its four engines each produced over 60,000 Newtons of thrust
370
00:19:42,540 --> 00:19:45,643
giving the Vulcan incredible all around agility.
371
00:19:47,860 --> 00:19:51,430
Able to carry a payload of over 18,000 kilograms,
372
00:19:51,430 --> 00:19:53,470
retirement of the Vulcan was underway
373
00:19:53,470 --> 00:19:56,483
at the outbreak of the Falklands War in 1982.
374
00:19:59,807 --> 00:20:02,380
By that stage, it had been retrofitted
375
00:20:02,380 --> 00:20:04,580
with in-flight refueling capability,
376
00:20:04,580 --> 00:20:07,133
giving it, theoretically, unlimited range.
377
00:20:09,090 --> 00:20:11,620
Several aircraft were dispatched from Ascension Island
378
00:20:11,620 --> 00:20:13,820
to attack the Argentinians in the Falklands,
379
00:20:15,100 --> 00:20:19,063
a round trip of over 12,000 kilometers or 16 hours.
380
00:20:19,910 --> 00:20:23,170
One that stood for many years as the longest operation
381
00:20:23,170 --> 00:20:26,038
ever undertaken by military aircraft.
382
00:20:26,038 --> 00:20:29,038
(jet engine roars)
383
00:20:31,070 --> 00:20:33,300
While speed and agility is vital
384
00:20:33,300 --> 00:20:35,283
to prevent interception in the air,
385
00:20:36,830 --> 00:20:39,450
on the ground it is the key to reinforcing
386
00:20:39,450 --> 00:20:40,823
an offensive advantage.
387
00:20:42,970 --> 00:20:44,430
And in World War I,
388
00:20:44,430 --> 00:20:47,340
the race to create faster firing, lighter,
389
00:20:47,340 --> 00:20:49,890
and more easily handled personal weapons
390
00:20:49,890 --> 00:20:53,510
began with the design of an efficient bolt action rifle.
391
00:20:53,510 --> 00:20:55,703
The short magazine Lee-Enfield.
392
00:21:01,189 --> 00:21:03,460
(dramatic music)
393
00:21:03,460 --> 00:21:07,760
In 1914 during the battle of Mons in Southern Belgium,
394
00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:10,820
a relatively small British expeditionary force
395
00:21:10,820 --> 00:21:14,233
armed with Lee-Enfields fired on the German first army.
396
00:21:15,390 --> 00:21:19,020
It was assumed by them that the British were heavily armed
397
00:21:19,020 --> 00:21:20,650
with machine guns because of the rate of fire
398
00:21:20,650 --> 00:21:21,700
which was coming their way
399
00:21:21,700 --> 00:21:24,300
from the highly trained British expeditionary force.
400
00:21:26,810 --> 00:21:28,540
Those British soldiers at Mons
401
00:21:28,540 --> 00:21:30,040
had been trained in a new way.
402
00:21:31,690 --> 00:21:33,600
And part of that more intense training
403
00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:36,793
included an annual test known as the mad minute.
404
00:21:39,370 --> 00:21:42,040
To pass, 15 shots had to be fired
405
00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:46,230
at a target almost 300 meters away within a minute.
406
00:21:46,230 --> 00:21:48,090
Which is a bolt action rifle,
407
00:21:48,090 --> 00:21:51,780
which only holds 10 rounds, it's phenomenal.
408
00:21:51,780 --> 00:21:53,530
It gives you an idea of the skill set required
409
00:21:53,530 --> 00:21:54,530
to make that happen.
410
00:21:56,270 --> 00:21:59,010
To achieve accuracy with a high rate of fire,
411
00:21:59,010 --> 00:22:00,570
combined with mobility,
412
00:22:00,570 --> 00:22:02,963
required an efficient, manageable rifle.
413
00:22:05,260 --> 00:22:07,170
And so everything about the smelly,
414
00:22:07,170 --> 00:22:08,990
as it became referred to,
415
00:22:08,990 --> 00:22:11,433
was designed to optimize speed and agility.
416
00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:17,000
It was a rifle of carbine length
417
00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:19,793
and at just one meter it was easy to handle.
418
00:22:20,830 --> 00:22:24,260
It was comparatively light, at four and a half kilograms,
419
00:22:24,260 --> 00:22:26,010
and had a 10 shot magazine,
420
00:22:26,010 --> 00:22:27,910
which was larger than its competitors.
421
00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:33,080
What set the SMLE apart though, was its rear locking bolt,
422
00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:36,253
which meant far less travel and far quicker reloading.
423
00:22:38,630 --> 00:22:41,670
Over 5 million Lee- Enfields were produced,
424
00:22:41,670 --> 00:22:44,233
and saw service for much of the 20th century.
425
00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:48,840
But in the interwar years, the British,
426
00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:50,920
in pursuit of greater mobility
427
00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:53,620
decided to create a weapon that had the brute strength
428
00:22:53,620 --> 00:22:56,680
of a heavy machine gun that could be operated
429
00:22:56,680 --> 00:22:57,783
by a single man.
430
00:22:59,410 --> 00:23:00,363
The Bren Gun.
431
00:23:04,780 --> 00:23:06,680
The Bren Gun was a light machine gun
432
00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:08,630
that was introduced into British army service
433
00:23:08,630 --> 00:23:11,090
in the mid 1930s.
434
00:23:11,090 --> 00:23:12,510
And it's called The Bren
435
00:23:12,510 --> 00:23:14,460
because it was developed in Brno,
436
00:23:14,460 --> 00:23:17,260
which was in Czechoslovakia now Slovakia,
437
00:23:17,260 --> 00:23:21,290
and it was built in Enfield, so BR-EN.
438
00:23:21,290 --> 00:23:24,120
And it became the most common
439
00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:26,490
British Commonwealth weapon of the entire war,
440
00:23:26,490 --> 00:23:28,303
and indeed of the world.
441
00:23:29,990 --> 00:23:31,880
The first thing to note about the Bren
442
00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:34,830
is its weight, which at eleven and a half kilograms
443
00:23:34,830 --> 00:23:36,763
is light for a gun of its power.
444
00:23:39,070 --> 00:23:41,760
What that meant was that while generally fired
445
00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:43,240
from the prone position,
446
00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:45,860
the bren could also be fired from the shoulder
447
00:23:45,860 --> 00:23:49,063
with an accuracy comparable to that of a bolt action rifle.
448
00:23:51,070 --> 00:23:54,130
A bren gunner could also use his weapon on the move,
449
00:23:54,130 --> 00:23:56,760
firing from the hip supported by a sling
450
00:23:56,760 --> 00:23:58,780
much like an automatic rifle,
451
00:23:58,780 --> 00:24:02,173
creating heavy suppressing fire during a forward assault.
452
00:24:03,610 --> 00:24:06,600
It had a high rate of fire. It was 500 rounds a minute.
453
00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:08,520
But it only had a 30 round magazine,
454
00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:11,380
so it fired typically in short bursts.
455
00:24:11,380 --> 00:24:13,423
So it was quite economical to use.
456
00:24:15,990 --> 00:24:18,240
And because the magazine was on the top,
457
00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:20,283
it could be quickly changed on the move.
458
00:24:21,550 --> 00:24:24,160
So every man in a squad
459
00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:26,610
would be carrying a number of spare magazines
460
00:24:26,610 --> 00:24:28,853
to keep this hungry beast fed.
461
00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:32,650
It was often used by a two man team,
462
00:24:32,650 --> 00:24:36,323
one to fire, the other to reload and act as a spotter.
463
00:24:38,830 --> 00:24:40,140
Each section of the British army
464
00:24:40,140 --> 00:24:41,420
and indeed Commonwealth armies,
465
00:24:41,420 --> 00:24:43,750
the Canadians, the Australians and new Zealanders,
466
00:24:43,750 --> 00:24:47,140
all structured their infantry sections around the gun group
467
00:24:47,140 --> 00:24:48,300
of these two men,
468
00:24:48,300 --> 00:24:50,630
who would provide the organic fire support
469
00:24:50,630 --> 00:24:53,460
for the other six or eight men in the section
470
00:24:53,460 --> 00:24:54,523
to do their job.
471
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:58,090
That second man was also responsible
472
00:24:58,090 --> 00:25:00,910
for handling an operation that kept the barrel cool
473
00:25:00,910 --> 00:25:03,703
and made the design of the bren revolutionary.
474
00:25:05,649 --> 00:25:09,240
By flipping the catch, and by using the carrying handle,
475
00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:11,830
you could very quickly change the barrel in action,
476
00:25:11,830 --> 00:25:13,360
which meant that there would be no delay.
477
00:25:13,360 --> 00:25:15,200
You didn't have to wait for it to cool down.
478
00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:19,193
So the bren's robustness was one of its best features.
479
00:25:20,660 --> 00:25:23,320
The bren's adaptability and portability
480
00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:25,120
meant that it could be distributed widely
481
00:25:25,120 --> 00:25:26,783
across infantry battalions.
482
00:25:28,900 --> 00:25:30,670
By the middle of World War II,
483
00:25:30,670 --> 00:25:34,280
the British were producing 1000 brens per week,
484
00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:37,180
allowing them to equip every infantry section,
485
00:25:37,180 --> 00:25:40,310
a group of eight to 10 men in every single battalion
486
00:25:40,310 --> 00:25:42,623
with its own light machine gun.
487
00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:46,260
So in a sense, the bren is at the heart
488
00:25:46,260 --> 00:25:49,633
of the tactics the British Commonwealth used to win the war.
489
00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:53,910
But as World War II progressed,
490
00:25:53,910 --> 00:25:57,703
tactics and understanding of battlefield realities changed.
491
00:25:59,861 --> 00:26:01,980
The assault rifle as we understand it today
492
00:26:01,980 --> 00:26:04,137
really emerges in World War II.
493
00:26:04,137 --> 00:26:05,960
Certainly the name, assault rifle,
494
00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:08,480
comes from the German, Sturmgewehr,
495
00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:10,580
storm rifle, assault rifle,
496
00:26:10,580 --> 00:26:13,010
for that assault phase of an attack,
497
00:26:13,010 --> 00:26:15,563
or for trench fighting, or for urban combat.
498
00:26:16,540 --> 00:26:18,950
But the Kalashnikov or the AK,
499
00:26:18,950 --> 00:26:21,450
as it's more commonly known, arguably perfects it.
500
00:26:27,670 --> 00:26:31,030
The AK-47 was not the first assault rifle,
501
00:26:31,030 --> 00:26:34,620
but it embodied the best attributes of various early designs
502
00:26:34,620 --> 00:26:36,793
to create a weapon of extreme agility.
503
00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:41,560
It's gas operated self-loading system
504
00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:44,400
was pioneered by the German storm rifle.
505
00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:47,293
It's trigger mechanism is from the US M-1 Garand,
506
00:26:48,190 --> 00:26:50,950
and its safety mechanism is a direct copy
507
00:26:50,950 --> 00:26:53,050
of that used on the Remington model eight.
508
00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:58,130
But the Kalashnikov embraced other factors in its design
509
00:26:58,130 --> 00:27:00,640
to create the most agile and long lived
510
00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:02,033
of all assault rifles.
511
00:27:05,570 --> 00:27:07,780
The first factor was climate,
512
00:27:07,780 --> 00:27:10,830
the AK 47 is made to operate efficiently
513
00:27:10,830 --> 00:27:13,810
in the same extreme conditions encountered during the war
514
00:27:13,810 --> 00:27:14,860
on the Russian front.
515
00:27:17,290 --> 00:27:19,030
Where the dusty steps of summer
516
00:27:20,620 --> 00:27:22,793
became frozen wastelands in winter.
517
00:27:27,030 --> 00:27:29,083
The second was reliability.
518
00:27:29,940 --> 00:27:33,780
The way that the Russian state has manufactured equipment,
519
00:27:33,780 --> 00:27:36,670
it's always been extraordinarily robust,
520
00:27:36,670 --> 00:27:40,490
which means it can take an awful lot of abuse
521
00:27:40,490 --> 00:27:41,763
and still work.
522
00:27:44,110 --> 00:27:45,690
What's interesting about the AK-47
523
00:27:45,690 --> 00:27:47,540
is that a child can maintain it.
524
00:27:47,540 --> 00:27:50,480
You can drop it into a swamp, pick it out,
525
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:54,820
and you can very easily disassemble it and clean it up.
526
00:27:54,820 --> 00:27:56,900
It's got relatively few components
527
00:27:56,900 --> 00:27:59,610
compared to certain assault rifles,
528
00:27:59,610 --> 00:28:02,763
and so that is why it was so extensively used.
529
00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:06,683
The third is flexibility.
530
00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:11,730
Kalashnikov can act as a semiautomatic or full automatic,
531
00:28:11,730 --> 00:28:14,320
depending on the battlefield circumstances,
532
00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:17,333
simply by moving a switch and pulling the trigger.
533
00:28:18,770 --> 00:28:23,120
It was and continues to be a rapid firing people's weapon,
534
00:28:23,120 --> 00:28:24,810
designed for ease of use.
535
00:28:24,810 --> 00:28:27,150
One that can be quickly mastered by peasants
536
00:28:27,150 --> 00:28:29,230
and trained soldiers alike.
537
00:28:29,230 --> 00:28:31,990
And as such, it became the most highly produced
538
00:28:31,990 --> 00:28:34,373
and widely used personal infantry weapon
539
00:28:34,373 --> 00:28:36,789
of the 20th century.
540
00:28:36,789 --> 00:28:39,272
(gun firing)
541
00:28:39,272 --> 00:28:42,820
(dramatic music)
542
00:28:42,820 --> 00:28:46,800
The introduction of powered vehicles revolutionized warfare.
543
00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:48,420
Machines like the tank,
544
00:28:48,420 --> 00:28:50,270
a self-propelling artillery piece
545
00:28:50,270 --> 00:28:51,940
with all-terrain capability
546
00:28:52,930 --> 00:28:56,550
was one of the many technical advancements of World War I,
547
00:28:56,550 --> 00:29:00,550
that meant World War II would be faster and far more mobile
548
00:29:00,550 --> 00:29:02,443
than any war that had preceded it.
549
00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:07,410
By taking the drive-line principles of the tank,
550
00:29:07,410 --> 00:29:09,550
fitting it with a lightly armored skin
551
00:29:09,550 --> 00:29:11,570
and a powerful V8 engine,
552
00:29:11,570 --> 00:29:14,900
then arming it with a heavy caliber machine gun,
553
00:29:14,900 --> 00:29:15,900
the British created
554
00:29:15,900 --> 00:29:18,223
one of the most ubiquitous weapons of the war.
555
00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:21,573
The universal carrier,
556
00:29:23,070 --> 00:29:26,413
an extraordinarily agile battlefield workhorse.
557
00:29:28,950 --> 00:29:30,030
The universal carrier
558
00:29:30,030 --> 00:29:33,620
is a very lightly armored tracked vehicle.
559
00:29:33,620 --> 00:29:36,930
It comes out to the fact that through the 1920s and 30s,
560
00:29:36,930 --> 00:29:40,320
European armies had fallen in love with the tank
561
00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:43,283
and were developing tanks to fight the next war.
562
00:29:45,700 --> 00:29:49,620
The universal carrier was in essence, an armored tractor.
563
00:29:49,620 --> 00:29:51,890
And as if to prove its universality
564
00:29:51,890 --> 00:29:53,540
steering was through a wheel,
565
00:29:53,540 --> 00:29:56,433
as opposed to the levers found in other tracked vehicles,
566
00:29:57,740 --> 00:30:00,140
which meant virtually anyone could drive it
567
00:30:00,140 --> 00:30:01,240
with limited training.
568
00:30:02,430 --> 00:30:04,750
It's called universal because it can do lots of things;
569
00:30:04,750 --> 00:30:06,960
It can transport men, it can transport supplies,
570
00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:07,920
it can tow guns.
571
00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:10,220
And it was used all over the world to do that.
572
00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:13,370
Powered by a Ford V8 engine
573
00:30:13,370 --> 00:30:15,650
across the battlefield, in any conditions,
574
00:30:15,650 --> 00:30:19,270
it was both agile and for its time quick,
575
00:30:19,270 --> 00:30:22,940
with a top speed of 56 kilometers per hour.
576
00:30:22,940 --> 00:30:26,070
Tracked vehicles are able to traverse terrain
577
00:30:26,070 --> 00:30:27,830
which is extremely boggy
578
00:30:27,830 --> 00:30:31,360
and they are able to get to locations
579
00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:33,683
that wheeled vehicles simply cannot get to.
580
00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:37,700
The body was a simple steel box
581
00:30:37,700 --> 00:30:40,113
with a motor compartment situated in the center.
582
00:30:41,340 --> 00:30:45,060
In front, sat a driver and alongside him a gunner,
583
00:30:45,060 --> 00:30:48,073
usually operating the famous bren light machine gun,
584
00:30:49,100 --> 00:30:52,293
which turned it into a highly mobile light attack vehicle.
585
00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:55,780
And as the war went on,
586
00:30:55,780 --> 00:30:58,060
it was equipped with flame throwers and mortars
587
00:30:58,060 --> 00:31:00,230
and all sorts of things to enable it
588
00:31:00,230 --> 00:31:02,330
to transport and fight on the battlefield.
589
00:31:05,150 --> 00:31:07,270
With over 100,000 produced,
590
00:31:07,270 --> 00:31:10,330
it may have been one of the most ubiquitous, versatile,
591
00:31:10,330 --> 00:31:12,753
and agile weapons platforms of World War II.
592
00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:20,440
But when we turn our minds to the vehicles
593
00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:22,480
that defined World War II,
594
00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:25,133
it's not one of British manufacture that we think of,
595
00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:27,033
it's American.
596
00:31:28,950 --> 00:31:32,370
Any mental picture of World War II would be incomplete
597
00:31:32,370 --> 00:31:35,353
without the presence of at least one Willy MB,
598
00:31:36,390 --> 00:31:39,754
the vehicle better known as the jeep.
599
00:31:39,754 --> 00:31:42,587
(dramatic music)
600
00:31:46,860 --> 00:31:48,750
Us General, George C. Marshall,
601
00:31:48,750 --> 00:31:53,030
called it America's greatest contribution to modern warfare.
602
00:31:53,030 --> 00:31:56,260
And it would see service with all of the allied forces;
603
00:31:56,260 --> 00:31:59,933
Russians, British and Anzacs in all theaters.
604
00:32:01,930 --> 00:32:04,920
Ultimately over 600,000 would be produced
605
00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:06,843
by the end of World War II alone.
606
00:32:09,260 --> 00:32:11,560
Adaptable like the universal carrier,
607
00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:13,400
the Jeep was put to work in tasks
608
00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:16,670
as wide ranging as a mobile mortar platform,
609
00:32:16,670 --> 00:32:19,343
artillery towers, a field ambulance,
610
00:32:20,790 --> 00:32:22,640
and just about everything in between.
611
00:32:25,210 --> 00:32:26,720
It was the personification
612
00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:29,520
of battlefield flexibility and agility.
613
00:32:42,030 --> 00:32:45,593
The Humvee is the natural inheritor of the Jeep legacy,
614
00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:50,230
a high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle.
615
00:32:50,230 --> 00:32:53,743
The Humvee began life as a project to find a single vehicle
616
00:32:53,743 --> 00:32:54,810
that could be used
617
00:32:54,810 --> 00:32:57,553
to perform a multitude of functions in combat.
618
00:33:01,764 --> 00:33:05,070
A Humvee is effectively Jeep replacement.
619
00:33:05,070 --> 00:33:08,810
It's a four wheeled vehicle, that's the main variant,
620
00:33:08,810 --> 00:33:12,010
that is able to transport troops very quickly
621
00:33:12,010 --> 00:33:13,560
from one location to the other.
622
00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:17,740
For nearly 30 years, the Humvee has been the workhorse
623
00:33:17,740 --> 00:33:21,780
of militaries across the globe, and like its predecessor,
624
00:33:21,780 --> 00:33:23,910
it has achieved iconic status
625
00:33:23,910 --> 00:33:26,803
as one of the most recognizable vehicles on the planet.
626
00:33:30,470 --> 00:33:35,470
It can operate on 40% of side slope, climb a 60% slope,
627
00:33:35,830 --> 00:33:38,640
fjord one and a half meters of water,
628
00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:41,190
and is fast enough to keep up with the Abrams tank.
629
00:33:43,780 --> 00:33:48,640
Despite its size, 1.8 meters high, 2.1 meters wide
630
00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:50,870
and 4.5 meters long,
631
00:33:50,870 --> 00:33:53,870
like the Jeep, the Humvee is a relative lightweight
632
00:33:53,870 --> 00:33:57,093
tipping the scales at 2,600 kilograms.
633
00:33:59,330 --> 00:34:02,333
But what really sets it apart from the Jeep is its cabin,
634
00:34:03,350 --> 00:34:06,220
which offers full occupant protection.
635
00:34:06,220 --> 00:34:08,160
And to achieve the low weight necessary
636
00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:11,260
for high speed agility and soldier safety,
637
00:34:11,260 --> 00:34:14,353
that cabin is largely constructed of aluminum.
638
00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:17,760
And what we find with aluminum alloys
639
00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:19,570
is that for lighter weight vehicles,
640
00:34:19,570 --> 00:34:22,750
ballistically, they generally perform better
641
00:34:22,750 --> 00:34:24,070
than high strength steels.
642
00:34:24,070 --> 00:34:27,083
But that can come with its own difficulties.
643
00:34:30,640 --> 00:34:32,140
Seeing service in the Middle East
644
00:34:32,140 --> 00:34:33,620
during the first Gulf war,
645
00:34:33,620 --> 00:34:35,380
the Humvee proved to be the ultimate
646
00:34:35,380 --> 00:34:37,453
in agility and adaptability.
647
00:34:39,030 --> 00:34:41,013
But war is constantly changing,
648
00:34:41,930 --> 00:34:44,370
the widespread introduction of IEDs,
649
00:34:44,370 --> 00:34:46,880
or improvised explosive devices,
650
00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:49,373
have made the lightly built Humvee vulnerable,
651
00:34:52,417 --> 00:34:54,420
and a replacement is on the way.
652
00:34:54,420 --> 00:34:57,120
A replacement designed to protect the occupants
653
00:34:57,120 --> 00:35:01,853
from not just IEDs but also weapons like Himars.
654
00:35:07,130 --> 00:35:09,610
The purpose of himars is to clear a path
655
00:35:09,610 --> 00:35:12,800
for infantry, tanks, and traditional artillery
656
00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:15,900
by engaging in destroying virtually any enemy asset
657
00:35:15,900 --> 00:35:17,283
within its target area.
658
00:35:20,290 --> 00:35:22,963
It does this by launching its weapons at a distance,
659
00:35:24,110 --> 00:35:27,230
after which it moves away from the area at speed
660
00:35:27,230 --> 00:35:29,743
before enemy forces locate the launch site.
661
00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:34,580
Featuring a six shot mars rocket launching module
662
00:35:34,580 --> 00:35:35,710
attached to the flatbed
663
00:35:35,710 --> 00:35:37,773
of a modern multi-purpose heavy truck.
664
00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:42,840
At seven meters long, 2.4 meters wide,
665
00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:45,470
and with a height of just 3.2 meters,
666
00:35:45,470 --> 00:35:47,790
the himars is remarkably compact
667
00:35:47,790 --> 00:35:49,653
given its destructive capability.
668
00:35:53,310 --> 00:35:55,720
In a typical mission, himars would travel
669
00:35:55,720 --> 00:35:57,830
at over 85 kilometers per hour
670
00:35:57,830 --> 00:35:59,720
to a designated launch location
671
00:36:01,290 --> 00:36:02,870
where a command and control post
672
00:36:02,870 --> 00:36:04,950
would transmit selected target data
673
00:36:04,950 --> 00:36:06,593
to the onboard launch computer.
674
00:36:09,450 --> 00:36:11,340
The computer then aims the launcher
675
00:36:11,340 --> 00:36:12,870
and provides prompts to the crew
676
00:36:12,870 --> 00:36:15,890
to arm and fire a pre-selected number of rounds,
677
00:36:15,890 --> 00:36:18,603
a sequence that takes just 16 seconds.
678
00:36:22,390 --> 00:36:24,550
Firing an array of guided missiles
679
00:36:24,550 --> 00:36:26,603
with ranges up to 100 miles.
680
00:36:29,340 --> 00:36:32,160
Most rockets fired by himars carry a payload
681
00:36:32,160 --> 00:36:34,760
of several hundred anti material grenades
682
00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:37,210
which are dispersed over the target in midair
683
00:36:37,210 --> 00:36:39,220
and detonate on impact,
684
00:36:39,220 --> 00:36:42,010
destroying or disabling all enemy assets
685
00:36:42,010 --> 00:36:43,303
in the designated area.
686
00:36:46,410 --> 00:36:50,040
Himars is an incredibly agile, modern expression of a weapon
687
00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:52,010
that prior to World War 11
688
00:36:52,010 --> 00:36:55,333
lived solely in our imaginations, the missile.
689
00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:05,963
Missiles are the ultimate in agile attack weapons,
690
00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:09,840
ones that leave an enemy with little time
691
00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:11,273
to defend or respond.
692
00:37:12,700 --> 00:37:15,733
And the faster the missile, the harder it is to destroy.
693
00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:20,400
What's more, it can be launched with a flick of a switch,
694
00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:23,550
delivering a massive payload without any human risk
695
00:37:23,550 --> 00:37:24,463
to the operator.
696
00:37:26,450 --> 00:37:28,000
All sides in World War II
697
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:30,680
were looking at rockets of one kind or another,
698
00:37:31,970 --> 00:37:33,050
but it was the Germans
699
00:37:33,050 --> 00:37:36,750
who took what were at the time, storybook musings,
700
00:37:36,750 --> 00:37:39,723
and created a most agile and deadly reality.
701
00:37:41,860 --> 00:37:45,083
A reality that would change the face of modern warfare.
702
00:37:48,190 --> 00:37:50,840
A long range pilotless flying bomb
703
00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:53,450
that in World War II, was accompanied by a sound
704
00:37:53,450 --> 00:37:56,323
that would live in the minds of the British for decades.
705
00:37:57,182 --> 00:37:59,849
(missile roars)
706
00:38:02,585 --> 00:38:05,844
(explosion blasting)
707
00:38:05,844 --> 00:38:08,677
(dramatic music)
708
00:38:09,730 --> 00:38:12,870
The treaty of Versailles signed after World War I,
709
00:38:12,870 --> 00:38:14,560
forbade the defeated Germans
710
00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:17,033
from developing any new artillery weapons,
711
00:38:18,090 --> 00:38:20,673
but it said nothing, however, of rockets.
712
00:38:21,929 --> 00:38:24,679
(pensive music)
713
00:38:27,610 --> 00:38:30,030
With Hitler's rise, and a determination
714
00:38:30,030 --> 00:38:32,880
that technology would win the next war,
715
00:38:32,880 --> 00:38:34,940
the Germans committed huge resources
716
00:38:34,940 --> 00:38:37,393
to the development of rocket powered weaponry.
717
00:38:39,030 --> 00:38:41,223
They called them vengeance weapons.
718
00:38:45,050 --> 00:38:48,130
The V-1 was a pilotless jet powered plane
719
00:38:48,130 --> 00:38:49,603
with an explosive warhead.
720
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:52,610
Over eight meters long,
721
00:38:52,610 --> 00:38:55,050
and with a wingspan of over five meters,
722
00:38:55,050 --> 00:38:57,450
it was launched by igniting its pulse engine
723
00:38:57,450 --> 00:39:01,593
and firing it on a sled up an inclined ramp, 36 meters long.
724
00:39:04,431 --> 00:39:06,850
The V1 was then thrown into the air
725
00:39:06,850 --> 00:39:07,840
in much the same way
726
00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:10,183
that an aircraft carrier launches planes.
727
00:39:14,330 --> 00:39:17,280
Once airborne, it simply continued toward its target
728
00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:19,280
in the same direction it was launched
729
00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:21,913
using a preset magnetic gyrocompass.
730
00:39:23,884 --> 00:39:26,940
The V1 Doodlebug is guided by gyroscopes
731
00:39:26,940 --> 00:39:29,060
and a flight termination system
732
00:39:29,060 --> 00:39:30,290
basically running on a timer.
733
00:39:30,290 --> 00:39:33,570
So it will fly a particular time in a particular direction
734
00:39:33,570 --> 00:39:36,550
and then it will dive at the ground and explode.
735
00:39:36,550 --> 00:39:38,970
Initially designed to power into the ground,
736
00:39:38,970 --> 00:39:41,570
a fault in the fuel system of the V1's engine
737
00:39:41,570 --> 00:39:43,803
caused it to cut out as it dived.
738
00:39:44,835 --> 00:39:47,090
(explosion blasting)
739
00:39:47,090 --> 00:39:48,720
And of course there's stories around London
740
00:39:48,720 --> 00:39:51,540
of people knowing that they were about to have a V1 attack
741
00:39:51,540 --> 00:39:53,140
when you heard the pulse jet go across the sky
742
00:39:53,140 --> 00:39:54,483
and then cut out.
743
00:39:55,520 --> 00:39:57,070
And you knew that some short time later
744
00:39:57,070 --> 00:39:59,073
it would be impacting somewhere in the city.
745
00:40:00,050 --> 00:40:03,160
And when it did, it was devastating.
746
00:40:03,160 --> 00:40:06,580
The Doodlebug or buzz bomb, as it became known,
747
00:40:06,580 --> 00:40:08,170
carried a one ton warhead
748
00:40:08,170 --> 00:40:11,393
that was detonated by immediate action fuses on impact.
749
00:40:12,950 --> 00:40:15,583
Sending its blast outwards across the surface.
750
00:40:17,610 --> 00:40:20,840
Over four months, more than 9000 were launched,
751
00:40:20,840 --> 00:40:23,743
primarily at London, with devastating effect.
752
00:40:28,440 --> 00:40:32,380
But the V1 had a range of just 321 kilometers.
753
00:40:32,380 --> 00:40:36,020
And by late 1944, allied advances in Europe,
754
00:40:36,020 --> 00:40:37,860
along with sustained bombing
755
00:40:37,860 --> 00:40:40,900
had destroyed and pushed back its launch sites,
756
00:40:40,900 --> 00:40:42,963
making London safe from the buzz bomb.
757
00:40:45,980 --> 00:40:48,485
But worse was to come.
758
00:40:48,485 --> 00:40:51,740
(dramatic music)
759
00:40:51,740 --> 00:40:54,810
As the war turned decidedly in the allies favor,
760
00:40:54,810 --> 00:40:58,010
the Germans took one last technological roll of the dice
761
00:40:58,870 --> 00:41:01,170
and introduced a supersonic weapon
762
00:41:01,170 --> 00:41:04,180
that could neither be tracked, intercepted,
763
00:41:04,180 --> 00:41:05,677
nor chillingly, heard.
764
00:41:09,040 --> 00:41:11,230
The V2 is probably best described
765
00:41:11,230 --> 00:41:13,520
as the first ballistic missile.
766
00:41:13,520 --> 00:41:15,300
Many of the technical innovations
767
00:41:15,300 --> 00:41:17,690
that were necessary to build a useful rocket
768
00:41:17,690 --> 00:41:19,820
were solved by Wernher von Braun
769
00:41:19,820 --> 00:41:21,893
and the German design team with the V2.
770
00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:26,310
First launched in September, 1944,
771
00:41:26,310 --> 00:41:29,250
the V2 was a potent, destructive weapon
772
00:41:29,250 --> 00:41:32,563
designed to breed terror in civilian populations.
773
00:41:34,020 --> 00:41:37,113
It succeeded and it also killed thousands,
774
00:41:39,780 --> 00:41:43,670
with over 3000 fired at England, Belgium, and France
775
00:41:43,670 --> 00:41:45,990
in a six month reign of terror
776
00:41:45,990 --> 00:41:49,763
before the allies overran their launch sites in early 1945.
777
00:41:53,700 --> 00:41:58,010
A silent killer, it was also a scientific marvel,
778
00:41:58,010 --> 00:42:00,443
one that would change the course of humanity.
779
00:42:02,940 --> 00:42:05,470
The V2 was the first man-made object
780
00:42:05,470 --> 00:42:07,030
that actually reached the boundary of space,
781
00:42:07,030 --> 00:42:08,570
which we normally define to be 100 kilometers
782
00:42:08,570 --> 00:42:10,160
above the surface,
783
00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:12,320
and actually did that during the second world war.
784
00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:13,153
Arguably at the point
785
00:42:13,153 --> 00:42:15,990
where they were on the point of losing as well.
786
00:42:15,990 --> 00:42:17,640
So quite a technical achievement.
787
00:42:19,010 --> 00:42:20,460
The most fundamental hurdle
788
00:42:20,460 --> 00:42:23,210
that needed to be solved to build a useful rocket
789
00:42:23,210 --> 00:42:24,580
was the development of a method
790
00:42:24,580 --> 00:42:27,200
for combining liquid fuel and oxygen
791
00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:28,570
under sufficient pressure
792
00:42:28,570 --> 00:42:30,483
to generate the required thrust.
793
00:42:32,560 --> 00:42:34,880
To do this, they designed turbo pumps
794
00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:38,223
powered by household chemicals like hydrogen peroxide,
795
00:42:39,410 --> 00:42:42,350
simple bleach that mixed and compressed the fuel
796
00:42:42,350 --> 00:42:45,820
before it was driven at pressure into the firing chamber.
797
00:42:45,820 --> 00:42:47,450
A principle that is central
798
00:42:47,450 --> 00:42:49,823
to rocket propulsion systems to this day.
799
00:42:53,240 --> 00:42:55,610
While it terrified the allied nations,
800
00:42:55,610 --> 00:42:58,393
the V2 had a relatively small effect on the war.
801
00:43:00,190 --> 00:43:01,950
Its primitive guidance system
802
00:43:01,950 --> 00:43:04,440
didn't allow it to strike strategic objectives
803
00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:07,303
such as bridges, factories, or airfields.
804
00:43:09,510 --> 00:43:11,500
But it was perhaps the most astounding
805
00:43:11,500 --> 00:43:13,653
technological development of the war.
806
00:43:17,340 --> 00:43:20,530
Unlike so much German World War II technology,
807
00:43:20,530 --> 00:43:24,380
V2 rockets, and scientists captured at the end of the war,
808
00:43:24,380 --> 00:43:27,890
would form the basis of US and Russian missile programs
809
00:43:27,890 --> 00:43:31,320
that would very quickly change the world forever.
810
00:43:34,420 --> 00:43:35,253
At the end of the war,
811
00:43:35,253 --> 00:43:37,960
Von Braun was captured by the Americans.
812
00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:39,750
He was an SS officer.
813
00:43:39,750 --> 00:43:40,890
By pragmatic politics,
814
00:43:40,890 --> 00:43:42,850
the Americans decided not to prosecute,
815
00:43:42,850 --> 00:43:45,583
to bring him home and use him as an engineering leader.
816
00:43:47,380 --> 00:43:48,940
Given the relative immaturity
817
00:43:48,940 --> 00:43:50,900
of ballistic missile technology,
818
00:43:50,900 --> 00:43:52,690
neither Russia nor the US
819
00:43:52,690 --> 00:43:54,720
achieved usable ballistic missiles
820
00:43:54,720 --> 00:43:56,263
immediately after the war.
821
00:44:02,750 --> 00:44:05,170
Both had atomic weapons,
822
00:44:05,170 --> 00:44:07,960
but in the late 1940s and early 50s,
823
00:44:07,960 --> 00:44:10,570
most of the competition between the two countries
824
00:44:10,570 --> 00:44:12,400
revolved around gravity bombs
825
00:44:12,400 --> 00:44:14,163
delivered by strategic bombers.
826
00:44:26,010 --> 00:44:28,260
But the race for supremacy was forever changed
827
00:44:28,260 --> 00:44:30,183
by the events of 1952,
828
00:44:31,290 --> 00:44:33,640
with the successful full-scale test
829
00:44:33,640 --> 00:44:35,853
of a workable hydrogen bomb.
830
00:44:38,679 --> 00:44:39,710
The power of these weapons
831
00:44:39,710 --> 00:44:41,510
was very scary for them at the time,
832
00:44:43,070 --> 00:44:44,340
both the Russians and the Americans
833
00:44:44,340 --> 00:44:46,380
ended up running experiments
834
00:44:46,380 --> 00:44:48,280
and test detonations where the yield
835
00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:50,030
was much higher than they expected.
836
00:44:51,870 --> 00:44:52,900
With both countries
837
00:44:52,900 --> 00:44:55,170
in possession of H bomb technology,
838
00:44:55,170 --> 00:44:58,565
the race was on to find a way to deliver the warhead.
839
00:44:58,565 --> 00:45:00,470
(dramatic music)
840
00:45:00,470 --> 00:45:03,330
And when in 1957, the Soviets launched
841
00:45:03,330 --> 00:45:04,950
a multi-stage ballistic missile
842
00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:09,503
as well as the first man-made satellite, Sputnik,
843
00:45:10,730 --> 00:45:14,413
the Americans quickly responded with the SM-65 Atlas.
844
00:45:16,060 --> 00:45:18,060
The world's first nuclear armed
845
00:45:18,060 --> 00:45:20,463
intercontinental ballistic missile.
846
00:45:22,500 --> 00:45:25,550
More than simply an Americanized vengeance weapon,
847
00:45:25,550 --> 00:45:27,210
the Atlas was designed to fly
848
00:45:27,210 --> 00:45:30,310
in excess of 10 times the range of a V2,
849
00:45:30,310 --> 00:45:34,310
5,500 kilometers from the United States
850
00:45:34,310 --> 00:45:36,460
to strike at the heart of the Soviet Union.
851
00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:40,850
On its parabolic journey,
852
00:45:40,850 --> 00:45:45,500
it would fly between 150 and 400 kilometers into space
853
00:45:45,500 --> 00:45:48,970
from where the warhead separated from the main stage rocket,
854
00:45:48,970 --> 00:45:52,290
would transition in orbit until it plunged back to earth
855
00:45:52,290 --> 00:45:54,383
and exploded over the desired target.
856
00:45:57,740 --> 00:45:59,200
A large task.
857
00:45:59,200 --> 00:46:01,130
And given that the heavier the rocket,
858
00:46:01,130 --> 00:46:03,590
the more power required to launch,
859
00:46:03,590 --> 00:46:06,003
huge efforts were made to trim its bulk.
860
00:46:09,200 --> 00:46:14,200
Even so, the Atlas at 25 meters high, weighed over 108 tons
861
00:46:14,520 --> 00:46:17,700
and like the V2 and many rockets to this day,
862
00:46:17,700 --> 00:46:20,220
much of that weight was its propellant,
863
00:46:20,220 --> 00:46:22,853
a mixture of kerosene and liquid oxygen.
864
00:46:24,140 --> 00:46:26,113
It proved to be a definitive design.
865
00:46:30,620 --> 00:46:33,240
Intercontinental ballistic missiles and space rockets
866
00:46:33,240 --> 00:46:36,010
have almost identical types of characteristics.
867
00:46:36,010 --> 00:46:38,100
And so the Atlas still see service today
868
00:46:38,100 --> 00:46:39,803
basically into the 2000s.
869
00:46:41,320 --> 00:46:43,040
The Atlas was the first stage
870
00:46:43,040 --> 00:46:45,620
in a dangerous game of brinkmanship,
871
00:46:45,620 --> 00:46:47,470
and was produced in sufficient numbers
872
00:46:47,470 --> 00:46:49,470
that had they been fired,
873
00:46:49,470 --> 00:46:52,020
we would be living in a very different world today.
874
00:46:55,220 --> 00:46:58,460
But such was the paranoia that surrounded the cold war,
875
00:46:58,460 --> 00:47:01,613
obvious deterrents were not enough to stop development.
876
00:47:05,320 --> 00:47:08,458
The fear amongst Americans was that if they were attacked,
877
00:47:08,458 --> 00:47:11,173
the Atlas would be too slow to respond.
878
00:47:14,540 --> 00:47:16,120
So one of the problems with a nuclear war
879
00:47:16,120 --> 00:47:17,800
such as they envisaged in the cold war,
880
00:47:17,800 --> 00:47:19,600
is that it's incredibly destructive.
881
00:47:21,330 --> 00:47:24,180
There is the risk that if somebody starts a war,
882
00:47:24,180 --> 00:47:26,090
then it will very quickly get out of hand,
883
00:47:26,090 --> 00:47:28,470
and you'll end up with a bloodbath on both sides.
884
00:47:28,470 --> 00:47:30,610
With most of the belligerent countries
885
00:47:30,610 --> 00:47:33,110
territory destroyed most of their population dead.
886
00:47:36,740 --> 00:47:38,730
The concern was how do you stop
887
00:47:38,730 --> 00:47:39,760
this scenario from happening?
888
00:47:39,760 --> 00:47:42,360
How do you stop someone from starting a nuclear war?
889
00:47:46,170 --> 00:47:49,070
The solution was immediate launch capability.
890
00:47:50,920 --> 00:47:53,123
Enter, the minute man.
891
00:47:55,540 --> 00:47:57,070
The minute man was so named
892
00:47:57,070 --> 00:47:59,800
because like it's colonial namesake,
893
00:47:59,800 --> 00:48:01,783
it could respond immediately to threat.
894
00:48:02,740 --> 00:48:06,840
But to respond to the press of a button required solid fuel.
895
00:48:06,840 --> 00:48:09,000
One of the normal problems with rockets
896
00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:10,570
is that they're all liquid fueled.
897
00:48:10,570 --> 00:48:12,900
The problem with that is liquid propellants,
898
00:48:12,900 --> 00:48:14,240
you can only hold them in the rocket
899
00:48:14,240 --> 00:48:16,600
for a short period of time before you have to remove them
900
00:48:16,600 --> 00:48:18,010
and probably refurbish the rocket
901
00:48:18,010 --> 00:48:19,920
to make up for the fact that it's been fueled.
902
00:48:19,920 --> 00:48:21,630
Which means they're not a very good deterrent
903
00:48:21,630 --> 00:48:24,380
because you can't keep them in a ready to launch state.
904
00:48:25,360 --> 00:48:28,830
But the minute man brings forward a solid rocket propellant,
905
00:48:28,830 --> 00:48:30,950
which means that it can sit in the silo
906
00:48:30,950 --> 00:48:32,460
ready to go at a moment's notice,
907
00:48:32,460 --> 00:48:34,240
and they don't degrade very much over time.
908
00:48:34,240 --> 00:48:36,523
So 15 to 20 year lives are not unusual.
909
00:48:37,820 --> 00:48:39,930
Rapid advances in solid fuels
910
00:48:39,930 --> 00:48:42,373
left just the question of accuracy.
911
00:48:43,260 --> 00:48:45,217
The other revolutionary part of the design
912
00:48:45,217 --> 00:48:46,517
was the navigation system.
913
00:48:47,890 --> 00:48:49,850
To fly a ballistic trajectory
914
00:48:49,850 --> 00:48:51,570
and hit a designated target,
915
00:48:51,570 --> 00:48:55,090
demands a very accurate inertial navigation system
916
00:48:55,090 --> 00:48:57,460
that uses gyroscopes spun out
917
00:48:57,460 --> 00:48:59,513
and aligned to the earth's rotation.
918
00:49:03,110 --> 00:49:04,330
And there's not time to do that,
919
00:49:04,330 --> 00:49:05,760
it might take anywhere up to half an hour
920
00:49:05,760 --> 00:49:07,900
for that gyroscope to align.
921
00:49:07,900 --> 00:49:09,300
So consequently with the minute man,
922
00:49:09,300 --> 00:49:11,700
the gyroscopes are already spun up, ready to go.
923
00:49:13,400 --> 00:49:14,810
With its underground silos
924
00:49:14,810 --> 00:49:16,960
able to withstand a nuclear blast,
925
00:49:16,960 --> 00:49:19,390
retaliation was guaranteed.
926
00:49:19,390 --> 00:49:23,230
The epitome of agility and the ultimate stalemate weapon.
927
00:49:23,230 --> 00:49:25,890
If the minute man is ever truly fired,
928
00:49:25,890 --> 00:49:28,933
what is certain is that both sides will lose.
929
00:49:30,126 --> 00:49:32,959
(dramatic music)
73333
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