Introduction:

Weapon Technology and Designing is the design, development, testing and life-cycle management of military weapons and systems.

Weapons have been in use from the very beginning in the form of spears and stones. With time, the technological advancements has made it easier for man to develop, design and manufacture weapons. However, there's a moral responsibility attached as everything has a good and bad side. Engineers must be aware of this and work accordingly.

With time, human control on the weapons has increased and even better and efficient weapons are expected to be designed in the future.Computer technology has been playing a major role in defence applications, right from early days. Even now, it continues to make our tasks easy in the form of human computer interfaces for weapon designing.

Weapons, especially chemical and nuclear weapons have ethical, social and environmental effects attached with them which cannot be ignored. The environment has always been an unpublicised, unnoticed victim of war and we must act now to avoid further damage.

ANCIENT TECHNOLOGY:

Historically, weapons have been used in warfare, hunting, law enforcement, and criminal activity. Weapons also serve many other purposes in society today including martial arts disciplines, display collections and historical displays. Throughout history we can see a close correlation between technology and weapons, affecting the way in which weapons are used in the various circumstances.

FUTURE TECHNOLOGY

Weapons have great scope for improvement and with the use of advanced technology, weapons can become more effective and user-friendly.

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done now

1.organizational methodology

2.life cycle methodology

3.threat level methodology

these three can be used independently or together each of them have certain benefits on determining the nuclear hardening costs to satisfy the contractor and consumer it is required to know the relative cost as the function of level to determine the potential changes in environment

Whichever method is taken the accuracy will depend on the contractor's ability to determine the cost of activities required

Weapon Designing in today's world involves the use of modern science and technology. As engineers , they must take into account the ethical, social and environmental issues concerning them. It is their responsibility to minimize the adverse effects.

Advancements in computer technology has made human - computer interfaces more “user-friendly.” The ability for weapon controllers to easily interact with a computer and to ensure commands are both well understood and easily executed provide obvious strategic and safety advantages. However, it is possible that designing “friendly” interfaces for the sole purpose of destruction and death can afford a moral buffer that diminishes controllers’ sense of responsibility and autonomy, which could allow people to make decisions more quickly and without proper consideration of all the consequences.

The number of countries experiencing major armed conflicts has escalated sharply in recent years. A particularly disturbing aspect of today's wars is the extent to which civilians are involved ,both as victims and combatants. In several developing countries, an AK-47 can be purchased for just a few dollars.More than ever before, the trade and use of light weapons have become associated with rising levels of violence and disintegrative trends, often involving ethnic conflict and crime, which threaten the fabrics of societies worldwide. All this affects the society badly and its a serious concern.

Humankind has always counted its war casualties in terms of dead and wounded soldiers and civilians, destroyed cities and livelihood. The environment has always been an unpublicised, unnoticed victim of war.

It is clear that using scarce natural resources for the manufacture of weapons has its own impact on the environment. So also do the storage, deployment, and retirement of weapons affect the health and ecosystems of human beings.

The Chemical, Biological and Nuclear weapons are the major source of destruction to the environment. Currently, the consequences are not dealt with seriously which will affect the future generations badly.

1. Why is the mention of ethical, social and environmental issues important?

=> Effect of War and weaponry is vast and in the long run, every human can be affected in one way or the other. If necessary and quick steps are not taken soon, the situation may go out of our control.

2. How to convey the information to the general public??

=>TV Shows, Internet, newspaper articles and open speeches can be some of the effective ways to reach out the mass. Since, effects of weaponry is generally neglected, a strong and continuous effort to sensitize the public is required.

3. How has the weapon designing advanced with time?

=> With the technological and scientific advancements, weapon designing has become more and more user-friendly. Computerized softwares are available to lessen the burden of engineers. Also, the control of human over the weapons has increased and adverse effects have thus decreased. For example, one of the US missiles was earlier like 'fire and forget'. With technological growth, it can now be controlled easily and even stopped while on its way.

Honestly, it was quite a task to find relevant information. I had to go through many of the journals, articles and websites. The journals i selected had some of the parts which was not required to be presented here. Alsom it had lots of information which was deviating from the main topic. So, the right info had to be sorted out.

Overallhe topic is quite intriguing and thus, the hard work is worth.

The use of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons can affect the humans very adversely. US Army and others have been conducting secret experiments involving human exposure to deadly chemicals, which in the long run can be life threatening and may even affect their future generations. Some of the common health effects are chronic respiratory problems, conjunctivitis, skin cancer, recurrent corneal ulcerative disease etc.

These effects cannot obviously be completely prevented but significant and stern actions can curb this menace. Government can take the initiative to lessen the use and experimentation of chemical and nuclear weapons.

Source: http://www.publichealth.va.gov/docs/vhi/chem_bio_rad_weapons.pdf

1.)http://www.un.org/disarmament/HomePage/HR/docs/1999/1999Dec09_Okalhoma.pdf - by Jayantha Dhanapala, Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, U

2.)http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=1344602 - By Roger J. Evans and Thomas E. Munsey, Members, ASCE (published in 1987)

3.)http://www.publichealth.va.gov/docs/vhi/chem_bio_rad_weapons.pdf - Department of Veteran Affairs, Washington DC

4.)https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1&v=Aza-2wopCFY

5.)http://www.informaction.org/index.php?menu=menua.txt&main=weapons_effects.txt&s=Weapons - website

6.)https://www.essex.ac.uk/armedcon/story_id/Social%20Impact%20.pdf - by Christopher Louise (UN Research Institute)

7.)http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam041/2003064631.pdf - Ethics and weapons of mass destruction

1.What is the importance of my topic - cost effective weapons?

=> The technology becoming more advanced day by day. If used properly, one can produce weapons which are not only efficient but cost-effective. Now, weapons can be delivered to the defense personnel at a cheaper rate and thus, overall, it really is a boon.

2.How to convey this information to the general public?

=>Newspapers and websites like Facebook, Youtube can come quite handy. Children in schools can be conveyed through speeches, posters and as part of science. Some of the part of the mass is quite difficult to reach to but still an effort must be made to try spreading the use of modern technology in weapon designing.

-by M Sriya

Record your answers in the link below.

https://docs.google.com/a/hyderabad.bits-pilani.ac.in/forms/d/1d-PRl4ATlPU1Xme_S6P971yVybLr5bbQMvWAtvyzpv0/viewform?usp=send_form

-by Ankit Anand

1.) An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is aballistic missile with a minimum range of more than 5,500 kilometres (3,400 mi) primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more nuclear warheads).

2.) MIRVED, i.e., a single missile can contain more than 20 multiple independently targeted reentry vehicles, each armed with its own nuclear warhead.

3.) Anthropomorphize is a verb that means to ascribe human features to something. When you talk about a thing or animal as if it were human, you're anthropomorphizing it. 

4.) Non-combatant means a person who is not engaged in fighting during a war, especially a civilian, army chaplain, or army doctor.

5.)Paradigmatic - of or denoting the relationship between a set of linguistic items that form mutually exclusive choices in particular syntactic roles.

6.)Dissemination is the act of spreading something, especially information, widely; circulation

7.)Munitions - military weapons, ammunition, equipment, and stores.

8.)C4I - Command, Control, Communication, Computer and Intelligence

9.)Reconnaissance - military observation of a region to locate an enemy or ascertain strategic features.

Naman and Sriya - What about your work. Yous is not as extensive? We live in a competitive world!

-by Ankit Anand

Weapon Designing and Technology has various applications in defense and security sectors. There are a wide range of weaponry used by army, air force and navy.But, i would like to recommend some new ways in which this can be put to use.

1.) Defense Mechanisms can be developed which can detect as well as protect us from any meteorites coming towards the earth. (Possibly by destroying it before contact)

2.) Recyclable and biodegradable weapons or explosives are a good way to reduce the environmental effects. If this idea is used, it will be a great boon to the mother nature in the long run.

3.) Avoiding unnecessary use and experimentation of chemical and nuclear weapons will reduce health issues. Also, availability of weapons must be limited to only the ones who really require it. (US Army has been one of those involved in the experimentation.)

The feasible application of modern weapon technology will be production and use of recyclable and bio-degradable weaponry and explosives as we have good enough technology to develop these environment-friendly weapons. With the support of government, media and social organizations, the technology can also be used extensively. In the long run, it will prove to be a significant step to curb the menace of environment degradation.

This technology of bio-degradable weapons can specifically be applied to ground weapons (like explosives, bullets etc.) and missiles (probably.

At last, I would like to thank you for providing us with this opportunity.