Weapons Races

Discover the most powerful manned jet in the world; The Lockheed F-22 Raptor. Its extraordinary capability is the result of a weapons race to evolve the perfect combat aircraft which began well before Frank Whittle invented the jet engine.

The most fearsome tank on today’s battlefield is the US M-1A2 Abrams, virtually impregnable, fast, and capable of destroying an opponent many miles away. It is the most perfect example of a weapons race which began over 90 years ago.

As soon as the idea of strategic bombing was conceived, men began to look at ways of detecting them – or at evading this detection.

Discover the weapons race which continued with the Soviet Union using every means possible – particularly espionage - to catch up with the United States, and then competing to produce smaller and more deadly bombs.

For centuries men dreamed of machines which could win wars without slaughter on the ground. In today’s Northrop B-2A Spirit stealth bomber we seem to have reached this ideal.

From the moment the first German V-2 rocket exploded on London, the weapons race was on to develop more powerful strategic ballistic missiles with greater range, payload and accuracy.

As soon as it was realised that nuclear propulsion would enable submarines to achieve their full potential as undetectable killers, the race was on both to get nuclear power to sea, and then to develop the capabilities of this revolutionary weapon.

Today, massive nuclear-powered aircraft carriers like the USS Ronald Reagan are the ultimate examples of a weapons race which began during World War 1.