List of military inventions
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A military invention is an invention that was first created by a military. There are many inventions that were originally created by the military and subsequently found civilian uses.
Military inventions with civilian uses[edit]
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
NameDate inventedInvented byOriginal purposeCivilian usesASDIC 1910s
United Kingdom
France Submarine detection Sonar
Aircraft tracking radar mid-1930s Royal Air Force[1][2] Early warning radar, air defence systems Air traffic control systems, microwave oven
Walkie-talkie 1930s
Canada (Donald Hings)[3]
United States (Alfred J. Gross, Motorola SCR-300) Portable two-way radio communications system for military Portable radio communications – business, public safety, marine, amateur radio, CB radio
Night vision 1939 - 1940s
Nazi Germany
United States Visibility for military personnel in low light situations Low light photography, surveillance
Duct tape 1942 United States Sealing ammunition cases Multiple uses
Ballistic missiles 1940s Nazi Germany
Soviet Union Long range attack Space exploration, launch of communication, weather and global positioning satellites
Nuclear technology 1940s United States
United Kingdom
Canada
(Manhattan Project) Nuclear weapons Nuclear medicine, nuclear power
Jet engine 1940s Nazi Germany (Hans von Ohain)
Royal Air Force (Frank Whittle) Jet fighters, jet bombers Airliners
Digital photography 1960s
United States
Soviet Union Spy satellites, eliminated the need to recover deorbited film canisters Cameras
Internet 1960s - 1970s United States (ARPANET)[4]
United Kingdom (NPL network)[4]
France (CYCLADES)[4] Reliable computer networking Led to invention of the World Wide Web by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee; subsequently widespread availability of information, telecommunication and electronic commerce
Satellite navigation 1970s United States Air Force
Soviet Union Nuclear weapons force multiplier, increased warhead accuracy through precise navigation Navigation, personal tracking
Sanitary Napkins 1920s United Kingdom
France Prevent bleeding using cellulose in bandages. British & American nurses picked up the bandages and started using them as Sanitary Napkins.
See also[edit]
Allied technological cooperation during World War II
List of emerging military technologies
References[edit]
^ Angela Hind (February 5, 2007). "Briefcase 'that changed the world'". BBC News. Retrieved 2007-08-16. It not only changed the course of the war by allowing us to develop airborne radar systems, it remains the key piece of technology that lies at the heart of your microwave oven today. The cavity magnetron's invention changed the world.
^ Harford, Tim (9 October 2017). "How the search for a 'death ray' led to radar". BBC World Service. Retrieved 9 October 2017. But by 1940, it was the British who had made a spectacular breakthrough: the resonant cavity magnetron, a radar transmitter far more powerful than its predecessors.... The magnetron stunned the Americans. Their research was years off the pace.
^ Don-Hings-Walkie-Talkie-Development.PDF[permanent dead link]
^ Jump up to:a b c Kim, Byung-Keun (2005). Internationalising the Internet the Co-evolution of Influence and Technology. Edward Elgar. pp. 51–55. ISBN 1845426754; Hauben, Ronda (1 May 2004). "The Internet: On its International Origins and Collaborative Vision A Work In-Progress". Retrieved 25 September 2017; by Vinton Cerf, as told to Bernard Aboba (1993). "How the Internet Came to Be". Retrieved 25 September 2017. We began doing concurrent implementations at Stanford, BBN, and University College London. So effort at developing the Internet protocols was international from the beginning.; "The Computer History Museum, SRI International, and BBN Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of First ARPANET Transmission, Precursor to Today's Internet". SRI International. 27 October 2009. Retrieved 25 September 2017. But the ARPANET itself had now become an island, with no links to the other networks that had sprung up. By the early1970s, researchers in France, the UK, and the U.S. began developing ways of connecting networks to each other, a process known as internetworking.
Jump to navigationJump to search
A military invention is an invention that was first created by a military. There are many inventions that were originally created by the military and subsequently found civilian uses.
Military inventions with civilian uses[edit]
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
NameDate inventedInvented byOriginal purposeCivilian usesASDIC 1910s
United Kingdom France Submarine detection SonarAircraft tracking radar mid-1930s
Royal Air Force[1][2] Early warning radar, air defence systems Air traffic control systems, microwave ovenWalkie-talkie 1930s
Canada (Donald Hings)[3] United States (Alfred J. Gross, Motorola SCR-300) Portable two-way radio communications system for military Portable radio communications – business, public safety, marine, amateur radio, CB radioNight vision 1939 - 1940s
Nazi Germany United States Visibility for military personnel in low light situations Low light photography, surveillanceDuct tape 1942
United States Sealing ammunition cases Multiple usesBallistic missiles 1940s
Nazi Germany Soviet Union Long range attack Space exploration, launch of communication, weather and global positioning satellitesNuclear technology 1940s
United States United Kingdom Canada(Manhattan Project) Nuclear weapons Nuclear medicine, nuclear power
Jet engine 1940s
Nazi Germany (Hans von Ohain) Royal Air Force (Frank Whittle) Jet fighters, jet bombers AirlinersDigital photography 1960s
United States Soviet Union Spy satellites, eliminated the need to recover deorbited film canisters CamerasInternet 1960s - 1970s
United States (ARPANET)[4] United Kingdom (NPL network)[4] France (CYCLADES)[4] Reliable computer networking Led to invention of the World Wide Web by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee; subsequently widespread availability of information, telecommunication and electronic commerceSatellite navigation 1970s
United States Air Force Soviet Union Nuclear weapons force multiplier, increased warhead accuracy through precise navigation Navigation, personal trackingSanitary Napkins 1920s
United Kingdom France Prevent bleeding using cellulose in bandages. British & American nurses picked up the bandages and started using them as Sanitary Napkins.See also[edit]
Allied technological cooperation during World War II
List of emerging military technologies
References[edit]
^ Angela Hind (February 5, 2007). "Briefcase 'that changed the world'". BBC News. Retrieved 2007-08-16. It not only changed the course of the war by allowing us to develop airborne radar systems, it remains the key piece of technology that lies at the heart of your microwave oven today. The cavity magnetron's invention changed the world.
^ Harford, Tim (9 October 2017). "How the search for a 'death ray' led to radar". BBC World Service. Retrieved 9 October 2017. But by 1940, it was the British who had made a spectacular breakthrough: the resonant cavity magnetron, a radar transmitter far more powerful than its predecessors.... The magnetron stunned the Americans. Their research was years off the pace.
^ Don-Hings-Walkie-Talkie-Development.PDF[permanent dead link]
^ Jump up to:a b c Kim, Byung-Keun (2005). Internationalising the Internet the Co-evolution of Influence and Technology. Edward Elgar. pp. 51–55. ISBN 1845426754; Hauben, Ronda (1 May 2004). "The Internet: On its International Origins and Collaborative Vision A Work In-Progress". Retrieved 25 September 2017; by Vinton Cerf, as told to Bernard Aboba (1993). "How the Internet Came to Be". Retrieved 25 September 2017. We began doing concurrent implementations at Stanford, BBN, and University College London. So effort at developing the Internet protocols was international from the beginning.; "The Computer History Museum, SRI International, and BBN Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of First ARPANET Transmission, Precursor to Today's Internet". SRI International. 27 October 2009. Retrieved 25 September 2017. But the ARPANET itself had now become an island, with no links to the other networks that had sprung up. By the early1970s, researchers in France, the UK, and the U.S. began developing ways of connecting networks to each other, a process known as internetworking.
