THE DEVELOPMENT OF MILITARY TECHNOLOGY

Harry Davis

Peer Reviewed

Abstract:	I Consider It an honor and a privilege to be the keynoter for this symposium on Low Cost Navigation. We have assembled here an important segment of the team of science, industry and Government that is responsible for many important achievements for our defense efforts. Added to the honor of speaking here is the privilege to select an interesting and important topie. Many of us in Washington, D.C. have been observing with some concern a growth of a thesis which states that because we have so many missiles and bombers, we can and should curb our military research and development. This thesis is sometimes called the “overkill” thesis because it states that our administration is planning too many weapons which can kill large number of cities many times over. Such criticism of our present policies challenge the basis of a viable military research and development program. Less than three weeks ago, at a speech given out here on the West Coast Dr. McMillan, the Under Secretary of the Air Force, pointed out that the “overkill” argument challenges “more than the basis of our research and development program; it is aimed directly at our present national strategic policy.” While the issue of the “overkill” or finite deterrence could be an interesting subject in itself, I believe it to be more appropriate at this time to discuss military research and development. I come to this conclusion because you, the members of this audience, are mostly concerned with inertial guidance and, obviously, the future of inertial guidance and navigation is bound to the future of military research and development.
Published in:	NAVIGATION: Journal of the Institute of Navigation, Volume 11, Number 1
Pages:	38 - 45
Cite this article:	Davis, Harry, "THE DEVELOPMENT OF MILITARY TECHNOLOGY", NAVIGATION: Journal of The Institute of Navigation, Vol. 11, No. 1, Spring 1964, pp. 38-45.
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