Prove Your Know-How With This Military Innovations Quiz

The early origins of radar, which stands for “radio detection and ranging,” date back to the 19th century, but the system we know today was invented in 1935 by British physicist Robert Watson-Watt. In 1939, Britain installed a series of radar stations along its south and east coasts, and the technology proved to be a crucial part of Britain’s air defense network during the Battle of Britain the following year.

The military’s investigation into direct-energy weapons and microwaves eventually produced the microwave oven. Duct tape helped keep moisture out of ammunition cases, and the early internet, called ARPAnet, was funded by the R&D arm of the Department of Defense. However, the jet ski was first envisioned as a “motorcycle for the water” by American inventor Clayton Jacobson II in the 1960s.

Horses have been used in combat to pull chariots since at least 1500 BCE, but scholars believe it was the Scythians — a nomadic tribe from the Eurasian Steppe region — who were one of the first to master the art of fighting on horseback. Scythian warriors were mostly archers, and the importance of horses in Scythian culture can be seen in artifacts recovered from their ancient burial grounds.

On October 25, 1415, England’s King Henry V faced down a larger and better-trained French army at the Battle of Agincourt. But Henry had an ace up his sleeve: the longbow. Around 5,000 longbowmen unleashed 75,000 arrows in just one minute, which utterly devastated the French. The battle became a turning point for British ambitions in Europe.

Some of the first unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, took flight in the mid-19th century and resembled hot air balloons. In the 21st century, military drones like the MQ-1 Predator, the MQ-9 Reaper, and the RQ-7 Shadow completely changed the face of war, and today, an estimated one-third of U.S. military aircraft don’t have any pilots at all.

The V-2, or Vengeance Weapon 2 rocket, was a missile used by Nazi Germany during World War II. Although designed as a weapon of war, the V-2 was the precursor to today’s modern space rocket. This missile was designed by German aerospace engineer Wernher von Braun, who went on to design the Saturn V rockets that propelled the Apollo missions to the moon in the 1960s and ’70s.

Launched on April 13, 1960, the Navy Transit 1B was the first navigational satellite in orbit, marking the early beginnings of what would become the Global Positioning System, or GPS. The system was used for aiding navigation for the Navy’s submarine-based Polaris missile. Today, GPS technology is accessible to the greater population.

Facing the threat of aerial attacks during WWI, the French army employed camouflage specialists, or "camoufleurs," to disguise targets and equipment. Camoufleurs painted buildings and covered equipment in netting woven with leaves. In time, these efforts became more elaborate: Soldiers were concealed inside hollow fake trees, and uniforms changed from bold and bright to subdued and stealthy.

While Hedy Lamarr entertained audiences on the silver screen, she spent her personal time inventing. To aid the Allied Powers, Lamarr and her friend George Antheil invented a frequency-hopping spread spectrum, which transmitted radio signals by quickly changing the carrier frequency to disguise the signal. Versions of her technology have been used in early Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Portable two-way radios known as walkie-talkies were invented in the late 1930s, but World War II became the technology’s proving grounds. The short-range devices allowed battalion headquarters to coordinate the movement of troops over large areas, and the technology likely saved many soldiers’ lives.

Archeological evidence shows the crossbow was first developed in China around 2000 BCE during the Copper Age. Crossbows included a mechanical release that propelled arrows with more force than an ordinary bow. Later, between the 3rd and 2nd century BCE, the Greeks and Romans also used crossbows, but after the fall of the Roman Empire, the crossbow wasn’t used in Europe again until the Middle Ages.

During World War I, the British military adopted the word “tank” to disguise the vehicle they were building. To prying eyes, “tank” appeared to suggest containers transporting fresh water to the front lines. Tank became the official codeword for the vehicle in December 1915.

Submarines may seem like a modern innovation, but early versions of an underwater ship were used during the American Revolution. In 1775, inventor David Bushnell created "The Turtle," a one-man wooden craft that traveled underwater, propelled by a hand crank and a foot pedal. Though early efforts to pilot the ship failed, George Washington is said to have proclaimed it an “effort of genius."

The French military first adopted the bayonet in 1671. Originally, the bayonet was used to hunt large game by attaching a knife to the end of a musket. Hunters sought out quality knives that were made in Bayonne, France, and it was after this town that the bayonet was named.

In 1937, the British developed new battle dresses that included large pockets on pants. The innovation caught on with U.S. paratroopers during World War II, and the aerial units’ inspiring successes in battle made cargo pants standard issue by the 1950s. It would take a few more decades, but cargo pants eventually became a civilian fashion statement in the 1990s.

During the American Civil War, 15,000 miles of telegraph cables were laid exclusively for military use. The telegraph, invented by Samuel Morse in 1844, allowed the military to report and receive communications behind the frontlines, and field commanders used the telegraph to quickly issue orders for strategizing their forces.

In 1929, the U.S. Army Air Corps contracted Bausch & Lomb to develop glasses that would block the sun from pilots’ eyes during flight. The aviator-style goggles they created are known for their signature convex shape that cover the eye’s entire field of vision. In 1937, the company rebranded a version of aviator sunglasses as Ray-Bans and sold them to civilians.

The Manhattan Project is the most important — and arguably the most secretive — military project in U.S. history. From 1942 to 1945, government scientists led by J. Robert Oppenheimer developed the world’s first atomic bomb. The first detonation occurred on July 16, 1945, at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Within a month, the U.S. used the weapon against Japan in an effort to end World War II.

During World War II, the American Bantam Car Company developed the Jeep for the U.S. Army, which requested a lightweight, fast, four-wheel drive vehicle for reconnaissance. The Jeep, a nickname for the General Purpose vehicle, was used throughout the war and became key to the Allied victory. Surplus Jeeps were sold to the public after the war and production continued due to its popularity.

According to 9th-century Taoist texts, gunpowder was most likely developed in China as an accidental byproduct of experiments looking to create the elixir of life. Gunpowder would slowly make its way onto the battlefield in the 10th century with its use for fire arrows before eventually being used as a weapon in bombs, fire lances, and guns.