Oceans no longer acted as barriers to foreign aggressors. Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, or ICBMs, completely changed the nature of warfare because they could deliver nuclear warheads over very long distances. Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) In the new generation or fighter-bombers, maneuverability and multirole capability became as important as speed. In the wake of the Vietnam War, emphasis on speed diminished. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution. After test pilot Chuck Yeager’s Bell X-1 achieved the first supersonic flight in October 1947, other test pilots went on to push the envelope of high-speed flight even further with aircraft the like Bell X-2 and X-15.Ī type S1030 full-pressure suit and helmet for SR-71 crews from 1990. In the late 1940s military and civilian researchers created a new generation of high-speed aircraft that served as flying laboratories over California’s Edwards Air Force Base. Both of these technologies transformed warfare and the lives of people across the globe.ĭuring the Cold War, the United States was determined to eclipse the Soviet Union’s superiority in number. Two major breakthroughs occurred during these decades: high-speed jet aircraft and the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Speed also played a part in the new technology produced during the Cold War. Both nations raced to stay ahead of the other through massive buildups of conventional and nuclear weapons. Speed was center of both countries’ Cold War strategies. A McDonnell F-4B (F4H-1) Phantom II (NL 210) in vertical climb, circa 1973.
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