Doors in the sky: Detection, localization and classification of aerial vehicles using laser mesh

Stealth technology and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are expected to dominate current and future aerial warfare. The radar systems at their maximum operating ranges, however, are not always able to detect stealth and small UAVs mainly due to their small radar cross sections and/or low altitudes. In this paper, a novel technique as an alternative to radar technology is proposed. The proposed approach is based on creating a mesh structure of laser beams initiated from aerial platforms towards the ground. The laser mesh acts as a virtual net in the sky. Any aerial vehicle disrupting the path of the laser beams are detected and subsequently localized and tracked. As an additional feature, steering of the beams can be used for increased coverage and improved localization and classification performance. A database of different types of aerial vehicles is created artificially based on Gaussian distributions. The database is used to develop several Machine Learning (ML) models using different algorithms to classify a target. Overall, we demonstrated through simulations that our proposed model achieves simultaneous detection, classification, localization, and tracking of a target.

World War II in Film

World War II was unprecedented both in its magnitude and its horror. The massive conflict—which lasted six years, spread across thirty countries, and involved some seventy million combatants—left more dead, both civilian and military, than any other war in history. As if the brutality of the Blitz, Bastogne, Guadalcanal, the siege of Leningrad, the bombing of Dresden, the D-Day invasion, and countless other instances of death and carnage were not enough, there were Hiroshima and Nagasaki—and, of course, the unfathomable evil of the Holocaust. The nature of that evil, the stark polarization of the world between the Allies and Axis powers, the storytelling potential of men and women confronting the dangers of combat or the challenges of life on the home front, and the propagandistic capacities of the film medium all help to explain the powerful pull that World War II has exerted on filmmakers. Yet another factor is the sheer diversity of the contexts in which the war unfolded. There were the multiple theaters of war in Europe, the Pacific, and North Africa; the expansion of naval and aerial warfare in addition to land combat; new and frightening technologies of destruction culminating in the apocalyptic power of the atom bomb; widespread social changes resulting from the war; the exploits of antifascist Resistance movements; and the multiple dimensions of the Holocaust. These varied and numerous facets of the war seem almost to demand some form of cinematic representation—the result being an enormous, and still growing, number of films dealing with World War II. That the war’s beginning coincided with the maturation of the global film industry—and, ironically, with what has often been called Hollywood’s greatest year, 1939—only underscores the seemingly inevitable association of this war with its renderings on screen. Recent scholarship on World War II has shifted its emphasis from those in high command to the subaltern perspectives of the rank and file; a similar pattern has gradually emerged in film. To be sure, some earlier productions also emphasized the perspectives of common soldiers—two famous examples are The Story of GI Joe and Ballad of a Soldier. But this tendency has become more prevalent in recent years, so that once popular movies about generals (e.g., Patton and Tora, Tora, Tora) have given way to films that focus on enlistees and lower-ranking officers, such as Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, Dunkirk, and The Pacific, among others. Moreover, films today increasingly depict the participation of women and racial minorities in the war (as in Pearl Harbor and Fury). Black fighting units especially have received more attention in such films as Red Tails, The Tuskegee Airmen, and Miracle at St. Anna. These and other patterns of historical continuity and change in films of World War II receive attention in the scholarly studies reviewed in this essay. And, not surprisingly, the scholarship about World War II films is immense. To keep the list of citations manageable, the focus here is primarily on feature films, with categories including broad-based overviews, studies of individual directors, and discussions of such issues as genre, gender, race, the Holocaust, and the war’s depiction in different national cinemas. These categories are intended not to be comprehensive, but rather to indicate the range of scholarly work already completed, and to suggest pathways for yet further explorations of a seemingly infinite subject.

Re-Ordering the World from the Skies? The Emergence and Justification of Aerial Warfare

Thomas Hippler’s contribution focuses on the justifications of aerial bombing in the context of the inception of air warfare in the early twentieth century, especially, but not exclusively, in the realm of strategic thinking. The main purpose of the chapter is to point out the conceptions of international order behind the different justifications of aerial warfare and air strikes, in particular with regard to the strategic choice to target civil populations, which was first implemented through the concept of colonial ‘police bombing’ before being employed in strategic bombing campaigns. Hippler’s short genealogy of aerial bombings and their justifications interestingly reminds one of the local practices of declaring war and peace by early modern conquistadores (Arnulf Becker Lorca’s chapter) and nineteenth-century imperial agents (Lauren Benton’s chapter): as Thomas Hippler argues, with aerial warfare a new form of governance emerged, which (not least in its justification) points to a disturbing link to democracy.

Using KOCOA Military Terrain Analysis for the Assessment of Twentieth Century Battlefield Landscapes

Military terrain analysis serves as a tool to examine a battle commander’s view of a battlefield and permits to hindcast some of the rationale for actions taken. This can be augmented by physical evidence of the remains of the battle that still exist in the cultural landscape. In the case of World War II-era battlefields, such terrain analysis has to take into account the influence of aerial warfare—the interrelationship between attacking aircraft and the siting of anti-aircraft guns. This paper examines these issues using the case example of the Japanese WWII-era base on Kiska in the Aleutian Islands (Alaska).

Aerial Warfare: A Very Short Introduction

Aerial warfare has dominated war-making for over 100 years, and despite regular announcements of its demise, it shows no sign of becoming obsolete. Aerial Warfare: A Very Short Introduction looks at the history of aerial warfare, introducing the major battles, crises, and controversies where air power has taken centre stage, and the changes in technology and air power capabilities over time. Highlighting the role played by air power in the First and Second World Wars, it also sheds light on the lesser-known theatres where the roles of air forces have been clearly decisive in conflicts in Africa, South America, and Asia. It also considers whether there is a future for manned air power.

6. Cold War 1945–1982

In August 1945, a new conflict began between the largely liberal and capitalist West, led by the USA, and the Communist bloc led by the USSR. ‘Cold War 1945–1982’ describes how during the Cold War, the USA and the USSR built vast fleets of aircraft, developing technology to deliver faster jet fighters and supersonic interceptors. Two true innovations in air power were effective air-to-air refuelling and the helicopter. The role of air power in the numerous wars of national liberation from 1945 to 1979 is described along with the development of aerial warfare in the Vietnam War, the Arab–Israeli wars (1947–82), and the Indo–Pakistan wars (1947–71).