The Times They Are A Changing

One problem of knowledge is that it is often getting obsolete. Take the 5.56 NATO round that the M16 fires. It has been in use since 1977. It has been some improvement but there is nothing revolutionary about the advancements. Yet several people including me were taken by the issues that the M4 carbine that replaced the US Army M16. We understood that the short barrel of the M4 would have resulted in shorter range for the same cartridge. Yet the fact that firing the M4 would result in the same cartridge having less kinetic energy than being fired from an M16 was news to me. The reason is that the cartridge's propellant had not completely combusted when the bullet has left the barrel. This explains the greater flash and noise when the round was fired from the M4. 

Another example is that of stealth aircraft. It used to be that to get a plane stealth abilities, you had to build a new plane from scratch. Recently, it turned out that the latest model F15 is stealthier. The latest F18 can be configured to a stealth mode if needed. The stealth mode of the F18 and F15 may not be as capable as the existing stealth fighters but it is still impressive. 

Or take the example of night vision scopes. The first generation scope was almost 3 Kg. Its accessories (Eg. batteries) was another 10 Kg. If you wanted a standalone device, you had to wait for two decades and it was still a hefty 3 Kg. Today, you can purchase a commercial night scope attachment that is about 1 Kg and attach it to a rifle scope to get low light visibility. 

All these facts are not groundbreaking or even significant except that they help underline the point that military hardware technology trivial has a short life span.