ARL-SR-0417 - Initial Data Sets for Explorations in Long-Range Forecasting of Military Technologies | U.S. Army Research Laboratory

摘要

This report documents two initial data sets prepared by the author for exploratory investigations into feasibility of long-range trend analysis in the properties of military technologies. The data were extracted primarily from widely available open sources. The time period ranges from 1000 CE to 2015. The types of military weapon systems considered in these data sets are generally a few selected classes of direct-fire ground-mobile systems, such as infantry small arms (ranging from longbows and crossbows to modern assault rifles), cannons, tanks, tank destroyers, and so on. The records in the data sets cover, for example, the year when a system first appeared, the muzzle velocity of the projectile, the effective range of the weapon, the mass of the system, the motive power of the system, and so on. The report includes the data, notes on the sources and limitations of the data, and brief examples of possible uses of the data.