The Warhead
The Quest to Build the Perfect Weapon in the Age of Modern Warfare
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4.2 • 5 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
An Apple Best Book of the Month
From award-winning journalist and coauthor of The 15:17 to Paris, an affecting human history of the first self-steering bomb
Paveway, the first "smart" bomb, was created to be a more precise and ostensibly humane weapon, reducing civilian casualties. The true impact of the bomb, however, is ever more complex and unpredictable.
In The Warhead, Jeffrey Stern tells the story of Paveway through the lives of seven interconnected stories. They're stories of Nazis, Kennedys, Operation Paperclip, and Walt Disney; of the Apollo mission and the space shuttle Challenger disaster. Paveway inadvertently sparked the personal computing revolution and the adoption of GPS, it ushered in the era of modern warfare, and it shows up at critical historical moments throughout the last half century.
At once revelatory and deeply human, The Warhead unearths the complicated truth behind one of the most significant weapons of our time.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Being able to guide a bomb precisely to its target seems like a no-brainer for waging less-bloody wars—yet as this detailed history shows, there’s more to so-called smart bombs than good intentions. The Warhead recounts the development of guided weapons, from their Nazi precursors to modern drones, showing how technological ambition, profit, and politics intersected to change warfare by distancing people from the act of killing. Author Jeffrey E. Stern not only explains the technical intricacies of smart weapons with flair, but he also never loses sight of the human stories behind them, weaving together vignettes featuring well-meaning engineers devising integral parts of the killing machines as well as those on the violent receiving end of them in Iraq. By considering all angles, Stern had us pondering whether such weapons are really more humane or just a balm for the conscience of those operating them. If you’re intrigued by war stories that will get you thinking about moral quandaries, read The Warhead.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Stern (The Mercenary) uncovers the captivating history of the first "smart" bomb and its impacts on both human lives and the evolution of technology. The Paveway self-steering missile originated in the quagmire of the Vietnam War, when the Air Force needed a precision weapon to destroy a key bridge known as the Dragon's Jaw. Weldon Word, an engineer with Texas Instruments, was tasked by the Department of Defense to find a solution. The result was a long-range missile that used TI's new semiconductor chips to navigate after being dropped. Stern tracks the Paveway from Vietnam to its subsequent deployments, often with upgraded capabilities, in hot zones around the world. Along the way he spotlights fighter pilots using the new tech; peace activists protesting against the bomb's deployment; CIA analysts wrapping their heads around the unlimited potential of a weapon that, ostensibly, removed people from the war-fighting equation; and innocent civilians on the ground who suffered the collateral damage. Stern also tracks how each new iteration of the Paveway contributed to a military technological revolution that eventually led to the easy accessibility and ubiquitousness of tech like personal computers and GPS systems. Combining cinematic storytelling with urgent reflections on the moral implications of targeted killing at the press of a button, this is an enthralling and nuanced chronicle of modern warfare.
