Chemical Warfare
Chemical Warfare
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Chemical warfare definition
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warfare using the toxic properties of chemical substances to kill, injure or incapacitate an enemy.
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Use of lethal or incapacitating chemical weapons in war, and the methods of combating such agents
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Chemical warfare technology
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Chemical weapon agents
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Persistency
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All chemical weapon agents are classified according to their persistency, a measure of the length of time that a chemical agent remains effective after dissemination. Chemical agents are classified as persistent or nonpersistent.
Agents classified as nonpersistent lose effectiveness after only a few minutes or hours. Purely gaseous agents such as chlorine are nonpersistent, as are highly volatile agents such as sarin and most other nerve agents. Tactically, nonpersistent agents are very useful against targets that are to be taken over and controlled very quickly. Generally speaking, nonpersistent agents present only an inhalation hazard.
By contrast, persistent agents tend to remain in the environment for as long as a week, complicating decontamination. Defense against persistent agents requires shielding for extended periods of time. Non-volatile liquid agents, such as blister agents and the oily VX nerve agent, do not easily evaporate into a gas, and therefore present primarily a contact hazard.
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Classes of chemical weapon agents
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Chemical weapon agents are organized into several categories according to the manner in which they affect the human body. The names and number of categories varies slightly from source to source,
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Chemical weapon designations
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Most chemical weapons are assigned a one- to three-letter “NATO weapon designation” in addition to, or in place of, a common name. Binary munitions, in which precursors for chemical weapon agents are automatically mixed in shell to produce the agent just prior to its use, are indicated by a “-2″ following the agent’s designation (for example, GB-2 and VX-2).
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Chemical agent delivery
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The most important factor in the effectiveness of chemical weapons is the efficiency of its delivery, or dissemination, to a target. The most common techniques include munitions (such as bombs, projectiles, warheads) that allow dissemination at a distance and spray tanks which disseminate from low-flying aircraft. Developments in the techniques of filling and storage of munitions have also been important.
Although there have been many advances in chemical weapon delivery since World War I, it is still difficult to achieve effective dispersion. The dissemination is highly dependent on atmospheric conditions because many chemical agents act in gaseous form. Thus, weather observations and forecasting are essential to optimize weapon delivery and reduce the risk of injuring friendly forces.
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Dispersion
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Dispersion is the simplest technique of delivering an agent to its target. It consists of placing the chemical agent upon or adjacent to a target immediately before dissemination, so that the material is most efficiently used.
World War I saw the earliest implementation of this technique, when German forces simply opened canisters of chlorine and allowed the wind to carry the gas across enemy lines. While simple and easy, this technique had numerous disadvantages. Delivery depended greatly on wind speed and direction.
non-explosive artillery
1950s and early 1960s, chemical artillery rockets
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Thermal dissemination
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Thermal dissemination is the use of explosives or pyrotechnics to deliver chemical agents.
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Aerodynamic dissemination
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Aerodynamic dissemination is the non-explosive delivery of a chemical agent from an aircraft, allowing aerodynamic stress to disseminate the agent.
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History
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Chemical warfare in ancient and classical times
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Chemical weapons have been used for millennia in the form of poisoned arrows
during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. Spartan forces besieging an Athenian city placed a lighted mixture of wood, pitch, and sulfur under the walls hoping that the noxious smoke would incapacitate the Athenians, so that they would not be able to resist the assault that followed
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The rediscovery of chemical warfare
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During the Renaissance, people again considered using chemical warfare. One of the earliest such references is from Leonardo da Vinci, who proposed a powder of sulfide of arsenic
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Chemical warfare in World War I
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The French were the first to use chemical weapons during the First World War, using tear gas
Germans attacked French, Canadian and Algerian troops with chlorine gas.
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Chemical warfare in the interwar years
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After World War I, the United States and many of the European powers attempted to take advantage of the opportunities that the war created by attempting to establish and hold colonies. During this interwar period, chemical agents were occasionally used to subdue populations and suppress rebellion.
In 1935 Fascist Italy used mustard gas during the invasion of Ethiopia in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. Ignoring the Geneva Protocol, which it signed seven years earlier, the Italian military dropped mustard gas in bombs, sprayed it from airplanes, and spread it in powdered form on the ground. 15,000 chemical casualties were reported, mostly from mustard gas.
The Soviet Union also employed poison gas on its own people during the interwar period. Soviet commander Mikhail Tukhachevsky used chemical weapons in the 1921 suppression of a massive peasant uprising around Tambov.
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Chemical warfare in World War II
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During World War II, chemical warfare was revolutionized by Nazi Germany’s accidental discovery of the nerve agents tabun, sarin and soman.
The Japanese used mustard gas
German–manufactured “fine white powder,” and instructions from the Mufti to dump chemicals into the Tel Aviv water system.
The Nazis used the insecticide Zyklon B, which contains hydrogen cyanide, to kill large numbers of victims in concentration camps
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Chemical warfare during the Cold War
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Developments by the Western governments
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After World War II, the Allies recovered German artillery shells containing the three German nerve agents of the day (tabun, sarin, and soman), prompting further research into nerve agents by all of the former Allies. Although the threat of global thermonuclear annihilation was foremost in the minds of most during the Cold War, both the Soviet and Western governments put enormous resources into developing chemical and biological weapons.
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United States Senate Report
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A 1994 United States Senate Report, entitled “Is military research hazardous to veterans health? Lessons spanning a half century,”[4] detailed the United States’ Department of Defense practice of experimenting on animal and human subjects, often without a latter’s knowledge or consent. [5] This included:
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Developments by the Soviet government
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Due to the secrecy of the Soviet Union’s government, very little information was available about the direction and progress of the Soviet chemical weapons until relatively recently. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russian chemist Vil Mirzayanov published articles revealing illegal chemical weapons experimentation in Russia.
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Chemical warfare in the Iran-Iraq War
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The Iran-Iraq War began in 1980 when Iraq attacked Iran. Early in the conflict, Iraq began to employ mustard gas and tabun delivered by bombs dropped from airplanes; approximately 5% of all Iranian casualties are directly attributable to the use of these agents. Iraq and the U.S. government alleged that Iran was also using chemical weapons, but independent sources were unable to confirm these allegations.
About 100,000 Iranian soldiers were victims of Iraq’s chemical attacks. Many were hit by mustard gas.
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Chemical weapons and terrorism
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In 2001, after carrying out the attacks in New York City on September 11, the organization Al Qaeda announced that they were attempting to acquire radiological, biological and chemical weapons. This threat was lent a great deal of credibility when a large archive of videotapes was obtained by the cable television network CNN in August of 2002 showing, among other things, the killing of three dogs by an apparent nerve agent.
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Example: VX Gas
methylphosphonothioic acid, S-[2-[bis(1-methylethyl)amino]ethyl]- O-ethyl ester
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In the film “The Rock”, it was that “green” that the terrorists threatened San Francisco Bay area
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In a combat situation, VX Gas would be deployed by detonating a container (e.g. a missile) of gas over the target area.
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VX Gas has an LD50 (dose toxic to 50% of victims) is the lowest of any known compound at only 10mg (a raindrop weighs about 50mg).
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VX Gas is easily absorbed into the body, and inhalation at concentrations as low as 30mg per cubic meter kills within fifteen minutes.
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VX Gas disrupts the passage of messages between nerves, and from nerves to muscles.
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It operates by cutting off the nervous system
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VX Gas causes many symptoms, and usually kills.
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VX Gas has effective antidotes if treated promptly.
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The International Chemical Weapons Convention bans the use of nerve agents (including VX Gas), and requires all stockpiles to be destroyed by 2007.
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UN weapons inspectors have found EMPTA, a VX precursor, in Iraqi factories, and at the site of the 1998 US bombardment of factories in The Sudan
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Agent Identification and Common Name(s) |
Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) Name |
Chemical Structure |
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Comments
One Response to “Chemical Warfare”
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Reading about all the chemicals is scary, I’m sure there are more that we know by now. I wonder now that Russia has invaded Georgia if they have started their biological or chemical warfare program again? Looks like we won’t have to worry about global warming, we’re going to all destroy ourselves.
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