The High Tech War Machine

It's a tableau forever etched in the annals of warfare: On Sept. 2, 1945, underneath the menacing, 16-inch guns of the battleship Missouri, Japanese officials signed the articles of surrender, ending World War II. Nearly half a century later, a few hours after midnight local time on Jan. 17, 1991, the Missouri helped open a new chapter in military history--what Army General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, the commander of Desert Storm, calls "technology war."

The war began with Tomahawk cruise missiles streaking from the decks of the 47-year-old Missouri and its sister battleship, the Wisconsin. Crammed with computers, the robot bombs skimmed across the Persian Gulf toward targets inside Iraq, far beyond the 27-mile range of a battleship's big guns. Close behind followed a multinational swarm of computerized jet fighters and bombers--stealthy F-117s, Wild Weasels, Tornados, Intruders, and Hornets, among others -- firing missiles and laser-guided bombs, often with deadeye aim.