DoD ABCs

Every month, the Department of Defense updates a nearly 500 page-long dictionary of military terminology that is chock full of surprising definitions. Some entries are bafflingly longwinded ways of describing simple things:

"Beach - 1. The area extending from the shoreline inland to a marked change in physiographic form or material, or to the line of permanent vegetation (coastline). 2. In amphibious operations, that portion of the shoreline designated for landing of a tactical organization."

Other entries define common phrases in ways that reveal a great deal about the differences between civilian and military mindsets:

"Act of mercy - In personnel recovery, assistance rendered to evaders by an individual or elements of the local population who sympathize or empathize with the evaders' cause or plight."

"Acceptability - The joint operation plan review criterion for assessing whether the contemplated course of action is proportional, worth the cost, consistent with the law of war, and is militarily and politically supportable."

Several definitions caught my eye as they pertain to technologies and sciences that are not commonly mentioned outside of the military world. In the coming weeks I hope to explore the DoD vocabulary further and find relevant technologies and terminologies to discuss. Below are three definitions to start. Get excited!

An air-breathing rocket uses oxygen from the atmosphere to cause combustion, as opposed to a liquid oxidizer. Conventional rocket technology propels the air-breathing rocket to twice the speed of sound before the atmosphere's oxygen can be used. Image via Oracle.

"Air-breathing missile - A missile with an engine requiring the intake of air for combustion of its fuel, as in a ramjet or turbojet."

The different phases of twilight have varying consequences for whether or not artificial lighting effectively aids our natural vision. Image via Wikipedia.  

"BMCT, or Begin morning civil twilight - The period of time at which the sun is halfway between morning and nautical twilight and sunrise, when there is enough light to see objects clearly with the unaided eye. At this time, light intensification devices are no longer effective, and the sun is six degrees below the easter horizon."

Chaff is like a smokescreen for fighter jets to confuse SAM (surface to air missile) technologies. It is made of small glass fibers coated in zinc. Image via aerospaceweb.

"Chaff - Radar confusion reflectors, consisting of thin, narrow metallic strips of various lengths and frequency responses, which are used to reflect echoes for confusion purposes."