Beyond the Conventional Arsenal: Nerve Agents, Lasers, Loitering Munitions and Hypersonic Missiles

Tabun was the first nerve agent discovered, found in late December 1936 by Gerhard Schrader while he was developing organophosphate insecticides for IG Farben. It works by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme essential to the nervous system, and the pure liquid is clear and viscous with a faint fruity or almond-like odor. Its beginnings in pesticide research set the pattern for the agents that followed.

Sarin, the NATO designation GB, was discovered in 1938 at IG Farben by scientists who were trying to create stronger pesticides. It is a colorless, odorless liquid, and a lethal dose inhaled can cause death within one to ten minutes unless antidotes are given quickly. Its production and stockpiling have been outlawed since April 1997 under the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Soman, designated GD, was developed in Germany in the summer of 1944 by Richard Kuhn and Konrad Henkel and was the third of the G-series nerve agents. It was made only in small quantities at a pilot plant at an IG Farben factory in Ludwigshafen and was never used during the Second World War. It is listed as a Schedule 1 substance under the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention.

VX was discovered in 1952 by Ranajit Ghosh and J. F. Newman at the British company Imperial Chemical Industries. Unlike the earlier G-series agents it is an oily, amber liquid with low volatility, so it persists in the environment once dispersed, and tens of milligrams can be fatal by inhalation or skin absorption. Its production and stockpiling are banned under the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention.

A railgun launches a projectile along two parallel conducting rails using electromagnetic force instead of chemical propellant, and can exceed 3 kilometers per second, well beyond the roughly 2 kilometers per second ceiling of powder guns. The idea was first introduced by the French inventor Andre Louis Octave Fauchon-Villeplee, who built a small working model in 1917. The United States Navy program achieved a record 33-megajoule shot in December 2010 but lost its funding in the 2022 budget over technical challenges including rapid barrel wear.

The Boeing YAL-1 was a modified Boeing 747-400F carrying a megawatt-class chemical oxygen iodine laser inside the aircraft. It was built to test whether tactical ballistic missiles could be destroyed from the air during their boost phase, and it first flew on July 18, 2002. It remained a prototype or experimental system rather than entering service.

The AN/SEQ-3 Laser Weapon System, also called XN-1 LaWS, was installed aboard the USS Ponce for field testing beginning in 2014. In December of that year the Navy confirmed it performed effectively against asymmetric threats such as small boats and drones and authorized its use as a defensive weapon. Operational challenges kept it from mass production, and it was succeeded by the High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance system.

The AeroVironment Switchblade is a family of man-portable loitering munitions small enough to fit in a backpack. It launches from a tube, flies to its target and detonates on impact, and takes its name from spring-loaded wings that fold inside the tube and extend after launch. Introduced in 2011, the original model was later renamed the Switchblade 300 when the larger Switchblade 600 anti-armor variant was unveiled in 2020.

The IAI Harop is a loitering munition developed by the MBT Missiles Division of Israel Aerospace Industries. It combines the endurance of an unmanned aerial vehicle with the ability to dive onto a detected target, particularly enemy air-defense radars, so it works as both a reconnaissance platform and a weapon. Turkey is reported as an early customer around 2005, and India announced its induction of the system in September 2009.

The ZALA Lancet, officially Item 52 or Item 51, is a loitering munition developed by the Russian company ZALA Aero Group, part of the Kalashnikov Concern. It was first unveiled in June 2019 at the ARMY-2019 exposition in Moscow as a development of the earlier ZALA KUB-BLA, and it has been listed as in service with Russian forces since 2020.

The 3M22 Zircon, NATO reporting name SS-N-33, is a Russian nuclear-capable missile launched from 3S-14 platforms aboard frigates and submarines. Its reported top speed of Mach 9 is disputed, with analysts describing sustained flight closer to Mach 5.5 to 6. It entered service around January 2023 and was first used in combat during the Russo-Ukrainian war.

The AGM-183 ARRW, or Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon, is a hypersonic boost-glide ballistic missile developed by Lockheed Martin for the United States Air Force, designed to exceed Mach 5. Development began in 2018 with a first captive-carry flight in June 2019, and the program was cancelled in March 2023 after repeated test failures. Development nonetheless continued quietly and was revived in 2025, so it remains under development.