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63-508: Early results demonstrated that the task of shooting down missiles appeared to be beyond the state of the art , and both projects were downgraded to long-term technology studies in the summer of 1947. They moved to the US Air Force with that force's creation in fall 1947. Due to budget constraints, Thumper was cancelled in 1949 and its funds re-directed to the GAPA project. Partially due to

126-430: A "Proposed National Program for Guided Missiles", noting that missiles with "intercontinental ranges of over 3,000 miles and payload sufficient to carry atomic explosive are to be expected." They suggested that defensive measures including anti-missiles should be "accorded priority over all other National Defense projects" and that the system be capable of supersonic speeds and 100,000 yards (91 km) range. By this time

189-438: A contract with Bell Labs , who developed Nike and Hercules, to determine whether an ABM system was now within the state of the art. Bell took 18 months to deliver their response, stating that recent developments in radars, and especially transistorized computers, offered the range and performance needed for the mission. Bell was given the go-ahead to start development in 1957, under the name Nike Zeus . Almost immediately after

252-510: A direct fight to deliver an ABM system, even competing for the teams who would handle development. While all of this was going on, inter-service fighting between the Army and Air Force was reaching a crescendo. This was due largely to the Army's intermediate-range Jupiter missile , which let the Air Force to hurriedly introduce their own IRBM , Thor . The Army argued that the medium-range role

315-418: A few examples of products that have advanced the state of the art. When one of these gains a degree of industry acceptance, it begins to bridge a legal gap between what is state of the art from a design standpoint, and what is state of the art from a usage standpoint. This could place a carrier in a vulnerable position in the not too distant future. Air Materiel Command Air Materiel Command ( AMC )

378-410: A manufacturer may raise as a legal defense the assertion that their product represents the "state of the art", and that the manufacturer therefore could not have made the product any safer in light of the knowledge available at the time. For example, "[u]nder German law , the producer can also raise the state-of-the-art defense: general tort law does not hold him liable if he could not know or discover

441-484: A manufacturer's compliance with technological feasibility an absolute defense to a products liability suit". Because the state of the art is constantly advancing, the ability of manufacturers to claim that their products are "state-of-the-art" tracks their potential liability when these products are defective. As an industry magazine explained in 1984: Remote control rear view mirrors, disc brakes, automatic slack adjusters for drum brakes and sealed lighting systems are just

504-457: A new anti- ICBM system based on its Nike systems. The Air Force immediately re-activated Wizard as an entirely new project with Convair and RCA , and later added Lockheed - Raytheon and the Bell Labs - Douglas Aircraft team developing Nike. The Air Force called Wizard the "Top Defense Missile" in 1957. In 1958, with the Army's Nike Zeus system planning to enter testing and Wizard still

567-504: A new organization, AAF Materiel and Services. On 31 August 1944, AAF Materiel and Services was redesignated Army Air Forces Technical Service Command. The 4000th Army Air Forces Base Unit (Command) was among units assigned directly to AAF Technical Service Command when it was established at Wright-Patterson Field on 1 April 1944. Chico Army Air Field transferred to the ATSC on 15 October 1944. Army Air Forces Technical Service Command

630-490: A paper project, The Pentagon told the Air Force to limit their work to long-range radars. In 1959 the Air Force cancelled Wizard, stating that any ABM system was less cost effective than building more ICBMs. These arguments would also be directed against Zeus, which was cancelled in 1963. Between 1944 and 1945, about 3,600 German V-2 rockets were fired at allied targets in Europe. Armed with conventional high-explosive warheads,

693-596: A week after the creation of the USAAF itself on June 20, 1941 - to control supply and maintenance and retained the "Air Corps" designation that remained in effect for the USAAF's training and logistics units. On 11 December 1941, with United States newly engaged in World War II , these four functions were divided between two organizations. Maintenance Command was redesignated Air Service Command and kept responsibility for supply and maintenance functions. The chief of

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756-611: The 75th Air Depot Wing which was based at Chinhae Air Base in South Korea during the Korean War . In 1950, research and development were split off into a separate formation, the Air Research and Development Command . From the early 1950s to 1962, the 3079th Aviation Depot Wing under AMC, headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base , Ohio , was a weapons of mass destruction unit of key strategic importance. It

819-698: The Air School of Application in 1919 and after WW I, the department was renamed the Airplane Engineering Division on 31 August 1918, under Lt Col Jesse G. Vincent ( Packard co-engineer of the 1917 V-12 Liberty engine ) to study and design American versions of foreign aircraft. The division merged in 1926 with the Air Service's Supply Division (formed by 1919) to form the Materiel Division (Air Corps). In 1920,

882-609: The CIM-10 Bomarc . Wizard ABM efforts ended. Through the early 1950s, the entire ABM concept was largely ignored in favour of work on anti-aircraft systems. By 1954, Nike was beginning deployment and the Army was already beginning to explore advanced versions of the Nike concept that would emerge as the Hercules . Bomarc, meanwhile, was having considerable trouble at all levels. The 1959 " Missile Master Plan" later included both

945-519: The Office of the Chief of Air Corps (OCAC), possessed many characteristics of a major command. It brought together four major functions performed previously by three organizations: research and development (R&D), procurement, supply, and maintenance. With the construction of nearby Wilbur Wright Field , McCook Field was closed on 1 April 1927, and was subsequently demolished after its assets moved to

1008-520: The San Antonio Air Materiel Area in 1946. In 1946 AAF Technical Service Command was redesignated Air Materiel Command, and the air technical service commands were reorganized as Air Materiel Areas: Two further Air Materiel Areas were established in the late 1940s and early 1950s: The functions of research and development and logistics were operated separately during World War II until they were reunited for several years in

1071-829: The San Antonio Air Service Command , the San Bernardino Air Service Command , Warner Robins Air Service Command , Warner Robins, as well as five-six others. In 1944 the air service commands were redesignated air technical service commands. The Materiel Division was assumed responsibility for R&D and procurement, and was redesignated Air Corps Materiel Command on 1 April 1942. This became Air Force Materiel Command in April 1942; Materiel Command in April 1943, and AAF Materiel Command on 15 January 1944. On 17 July 1944, Air Service Command and AAF Materiel Command were placed under

1134-683: The Signal Corps started basic research into two radar systems for ABM use. By 1 April 1946 Robert P. Patterson , the Secretary of War , had signed off on an ABM. In February 1946 the War Department's Joint Committee on New Weapons and Equipment led by General Joseph Stilwell and generally known as the Stilwell Board was formed to consider the Army's post-war development priorities. On 29 May 1946 they published their report on

1197-822: The Spokane Air Technical Service Command at Spokane Army Air Field , Washington State; and Warner Robins, Georgia. In 1945, planning began for a separate, independent United States Air Force . In January 1946, General of the Army Eisenhower and Army Air Forces General Spaatz agreed on an Air Force organization of seven major commands, including the Air Technical Service Command. ATSC centers were also renamed. For example, San Antonio Air Technical Services Command at Kelly Air Force Base in Texas became

1260-610: The U.S. Army Signal Corps established a headquarters for its new Airplane Engineering Department at McCook Field , Dayton, Ohio . The Airplane Engineering Department was established by the Equipment Division of the U.S. Army Signal Corps in 1917 for World War I experimental engineering. The department had a 1917 Foreign Data Section , and the Airplane Engineering Department was on McCook Field at Dayton, Ohio. McCook Field established

1323-654: The US Army Air Force (USAAF) had already started work on anti-V-2 weapons. On 4 March 1946 they sent out a contracts to University of Michigan and General Electric for "interceptor weapons for ballistic missile defense". The contracts called for missiles capable of dealing with targets between 60,000 to 500,000 feet (18–152 km) altitude at speeds up to 4,000 miles per hour (6,400 km/h) and maximum range of 100,000 yards (91 km). The contracts were called Project Wizard and Project Thumper, respectively, and in keeping with USAAF project naming policy, given

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1386-437: The early warning radar more time to track the targets. Accordingly, both projects were downgraded to long-term technology studies in the summer of 1947, allocated $ 1 million each. With the creation of a separate United States Air Force (USAF) on 18 September 1947, the War Department divided up roles between the Army and the Air Force. There was no concern over the transfer of air-to-surface or air-to-air weapons, which went to

1449-603: The "state of the art" originated at the beginning of the 20th century. The earliest use of the term "state of the art" documented by the Oxford English Dictionary dates back to 1910, from an engineering manual by Henry Harrison Suplee (1856 – after 1943), an engineering graduate ( University of Pennsylvania , 1876), titled The Gas Turbine: Progress in the Design and Construction of Turbines Operated by Gases of Combustion . The relevant passage reads: "In

1512-756: The ASC, the step proved "most beneficial." In May 1943 the air depot control area commands were redesignated air service commands with appropriate geographical designations, and from then to the end of the war the ASC conducted its operations in the continental United States through its eleven air service commands, each serving a separate geographical area. These air service commands included the Middletown Air Service Command ( Olmsted Field , Middletown , Pennsylvania), Mobile ASC, Ogden Air Service Command , Oklahoma City Air Service Command , Rome Air Service Command , Sacramento Air Service Command ,

1575-597: The Air Force, Richard Horner , would state in 1959 that the cost of Wizard would outweigh any possible benefits, and that money would be better spent on more the offence. The arguments they outlined were so persuasive they led, ultimately, to the cancellation of the Zeus program, and continued controversy over all the ABM projects that followed it. State of the art The state of the art ( SOTA or SotA , sometimes cutting edge , leading edge , or bleeding edge ) refers to

1638-504: The Air Force, but there was considerable debate over surface-to-surface and surface-to-air (SAM) weapons. The Air Force argued that it should be placed in command of all anti-air forces, including anti-aircraft artillery , as they would be operating in concert with the AF's fighters in the defense role. Ultimately the Army retained only one of the SAM projects, Nike, as this had originally been part of

1701-675: The Air Service Command, Brig. Gen. Henry J. F. Miller , was charged with supervision in the United States of all AAF activities pertaining to storage and issue of supplies procured by the Air Corps and with overhaul, repair, maintenance, and salvage of all Air Corps equipment and supplies beyond the limits of the first two echelons of maintenance. The command was directed to compile AAF requirements for Air Corps and other supplies, to procure equipment and supplies needed for

1764-560: The Army Ordnance Department, not the Army Air Force. By 1949 increasing budget pressures along with the success of the Army's Nike led to the Air Force's MX-606 Boeing Ground-to-Air Pilotless Aircraft (GAPA) anti-aircraft project being slated for cancellation. GAPA offered range and performance similar to Nike, but was nowhere near ready for deployment, while early Nike systems were already being test flown. At

1827-505: The Army and Air Force had competing interests, including Jupiter and Thor, Nike and Bomarc, and Zeus and Wizard. Trying to solve this problem, US Secretary of Defense , Charles Erwin Wilson considered a wide variety of problems between the forces. On 26 November 1956 he ordered that the Army would be in control of "point defense" systems and that the Air Force would be responsible for "area defense" systems. This had always unofficially been

1890-701: The Engineering Division's Bureau of Aircraft Production completed the design of the Ground Attack, Experimental, (GAX) aircraft built as the Boeing GA-1 , and designed the VCP-1 that won the initial Pulitzer Race in 1920 at Roosevelt Field (the division also designed the TP-1 and TW-1). The Materiel Division was set up near Dayton, Ohio on 15 January 1926. The Materiel Division, controlled by

1953-632: The Hercules and Bomarc for SAM air defense. Ultimately, only a small Bomarc force would enter service as the Air Force moved their priorities elsewhere. Meanwhile, the nature of the strategic threat was changing once again. The Air Force had begun early studies of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) under MX-1593 in 1951, but this called for a warhead weight of 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg) and would require an enormous missile to deliver it. A test series in 1954 demonstrated highly favourable results from much lighter hydrogen bomb designs, and suddenly

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2016-518: The ICBM appeared to be a very practical possibility. A contract was awarded to Convair for what would become the SM-65 Atlas on 14 January 1955. With this change in strategic threat from aircraft to missiles, in 1954 the Army contracted Johns Hopkins University 's operational research office (ORO) to prepare a detailed report on an ABM capable of countering ICBMs. In 1955 they followed this with

2079-562: The Soviets successfully launched their R-7 Semyorka (SS-6) ICBM, and followed this up with the successful launch of Sputnik 1 in October. The threat of ICBM attack was now very real. Forming a panel to investigate the issue in August 1957, the new Secretary of Defense Neil McElroy published a lengthy report on the concept on 16 January 1958. Having considered the stages of development of

2142-648: The Thumper work as well. In January 1950 the USAF asked Boeing and MARC to consider merging the GAPA and Wizard projects. Wizard's long-range radars and communications systems, combined with a greatly enlarged GAPA powered by ramjets , would offer a clear alternative to the 35 miles (56 km) ranged GAPA or Nike. By June the teams' design was for a Mach 3 winged missile to intercept aircraft at 80,000 feet (24,000 m) up to 200 miles (320 km) away, eventually emerging as

2205-557: The V-2 had little serious strategic value, but if armed with nuclear weapons they could be significant weapons used against field targets in Europe. On 20 June 1945, the Army Ground Forces Equipment Review Board, or Cook Board, listed the requirement for "High velocity guided missiles...capable of...destroying missiles of the V-2 type, should be developed at the earliest practicable date." In July 1945

2268-458: The announcement of the new Army ABM program, in 1955 the Air Force started their own anti-ICBM development under the Wizard name. Convair won the prime contractor contest, partnering with RCA for the radar and computer systems. The Air Force soon followed this with similar contracts for a Lockheed - Raytheon group, and also invited Bell Labs - Douglas Aircraft to join. Both forces were now in

2331-455: The art is important in the law of tort liability , specifically in the areas of negligence and product liability . With respect to negligence, "an engineer may defend against a claim of negligence by contending that he met the standards of his profession and the state of the art". With respect to product liability, manufacturers generally have strict liability for any injury caused by defects in their products. However, in some jurisdictions

2394-450: The case; the Army's weapons had generally been placed close to their targets due to performance limits, but now Wilson specified these to mean 200 miles (320 km) range in the surface-to-surface role, while surface-to-air systems would be limited to only 100 miles (160 km). This forced the Army to turn over its Jupiter systems to the Air Force, and to limit the range of their ABM and advanced anti-aircraft developments. In August 1957

2457-621: The codes MX-794 and MX-795. The planned missiles were 60 feet (18 m) long and 6 feet (1.8 m) in diameter, with a range of 550 miles (890 km). with speeds of 4,000 to 5,000 mph with a 50 percent kill probability against a V-2. Early results from Thumper and Wizard suggested that the problem was well beyond the state of the art . V-2's had flight times on the order of 5 minutes, and an attack could be carried out from any point within its approximate 200 miles (320 km) range. Early detection would require large radar systems ( Chain Home

2520-515: The context of European and Australian patent law , the term "state of the art" is a concept used in the process of assessing and asserting novelty and inventive step , and is a synonym of the expression "prior art". In the European Patent Convention (EPC), "[t]he state of the art shall be held to comprise everything made available to the public by means of a written or oral description, by use, or in any other way, before

2583-455: The date of filing of the European patent application" according to Article 54(2) EPC . Due account should be taken of Article 54(3) EPC as well, but merely for the examination of novelty. The expression "background art" is also used in certain legal provisions, such as Rule 42(1)(b) and(c) EPC (previously Rule 27(1)(b) and (c) EPC 1973 ), and has the same meaning. The state of

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2646-640: The defect for lack of fault, and the Product Liability Statute expressly provides for this defense". This defense is available throughout the European Community under the Product Liability Directive, art. 7(e). Pursuant to this article: The state-of-the-art defense allows a defendant to be absolved of liability if he can prove that the state of technical and scientific knowledge, at the time when he put

2709-496: The depots were the real focal points of supply and maintenance activities, the air service areas never attained the status of fully functioning ASC subcommands. The air service areas were disbanded on 1 February 1943, to be succeeded by air depot control area commands, which were simply the eleven former depot control areas under a new name. The elimination of the four air service areas was apparently justified by subsequent operations; according to Maj. Gen. Walter H. Frank , commander of

2772-547: The division employing procurement inspectors at Wright Field the same year. The division had four Field Service Sections: San Antonio, Fairfield, Middletown, and Sacramento. Then-Brigadier General Benjamin Foulois had a year as Chief of the Materiel Division at Wright Field from June 1929 to July 1930. The Air Corps Maintenance Command was established under the Materiel Division on June 25, 1941 - less than

2835-505: The headquarters organization remained at Wright Field, where it carried on the greater part of the command's activities. On 15 December 1942, its headquarters moved back to Dayton, establishing itself at Patterson Field, immediately adjacent to Wright Field. On 9 March 1942, the Air Service Command now became one of the major AAF commands, with relatively clear lines of responsibility and authority. Four air service area commands (San Antonio, Fairfield, Middletown, and Sacramento?), successors to

2898-500: The highest level of general development, as of a device, technique, or scientific field achieved at a particular time. However, in some contexts it can also refer to a level of development reached at any particular time as a result of the common methodologies employed at the time. The term has been used since 1910, and has become both a common term in advertising and marketing , and a legally significant phrase with respect to both patent law and tort liability . In advertising,

2961-471: The job of actually shooting down the warheads, and McElroy gave them free hand to develop the Zeus system as they saw fit. Two months later the Air Force appealed the decision, stating that "the Army's ZEUS did not have the growth potential to handle possible enemy evasion decoy and countermeasure tactics." This did not result in Wizard being re-funded, and ultimately the Assistant Secretary to

3024-468: The late 1940s under Air Materiel Command. Among its forces was the Air Materiel Force, European Area, which was transferred from USAFE in on 1 January 1956. Air Materiel Force, European Area, at Chateauroux Air Depot , France, and Air Materiel Force, Pacific Area, at Tachikawa Air Base , Japan, were of Numbered Air Force status. Often these formations supervised Air Depot Wings, for example

3087-517: The maintenance wings (and field service sections, originally activated in 1940?), had been activated in December 1941 to supervise the depots in given geographical areas. The depots, of which there were eleven by April 1942, became the centers of depot control areas, which directed the activities of subdepots within defined geographical limits. Unfortunately, the boundaries of some of the depot control areas overlapped those of air service areas, and since

3150-591: The new Wright Field , the latter serving as the Air Corps', and later the Army Air Forces', principal R&D center from 1927 to 1947, including the Physiological Research Laboratory which opened in 1935. By 22 August 1935, the division operated an Army Aeronautical Museum at Wright Field, and by 22 November 1935, had an "Industrial War Plans Section". F.B. Vose became the Materiel Division commander on 19 October 1940, with

3213-407: The operation and maintenance of AAF units, to prepare and issue all technical orders and instructions regarding Air Corps materiel, and to exercise technical control* over air depots outside of the continental limits of the United States. In addition, ASC received responsibility for coordination with the Army technical services in the supply and maintenance of equipment and supplies procured by them for

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3276-433: The perceived threat of Soviet long-range bombers being more serious, and that the systems still appeared to be beyond the state of the art, the Air Force later cancelled Wizard as well. Funds from the Wizard, Thumper and GAPA concepts were all channeled into MX-606, a long-range surface-to-air missile project that eventually emerged in the late 1950s as the CIM-10 Bomarc . In 1955 the Army announced its intention to develop

3339-420: The phrase is often used to convey that a product is made with the best or latest available technology, but it has been noted that "the term 'state of the art' requires little proof on the part of advertisers", as it is considered mere puffery . The use of the term in patent law "does not connote even superiority, let alone the superlative quality the ad writers would have us ascribe to the term". The concept of

3402-477: The present state of the art this is all that can be done". The term "art" refers to technics , rather than performing or fine arts . Over time, use of the term increased in all fields where this kind of art has a significant role. In this relation it has been quoted by the author that "although eighteenth-century writers did not use the term, there was indeed in existence a collection of scientific and engineering knowledge and expertise that can be identified as

3465-436: The product into circulation, was not such as to enable the existence of the defect to be discovered. The Directive allows Member States to eliminate the state-of-the-art defense, but only Luxembourg, which has little manufacturing industry, has done so. In the United States, the state of an industry is "merely evidence of due care rather than a controlling factor", but a number of states have state-of-the-art statutes that "make

3528-541: The same time the Soviet testing of a nuclear weapon and display of the Tu-4 Bull bomber placed the continental United States under the threat of attack, and attention quickly shifted away from the V-2 problem. To save what was their only SAM project in what was rapidly becoming an area of serious concern, the Air Force cancelled Thumper and its remaining funds were re-directed to GAPA. Wizard carried on as before, subsuming

3591-403: The state of the art for that time". Despite its actual meaning, which does not convey technology that is ahead of the industry, the phrase became so widely used in advertising that a 1985 article described it as "overused", stating that "[it] has no punch left and actually sounds like a lie". A 1994 essay listed it among "the same old tired clichés " that should be avoided in advertising. In

3654-519: The use of the AAF. The new command was separated from the Materiel Division but remained a part of the Office of the Chief of Air Corps. Between October 1941 and March 1942 the Air Service Command remained under the jurisdiction of the Chief of the Air Corps. Immediately after the beginning of the war it moved its headquarters to Washington, where it began operations on 15 December 1941. But a large portion of

3717-456: The various systems, McElroy essentially overturned the Wilson memo. In a "directive halting the WIZARD program", the Air Force was ordered to cease development of Wizard as a missile system, and use the project solely to develop long-range early-warning radars systems. The Air Force was already working on this as BMEWS , which they initially intended to work with a Wizard ABM. The Army was handed

3780-559: Was a United States Army Air Forces and United States Air Force command. Its headquarters was located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base , Ohio . In 1961, the command was redesignated the Air Force Logistics Command with some of its functions transferred to the new Air Force Systems Command . The logistics function can be traced before the earliest days of the Air Service , when the Equipment Division of

3843-464: Was basically an extension of their artillery service; they had used a similar argument to retain control of Nike, which had finally been conclusively handed to the Army after a long fight, by stating they were an extension of the mission previously held by anti-aircraft guns. The Air Force maintained that they were in control of the strategic force and should be in control of all long-range weapons. The fighting soon encompassed practically every area where

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3906-405: Was redesignated Air Technical Service Command (ATSC) on 1 July 1945. By 1945, 14 bases in the United States were home to Air Technical Service Commands: Newark, New Jersey; Fairfield, California; Miami, Florida; Middletown, Pennsylvania; Mobile, Alabama; Ogden, Utah; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Oakland, California; Rome, New York; Sacramento, California; San Antonio, Texas; San Bernardino, California;

3969-630: Was used for this purpose during World War II) which would have to calculate the approximate impact point and forward targeting information to an anti-missile battery in time for them to locate the target on their own radars and launch their missiles. Air Materiel Command estimated it would be five to ten years before the long-range radars, highly accurate guidance systems and long-range radar seekers could be developed. However, they also suggested that these tasks would not be impossible given emerging technologies, especially against long-ranged missiles with longer flight times and higher apogee , which would give

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