The problem with all books on military technology is that they deal with topics that are subject to secrecy, hype and misinformation. Judging the reliability of the information in such books can therefore be tricky. One good sign is when authors include plenty of high-quality references and can be seen to have drawn on technical reports as their main source of evidence. I was not therefore filled with confidence when I saw that this book’s bibliography opens with The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy.

Although Weapons Grade is clearly aimed at military-technology enthusiasts, it does discuss issues of interest to a wider readership. David Hambling’s main thesis is that the military has historically had close links with science and technology, and played a sometimes pivotal role in certain technological developments in the civilian sector. Current military research is therefore where we will find many of the civilian technologies of tomorrow.

Hambling begins by outlining a number of historical case studies where military science and technology have led to civilian spin-offs. He cites familiar examples such as rocketry, aviation and nuclear power, but also includes less commonly discussed military research involving computers and lasers.

In his discussion of aviation, he traces the development of aircraft from airships and propeller-driven planes to turbojets, pulse jets and turbofans. He looks at how military research – especially in Germany, the US and the UK before, during and after the Second World War – led to rapid developments in aircraft technology that eventually changed the face of everyday travel.

Hambling also examines some areas where military research did not lead to civilian spin-offs, despite early indications that they might. Examples here include atomic aircraft, rocket planes and atomic ships.

The author then looks at where military research might take us. He starts by outlining major research programmes mainly in the US, which cover everything from airborne robots and hypersonic bombers to nano-sized explosives and “e-bombs”, which could potentially render electronic equipment useless from a distance. There are also projects on artificial intelligence, studies of millimetre-wave vision that could let soldiers see through solid objects, and plans to design “less lethal” weapons, such as microwave-based armaments.

For each area, Hambling outlines a few possible future civilian spin-offs, such as space tourism, “mood enhancement” using magnetic fields, and surveillance and crowd-control technologies for the police. While Hambling makes a concerted effort to avoid the common exaggerations to which many authors in this area are prone, the book nevertheless has some significant shortcomings.

First, the book’s inadequate references make it hard for the reader to critically assess the current state of the technology, although the author does acknowledge the difficulty in getting reliable information about military research. Second, while some of the developments the author examines sound highly plausible, others seem to be on the fringes of science fiction. His unnecessary discussion of UFOs and repeated references to science-fiction films do not help us judge which is which.

These problems are compounded when Hambling starts to discuss possible civilian spin-offs, which is perhaps why several of the later chapters only devote a page or two to limited – and sometimes quite speculative – discussions of the possibilities. Given that one of the main aims of the book is to look at the possible benefits to the civilian world of current military research, such limited material leaves the reader feeling short-changed.

To his credit, Hambling does in a couple of cases mention that the negative effects of such spin-offs might outweigh the positive. For example, the work on “less lethal” weapons is likely to lead to technologies that will be procured by undemocratic regimes, possibly making them much harder to dislodge. He also outlines how some weapons – such as e-bombs – may be especially attractive to terrorists. Unfortunately, in areas such as computer surveillance or magnetic brain stimulation, the possible misuses get very scant attention.

Another significant flaw with the book is the paucity of policy analysis. Hambling does briefly discuss a few issues – for example how high levels of secrecy can impede the uptake of military technologies by the civil sector, or how Russia’s preference for simple, reliable military technologies restricted their hi-tech programmes – but any broader analysis is missing.

That is a pity because science policy, economics and global-security issues have a huge impact on military research and how it affects society. A fuller analysis would have revealed the flaw in thinking that today’s military research might lead to lots of civilian spin-offs. After all, many of the technological developments that emerged from the military during and after the Second World War did so because a far higher proportion of research funding was spent on defence than is the case now.

Some of the author’s historical accounts are also problematic, particularly when it comes to the civilian application of military research. Sure, mobile phones have some roots in military communications research, but it has taken huge investment over several decades by the civilian sector to turn this technology into something that is widely used. It is oversimplistic to point to a particular source of research funding a long time in the past and say that society would not have certain benefits today if the money had been spent on something else. Technological innovation is a far more complex process.

I would also like to have seen the author give more attention to major ethical issues. Hambling does admit that some civilian spin-off technologies like nuclear power pose serious security problems, but he fails to acknowledge just how widespread the potential problems are, especially if the military retains significant influence in a particular technological field. He also glosses over ethical issues related to the size of military research budgets.

As many defence economists have pointed out, using military investment in research to gain some future civilian spin-off is an ineffective way of using public money. At a time when we need more research into solving the urgent problems of international poverty and global environment threats, large military budgets seem to raise especially serious ethical issues.

Hambling is clearly very enthusiastic about military technology. Unfortunately, this leads to lengthy descriptions of military research programmes at the expense of discussing the broader issues that are just as important in determining when and whether military research leads to civilian spin-offs and – critically – the extent to which such spin-offs are good or bad for society. Overall, the book is a frustrating read.