The purposes for reverse engineering are many and varied, ranging from the need to reproduce an existing product lacking CAD documentation to acquiring sensitive information to determine possible patent infringement
Many ideas can spring to mind when one hears the term reverse engineering. Some think of it as a form of corporate espionage, a means to copy competitors’ parts, others regard it primarily in terms of their own immediate industrial needs, as in the case of an electronics manufacturer using reverse engineering to replicate printed circuit boards (PCBs). However, the purposes for reverse engineering are many and varied, ranging from the need to reproduce an existing product lacking CAD documentation, which we discuss later, to acquiring sensitive information to determine possible patent infringement.
One of the earliest, and darker, cases of reverse engineering took place during World War II. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, which cost the lives of 2,400 servicemen, the U.S. was determined to strike back at Japan, whose growing militarism had posed a grave threat to countries throughout the Pacific Rim since the 1930s. One of the weapons designated for use against Japan was the Boeing B-29 Superfortress heavy bomber, then under development. However, the Superfortress was a long-range bomber and needed a place to land and refuel. Joseph Stalin granted permission for Superfortress crews to use the city of Vladivostok in eastern-most Russia as a base for refueling. Three B-29s landed in the Russian city and were never seen again. Five years later the Russians introduced their Tupolev Tu-4 aircraft, which looked nearly identical to the B-29 Superfortress.