Artillery shell is shot down by U.S. laser...

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Forthe
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Post by Forthe »

Adex_Xeda wrote:Its much easier to watch a bird with your eyeball than it is to shoot a bullet at it.

That's the beauty of the laser concept. You don't have to lead your target. "Look" directly at it and squeeze off an energy burst.
A flawed example as your eye recieves the light, at a wide angel, where the GIANT LASER projects a focused beam. A better example may be to "look" at it through a plastic drinking straw. A tad more difficult.

I think the technology has potential in the sense that at least to me seems simpler than missile based anti-missile tech.

However, all of this seems similar to the old nuclear readiness excercises they had schoolkids do. In case of a nuclear strike get under your desk heh. Everyone in the know knew it was a pointless excercise but it gave comfort to the populace.

You have people crossing your border with Mexico every day, do you think it would be much harder to get a nuclear\chemical\biological weapon past your borders? Once past your borders the GIANT LASER ain't gonna help much.
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Post by Aabidano »

Forthe wrote:Once past your borders the GIANT LASER ain't gonna help much.
That's why it needs to be mounted on the moon, we'll be able to see them sneaking across better :p

Well that and an unlimited supply of cheese.
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Post by Forthe »

As long as you call it the "Deathstar".
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Post by Aabidano »

Time to break out the techno-trousers
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Post by Jugata »

Who would waste a nuke on Canada indeed.......

when you arsemonkeys to the south are such a prime target.
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Post by Nick »

arsemonkeys!
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Post by Adex_Xeda »

Forthe,

The programming necessary to make a servo track an object isn't too difficult. Hell I use similar things at work to make cameras track trains and cars.

Granted a missile is traveling much faster, but the principles of it are relative. With distance there is less need for fast servo movment. All that is necessary is precise positioning to make sure your 'dot' is on target.

They've worked on technology like this for years and its well established. A good example would be the "Phalanx?" anti-aircraft anti-missile gun systems on Naval ships. Here they mount a vulcan gattling gun on a quick moving servo that attempts to dump lead into any object approaching the ship. Here quick and precise movement is necessary.

The "new" part of this laser system I suspect is not the tracking, rather it is getting the laser to deliver damage effectively.


But hey I could be wrong.
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rofl

Post by Neziroth »

Kyoukan Type R wrote: YES BECAUSE I MENTION THE HOMELESS AND THE OZONE LAYER IN ALL MY THREADS, YOU FUCKING STUPID ASSHOLE!
Next line:
Kyoukan Type R wrote: Way to debate!
Rofl. Why do you come here, throw a useless fucking flame at us and criticize us for not knowing how to 'debate'? Does debate mean something different in Canada? I think it's something along the lines of a controlled argument / discussion in the USA... but if it means something like: Temper Tantrum, Whining, Crying, Screaming uncontrolably and making rude gestures / having fits in canada then you're doing great...

You come in here and cry how we all hate you for being Anti-America when most of the people flaming you are Americans. Do the fucking math you dumb fucking piece of shit.

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Post by VariaVespasa »

Debate is destuff yew puts on dehook so yew can catches defish innit? Wut's deproblem unnerstandin' dat? :P
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Post by Sueven »

1. Does anyone else think that the term player hater seems very out of place in an argument about star-wars technology? I mean, I know it's an issue where it's very important to establish your street cred, but...

2. Neziroth: As I see it, Kyoukan's point is that some people constantly put words into her mouth that she has never even said or thought. People just project every type of liberal, feminazi, Canadian stereotype they can think of upon her, stereotypes which often aren't even slightly accurate.
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Re: rofl

Post by kyoukan »

Neziroth wrote: Rofl. Why do you come here, throw a useless fucking flame at us and criticize us for not knowing how to 'debate'? Does debate mean something different in Canada?
Oh I'm sorry, would you like me to take some time out of my day to explain to you my point? If you are having trouble understanding it I don't mind doing it. I realize not everyone is born with a standard grasp of reading comprehension so it really is no problem at all.
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Post by kyoukan »

Adex_Xeda wrote:Forthe,

The programming necessary to make a servo track an object isn't too difficult. Hell I use similar things at work to make cameras track trains and cars.

Granted a missile is traveling much faster, but the principles of it are relative. With distance there is less need for fast servo movment. All that is necessary is precise positioning to make sure your 'dot' is on target.

They've worked on technology like this for years and its well established. A good example would be the "Phalanx?" anti-aircraft anti-missile gun systems on Naval ships. Here they mount a vulcan gattling gun on a quick moving servo that attempts to dump lead into any object approaching the ship. Here quick and precise movement is necessary.

The "new" part of this laser system I suspect is not the tracking, rather it is getting the laser to deliver damage effectively.

But hey I could be wrong.
Were not tracking missiles though. Were tracking artillery shells. I doubt and artillery shell is much larger than 10 inches long and they travel at supersonic speeds. Without knowing the exact trajectory and time of firing I really don't think anything could be able to track one. They certainly don't show up on radar.

Phalanx guns are designed to shoot missiles out of the air, not shells. They achive this by knowing the general location of the missile and throwing enough lead at it that it shoots them out the air using the law of averages.
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Post by Aabidano »

kyoukan type-R wrote:Phalanx guns are designed to shoot missiles out of the air, not shells. They achive this by knowing the general location of the missile and throwing enough lead at it that it shoots them out the air using the law of averages.
Phalanx is also known as CIWS (Close In Weapons System), it serves it purpose very well, but is also very short range. 3000RPM depleted projectiles shred an incoming target to little bits, then it moves to the next target. Looks like a pencil drawn line coming out of the barrel it fires so fast. Neat stuff, very loud though.

As they seem to have the laser technology down, I'd guess that targeting is the issue. I used to calibrate optical instruments and such for a living once upon a time. Tiny misalignments at even short ranges (~200 yards) will cause you to miss entirely.

Even with a laser your going to have to "lead" it a bit also, and a shell would be particularly difficult, as it would be decellerating/drifting at an uneven rate due to changes in air density, windspeed and such as it descended.
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Post by Lindain »

First off, look at range. An artillery cannon (lets say a 105 Howitzer) has a range of what? 5 miles at the most maybe. These we wouldn't be worried about here in the states because no one is most likely going to get close enough to use artillery on us. So now we're looking looking at this system being deployed. It would most likely be used in conjuction with UAV's from the Army and Air Force. An AF Global Hawk sits over the battlefield 65K ft. in the air broadcasting video and what not back to commanders. So the GH sees which way deployed artillery cannons are facing and relays that back to field commanders. They in turn look at a few factors. Intended targets, range of cannons being used, distance they are from targets and uses all this to caculated trajectories from the shells coming at them. So now they know all this and figure if "X" shell is being fired at "Y" target from "A" distance away, then trajectory charts say "X" shell will be in "B" position at "this" time. But its not like any of this really matters anyways since we can use our super secret "Death Star" lasers on the moon to destroy the cannons before they fire.

Just my 2 cp.
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Post by Krimson Klaw »

This laser tech would most likely be used as an umbrella on the battlefield as the most practical means of deployment. Israel would have a much greater need for it than us, but it would never hurt the US to have a system in place either. The system is not ready to go yet, but you have to start testing somewhere. They did manage to shoot down a salvo of shells too, not bad for it's first test run. Controlled envorionment, knowing the projectiles path etc is part of testing, you crawl before you walk kind of thing, so chill on poking fun on this part.

And just because someone can sneak a nuke across your border and render your *laser* useless, is not excuse for not moving foreward with the technology anyway. That's a defeatist attitude.....why have surface ships when subs can just sink them all? Why have jet fighters when one SAM can take it out......see my point? Bottom line is, you must have several options for defense, not just throw your hands in the air and claim defeat everytime something goes wrong.

I posted the link to just show an awesome step forward in technology, did not mean this to turn into me having to defend the US for trying to come up with new ways to defend itself and its allies. And yes Canada, even you are an ally.
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Post by valryte »

I say, we just put the laser in space and use it to take out people trying to sneak in the US illegally. If we get just one Osama, then a couple fried beans is acceptable collateral damage.
Last edited by valryte on November 10, 2002, 8:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Nick »

Yay, more weaponry!! Don't you think we should get some more weaponry and give the arms dealers more of our bloodstained money!
More, more, more, bigger, better, stronger!!!!

And more....
and then.......
we could sell it to Iraq, then blow the shit out of them, then buy more, and bigger ones!

Let the party begin!

Edit: In terms of advancement in technology, yes its pretty cool, but you get my point.
Last edited by Nick on November 10, 2002, 6:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Krimson Klaw »

valryte wrote:I say, we just put the laser in space and use it to take out people trying to sneak in the US illegally. If we get just one Osama, then a couple fried beans is acceptable collateral damage.


DISCLAIMER: My wife's part Mexican, so before you even get started, fuck off with your PC bullshit. Tired of people who can't poke fun at themselves cause it will hurt someone's feelings. Sometimes, you just gotta laugh...
This is off topic, but my dad (black) used to always make racist remarks against white people. I have heard a ton of racist stories from his perspective from him growing up and do not doubt any of them. But one day I was 17 when he uttered a racist remark towards a white person. I asked him why he was doing something he hated so much, putting another person down due to their race. He looked at me and said *you're right, I won't do it again*. I was shocked as I was expecting a debate from him, and have never been more proud of my dad than on that day.

Guess what I am trying to say is just because you happened to have married a half mexican, does not grant you a lifetime membership to flame mexicans with zero rebuttal. If you are gonna make racist remarks, just do it and do away with your disclaimer, but don't think you being married to a mexican grants you some special *right to make racist statements anytime I wish cause I married a Mexican* pass.
Last edited by Krimson Klaw on November 10, 2002, 6:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Nick »

Cool.
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Post by valryte »

There is a big difference between making a racist remark with the intent to hurt someone, and there are racist remarks with the intent of humor. Are you going to say that every comedian who makes a racist joke, is racist? From what you are saying, your dad made his racist statement out of pure anger and I agree, that is a problem and he shouldn't have. I put the disclaimer for exactly this reason. I knew someone would post saying some shit like that. I guess you think all comedians who use racist comments in their acts are racists eh? You just keep believing that...
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Post by Bojangels »

I think he understood your comment was a joke, but when you put that disclaimer about your wife being half mexican on the end it sounds like you think you need something like that to be able to poke fun at people.
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Post by valryte »

Yeah, the disclaimer is for those dumbasses that would otherwise jump in here and say, fuck you, you racist bastard! I've seen it a million times hehe.
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Post by VariaVespasa »

An artillery shell is typically anywhere from 8 to 14 inches depending on the calibre and gun involved, and they most certainly DO show up on radar if you have the right kind of radar deployed in the area. Shells are usually dense metallic targets and are excellent reflectors of radar energy, although it would be interesting to find out if you could apply stealth technology to a shell that would survive the firing process. Radar tracking of artillery strikes is how counterbattery fire is directed these days forinstance (and why the destruction of enemy radar of that type is a high priority for a ground commander). Its no longer a matter of guessing where the fire is coming from- radar and the maths programs that the tracking radars have can tell you exactly where. However, tracking the actual shells fast enough and accurately enough to do something about the shells themselves (rather than returning fire onto the enemy guns) is more of a trick. You need better radar still, and a completely automated defence system slaved to it since you only have 10-30 seconds to react depending on the range of the firer. There's no time for a human to be involved in the process except with a finger on a defend/dont defend button. The practicalities of that mean that the laser must be relatively close to the radar (within a mile or so, in the field), and the radar/laser combo cant cover that large an area (maybe 20 miles radius?) so you'll need a fair number of them to cover a frontier.

The problems with the system have been mostly a matter of correcting for air distortion (is the shell actually where your eyes (radar) say it is, and how do you correct for it if it isnt so youre actually aiming at the right place, and designing a laser system whose properties and practical characteristics allow for accurate targetting while retaining enough energy to knock out a target at a usable range, and is robust enough to be used outside a lab (Properties and characteristics = How to aim so the shot goes where you want it to once you're aiming at the right place, despite the effect air distortion has on the laser beam, and the further air distortion caused by the beam itself as it heats the air it travels through). Given how a laser can lose energy to the air it travels through, and how its accuracy can be affected by the changing temperature of the air as it loses energy to it, and how sensitive some of the components of a laser can be when you pump that kind of energy through them, those are no small obstacles. The speed and path of the target as it wobbles in flight due to air density, air resistance, wind etc are negligable concerns against a laser, due to its basicly instantaneous travel time. They are factors for phalanx systems due to the travel time of the outgoing slugs and the need to predict where the target is going to be by the time the slugs arrive, but not for laser systems.

Anyways, I've probably forgotten something I meant to address, but nevermind.

*Hugs*
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Post by Adex_Xeda »

^ too verbose


Reading a post like that is like walking in a pool of taffy. Break it up, spare my leasure-time brain.
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Post by Krimson Klaw »

valryte wrote:Yeah, the disclaimer is for those dumbasses that would otherwise jump in here and say, fuck you, you racist bastard! I've seen it a million times hehe.
You are gonna get it either way you go, just leave the disclaimer off and you are good to go. The disclaimer was, well, not too bright.
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Post by valryte »

yeah your right. This is flame vault, people will just post to get their post count up :)-
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Post by kyoukan »

lol my weif if half mexican so i can be a rasist fagtard with no repurcusions it says so right here in my how to be an ignorant dickhead handbook lol yay for me rofl
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Post by valryte »

Did kyoucunt just saying something?
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Post by kyoukan »

LOL DUDE ROFL KYOUCUNT LMAO

CAN I USE THAT ONE?

I MEAN SERIOUSLY,

CAN I?
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Post by Forthe »

Krimson Klaw wrote:And just because someone can sneak a nuke across your border and render your *laser* useless, is not excuse for not moving foreward with the technology anyway. That's a defeatist attitude.....
Maybe its more of a practical approach than a defeatist attitude. Which scenario do you think poses the biggest threat to the US, The crazy sucide dude sneaking in with a nuke\nasty bug or nukes being launched from across either ocean? If I knew my opponents next likely attack was going to be a kick in the balls I wouldn't be trying to protect my face.

The single greatest thing the US could do for homeland defense is investment in diplomatic training so your government would stop making your country such a prime target.

What has your interference in other sovereign states affairs provided for you other than making enemies of some fanatics?

What has your huge investment in the military really provided for you? If I woke up tomorrow and saw on the news that some city in the US was wiped out it wouldn't be a total shock to me. Horrifying yes but it is something that seems very possible maybe even probable to me. No other country has to live in the fear that the US has to endure.
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Post by valryte »

Gawd, I feel such pity for you. When I grow old, and I want to make myself feel better about myself, I swear, I'm going to create the Save Kyoucunt Foundation. I just know a cure will be found for you! Hang in there!
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Post by Krimson Klaw »

For one, this laser technology did not come about *all of a sudden* because of some terrorists. This has been in the making for years now. Proof of what military research can do is that we won WWII. Like I said, just because someone can come across a border does not make the rest of our arsenal null and void. If that were the case, we would totally disband the entire military and all research and spend 100% resources on border patrol. Now does that make sense?

Our elected leaders speak for our nation, so who exactly should be training them in diplomatic policy.....what country....I'd like to know.
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Post by Fallanthas »

The targetting problems could be largely gotten past by simply observing the path of the projectile for a second or so, then figuring future trajectory from the data on each incoming target. Cake for a decent computer.

I can see two issues that are gonna be damn hard to get around. Number one, as mentioned above is distortion. A projectile travelling at these speeds creates one hell of a hot pocket of air around it. That air distorts not only visual light, but would tend to diffuse the laser beam itself.

The other is, for a projectile where you can accept some degree of uncertainty on the target (say, a shell aimed at New York City), this thing would be ridiculously easy to defeat. Just arrange a small explosive charge to remove a guidance wing at, say, three miles from target. The missile would go into a vicious corkscrew (assuming it was designed to survive losing aerodynamic stability at that speed) and trying to target it presicely enough to lase would be next to impossible. Or build said instability into the missile itself, causing it to randomly burst it's engine or bob in alititude every couple of seconds.

A huge advantage of such a system would be the near instantaneous effect (186,000 miles a second means saying no to leading yur target!). Also, you could pulse the laser multiple times at the same target until you got a hit. The only limiting factor would be the time needed to build the energy to discharge.

Very neat research. Such a system that was portable enough to take to the battlefield would just about guarantee air superiority. With the advantages that gives to troop and supply movement you are looking at a huge boost to striking power, even for a relatively small force.
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Post by Jugata »

Move to Canada and you don't need to worry about that kinda shit. You can then concern yourself with more important things like beer.
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Post by vn_Tanc »

The ability to track and intercept incoming shells is nothing new. The Royal Navy's Sea Wolf missile system has been able to do so for at least a decade and a half. Of course shooting down a shell with half a million bucks of missile isnt cost effective so they don't do it. Hurray for cheap lasers.

Still i got one word for you: FOG :P

Just like all those Apaches that stayed grounded in Kosovo cos of the rain and poor visibility. It's about time the US started making military machinery that works in conditions other than clear dry desert days.
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Post by Adex_Xeda »

Forthe,

War is diplomacy.
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Post by Zamtuk »

This thread is teh funny!!!11!!1
Fuck Michigan!
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Post by Cartalas »

Still i got one word for you: FOG



Makes for a great light show
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Post by Voronwë »

Cartalas wrote:Still i got one word for you: FOG



Makes for a great light show
And if the dam breaks open many years too soon...
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Post by Hoarmurath »

vn_Tanc wrote:Just like all those Apaches that stayed grounded in Kosovo cos of the rain and poor visibility. It's about time the US started making military machinery that works in conditions other than clear dry desert days.
The Apaches in Albania were grounded because two of them crashed and it became politically unfavorable to keep flying them. I assure you the Apache has very little problem performing its mission in less-than-ideal weather conditions.
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Post by Cartalas »

vn_Tanc wrote:The ability to track and intercept incoming shells is nothing new. The Royal Navy's Sea Wolf missile system has been able to do so for at least a decade and a half. Of course shooting down a shell with half a million bucks of missile isnt cost effective so they don't do it. Hurray for cheap lasers.

Still i got one word for you: FOG :P

Just like all those Apaches that stayed grounded in Kosovo cos of the rain and poor visibility. It's about time the US started making military machinery that works in conditions other than clear dry desert days.
Just Curious if the Apache is such Suck Ass Shit why did good ole England buy them from us.
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Post by Nick »

Simple Cart, Tony Blair and his band of nobrained cracker assholes suck teh U.S cock at every given opportunity.

LET MEE BYE YUOR HELOPCTERS PLEASE SIR, WOULD YUO LIEK A CUP OF TEA???

Secondly, Valryte, using 'Kyoucunt' in your flame means you now = moron!
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Post by Krimson Klaw »

Teenybloke wrote:Secondly, Valryte, using 'Kyoucunt' in your flame means you now = moron!
Reverse psychology at its finest.
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Post by Pubin »

everyone knows that only pirates have lasers like this.
Don't blame me if you see my old characters acting like asses.
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Post by Hoarmurath »

Teenybloke wrote:Simple Cart, Tony Blair and his band of nobrained cracker assholes suck teh U.S cock at every given opportunity.

LET MEE BYE YUOR HELOPCTERS PLEASE SIR, WOULD YUO LIEK A CUP OF TEA???
The UK contract to build Apaches (yes, they build their own, they don't buy them from the U.S.) was signed a year before Tony Blair became Prime Minister.
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Post by Mak »

The single greatest thing the US could do for homeland defense is investment in diplomatic training so your government would stop making your country such a prime target.
Which is why all those wonderfully diplomatic countries (including Canada) no longer keep a military at the ready, right? These oh so pleasant speaking countries throughout the world feel perfectly safe at night knowing a diplomat is their sole defense against an aggressor nation?

So... how did Kuwait fuck-up diplomatically enough to warrant being invaded and pillaged? Would thousands of kurds in Iraq be alive today if they'd have had a diplomat to go politely ask Saddam Hussein to stop executing them?

When I learned to play chess so many years ago I learned that "big pieces make big targets." The United States is no different. People such as Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, and Fidel Castro always derive their power with the "I will help you throw off the hated <insert oppressor here>" line. Creating an enemy is the easiest way to get people to rally behind you. History has easily taught us that. US politicians use much the same logic: vote for me and I'll protect your welfare, vote for me and I'll save you from the commies, etc.

The US, by the very fact that it's a large, prosperous nation becomes a target and no amount of diplomacy will change that.

Diplomacy has it's place, to be sure. However, diplomacy with no power behind it is worthless when dealing with men like Saddam Hussein. If you think otherwise then I will say you're naive and have no clue how men like that think.

And while some of you are at it, why don't you use some of your ire at the US and turn it to a country such as Nigeria, who will very soon be burying a woman up to her neck and stoning her to death for the "crime" of being raped and bearing a child that is not her husband's. Think that might be a bit more egregious than Bush wanting to check a few buildings in Iraq?
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Nick
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Post by Nick »

Hoarmurath, my insult against Blair still stands!
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Post by Krimson Klaw »

Some of you posted concerns about the laser not being able to fire in inclement weather, and someone also mentioned that regular deployment for it is a long way off....this article confirms your speculations.....siting fog etc as being a major hurdle and battlefield use being another 10 years away. Crawl before you walk!

http://www.strategypage.com/fyeo/howtom ... =HTART.HTM
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Post by Hoarmurath »

Teenybloke wrote:Hoarmurath, my insult against Blair still stands!
Heheh no argument there, I'm just trying to assert myself as the resident AH-64 expert. ;)

Besides, I can't say anything bad about Tony Blair, I'm too busy shaking my head at George Bush.
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Post by Xendax »

As someone else said, this isn't really "new". R&D like this started back in the Reagan era for anti-nuclear missle defense, but was shelved due to cost, difficulty, and politics.

What brought it back to the forefront was the Gulf War. Thats when we found out how relatively ineffective the our defenses were against ballistic missles. The Patroit just couldn't handle the job it was given in protecting Isreal and US forces from SCUDs launched by Iraq. So, research began again in earnest.

All the US services are working on different systems to meet the challenge. Army made upgrades to patriot and has been working on the laser system as described in this article. Air Force has an airborne laser system they are working on (ABL) (http://www.airbornelaser.com/) and Navy is going with upgrades to missles launched from Aegis cruisers (http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jan1997 ... 37-97.html).

It is an important enough area of national defense that it was called out in the Quadrennial Defense Review.

And of course, the Navy has been working for years on the concepts of ship mounted lasers and rail guns at the Naval research labs.
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