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2005-05-12 Home Front: Tech

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Posted by Steve 2005-05-12 9:29:57 AM|| || Front Page|| [6 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 The money quote - These micro-UAVs are expendable. Unlike a F22 for example.

Posted by phil_b 2005-05-12 10:12|| 2005-05-12 10:12|| Front Page Top

#2 I bet a lot of those soldiers dream of a light UAV that could fire a .22 *high-explosive* long rifle bullet. On the surface it sounds almost silly, but here is the logic. First of all, it has a great shock effect on the enemy, and may seriously wound one of them; second, it might encourage them to shoot up at the UAV, both showing their position and wasting ammo; third, if an enemy is "playing dead", he's *not* going to sit through getting shot with a .22; fourth, the bullet can be fired at suspicious things that might contain explosives, and could set them off.

Posted by Anonymoose 2005-05-12 10:52|| 2005-05-12 10:52|| Front Page Top

#3 The big diff is that the Army unit can send its bird wherver THEY want instead of having to callu pthe chain to some AF puke to request tasking.

The IDPE (Intel-Decision-Plan-Execution) cycle is much faster when its all inside the unit in question. And this war is being fought very much at the company and platoon level, not at divisional. So the battalion is where the innovation has been, and where the best control of the UAVs is, and needs to stay.

Problem is that the USAF doesnt get any money out of UAVs - and their big-ticket, big-war items (liek the F-22) are being threatened by these things. For the price of a dozen F-22s, you could equip bunches of Army and Marine units with organic UAV support for Recon, and possibly even attack UAVs (carrying a single missle, hellfire for instance) for targets of opportunity.

This is a bad Turf War, which the USAF is really screwing up, by way of the congress.

Posted by OldSpook 2005-05-12 10:59|| 2005-05-12 10:59|| Front Page Top

#4 "...a major battle between the air force, which want control of all UAV development, and the other services. The air force is being told to back off. [...] What the air force is afraid of is losing a lot of turf."

They're pissing into the wind, here: the most valuable technological advances are going to be those which place major weapons systems-- whether air-borne, ground, or naval-- into the direct, immediate, and effective control of the individual soldier on the ground.

The B-52 and its bomb bay full of ordnance should be just another personal sidearm of the individual foot soldier.

Posted by Dave D. 2005-05-12 11:41|| 2005-05-12 11:41|| Front Page Top

#5 Make 'em truly expendable - forget the .22 round and put in a chunk of C-4 (or design an explosive that can simultaneously act as a structural member). Then kamikaze it into something or somebody you want blown up.
Also, make 'em air-launchable. Put it in an 'egg' with a parachute, toss it out of a C-130 or such over hostile territory. Chute opens, air speed drops, egg 'hatches', and bird flies away. Launch 'em by the dozens. (This way the Air Force could have some too!) With solar cell wings they could fly all day. Self-destruct if necessary.
Get 'em made under a Radio Shack contract and they'd be cheaper than artillery shells.

Posted by glenmore">glenmore 2005-05-12 12:48|| 2005-05-12 12:48|| Front Page Top

#6 While a chunk of C-4 is good, it is a one-shot solution that wastes a very valuable recon device.
Most combat situations that a .22 LR-HE round would be best for are not larger scale engagements, but just popping some yokel with an RPG hiding behind a bush, or a suspected IED. You not only nail him, but you can see that he has been nailed, and your UAV continues on with its mission, and your unit is not "sniper delayed" in its progress. A .22 LR-HE is about the maximum size a plane of this size could carry, what with its minimal firing tube and an electronic primer. The round itself might even be much like a bottle rocket, like a much smaller version of the LAW simulator.

Posted by Anonymoose 2005-05-12 13:57|| 2005-05-12 13:57|| Front Page Top

#7 I'd arm them with something like Metalstorm. Disposable barrels that fire a burst of rounds. It appears I'm not the only one pushing this idea. BTW, cool looking military robot at the first link.

Posted by phil_b 2005-05-12 18:27|| 2005-05-12 18:27|| Front Page Top

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