12/7 Hey military hardware people. I liked the movie Aliens 2 a lot.
\_ Aliens, no 2
It showed a lot of futuristic military gear that are really cool.
Just how much is that stuff is in use today? E.g., I like the guns
with LED counter on the number of bullets lefts, the handheld motion
sensor maps, the body armor with cameras in the helmets and links
to a command post which monitors their vital signs, the automatic
machine guns which fires based on motion, etc. Seems like we can
use a lot of that stuff. Thanks.
\_ Pancor Jackhammer. And for all the naysaying luddites below,
have a look at troop tactics over the years, and how they have
adapted to technology over the years. You may note that the
individual soldier _is_ more valuable today (note also that we
don't go for rolling curtains of artillery or human wave charges
anymore?) A lot of that is due to the ability to project force
more precisely. Today's army uses computers, lasers, satellites,
smart munitions and strong air-ground coordination, where you
people would probably have bearded thugs beating each other with
clubs. So yes, mr. OP we can and do use a lot of that stuff
(although yes, the blinkenlights might be sort of a liability in
battle.) -John
\_ The Jackhammer was a prototype fully auto shotgun. What does that
have to do with the assault weapons in Aliens? As I recall, those
were select fire, fired caseless ammo and had an integrated
grenade launcher. P.S., I'm no gun nut, but a fully auto weapon
with a 10 round magazine doesn't seem all that useful...
\_ A transparent magazine works almost as well. Lots of automatic
guns have those now.
\_ I think that in general, the idea of a lot of expensive stuff on
each soldier works logically in the movie, where because it's a
space ship there is a fixed supply of troops and each one is very
valuable. Here on Earth, troops are a dime a dozen. Monitor their
vital signs? I think the blood and screaming is a good monitor.
Elite commando forces can use more stuff like that.
\_ an LED counter on the side is going to get troops killed. "Look
for the red lights at night, Abdul, and shoot there!"
That movie had a good moral -- if you don't use the technology
right they'll still kill you.
\_ I can also see motion sensor guns causing a lot of friendly
ire deaths...
\_ what kind of reasoning is that? Any weapon can cause friendly
fire. With the automatic shoot-on-motion machine guns, you
don't put them on your front gate where people come in and
out. You put it on the border between Iraq and Iran. Shoot
to kill any fucker that tries to get in. Also between
US and Mexico or Afghanistan and Pakistan. Illegal immigration
will stop after that goes in. I guarantee you that.
\_ Wouldn't they be easy to take out/avoid? They would stupidly
fire at any moving thing? Tumbleweed etc. I can imagine a lot
of wasted ammo. Then, they are fixed, open targets for someone
to shoot. Probably expensive with the optics/sensors/tracking.
Just overengineering for a problem that doesn't really exist.
\_ Couple an optical and IR sensor. Shoot at every
warm-blooded moving thing.
\_ Would that work in deserts? Anyway, people could hide
behind thick shields and wave stuff around until the
ammo is gone. But how about this alternative? You have
the remote-control gun emplacements with fancy imaging
sensors. You have a room of counterstrike players. Then
you route the control of the guns to the players based
on motion detection, telemarketer style.
\_ Even when only deployed in the right areas, I can still
imagine carelessness causing a lot of deaths. Maybe computer
controlled gun turrets would make more sense.
\_ ...right, with deibold software on top of a windows os.
\_ If their field-of-fire is fixed at 120-degrees and they
are programmed to shoot everything, then they won't
kill friendlies unless they walk into the field-of-fire.
\_ You could have friendly troops wearing specialized RFID chips
and put a terrahertz-band transmitter on the gun and it would
be a challenge-response system.
\_ RFID isn't terahertz.
\_ I know. You'd want something that can be better confined
to a beam. You don't want the gun to set off every tag
around, just those its pointed towards. Likewise, you
don't want peoples' tags signaling in every direction.
\_ You should apply for an ARPA grant. Seriously.
\_ Maybe, but I'm reminded of the Matt Damon monologue from
"Good Will Hunting"
\_ Why? It has nothing to do with you.
\_ Strap on your headset and play the Counterstrike mod
"Natural Selection".
\_ I thought I saw a documentary on the future infantry man.
They are doing research and testing on new technologies now. |