Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

New Hovering Weapon

iJohnHenry said:
Mmmmm, don't think so. Think of the "friendly fire" deaths that would result at a beach.

It looks like it's designed to be transported into a room full of nasty people, then launched. That's why it achieves chest-height, but no higher.

Puts me in mind of Black Sunday, but on a much smaller scale.
Click to expand...

A beach full of seagulls usually ensure there are a minimum of people around.. at least those who don't want to have organic fish-byproduct sunblock all over them.

Yeah, it would do a room full of nasties. But how to get the big ugly noisy critter into the room? It's not exactly stealthy.

This thing unleashed in a closed arena? Now that's scary.
 
I remember reading an open req. Darpa has since removed it, but the RC dragonfly (controlled by a micro hormone administrator placed above "scent receptors" that emits female scent in the direction to fly - and uses a small "shock" to persuade it to fly when still)

With a small compartment to store potential "agents".

Scary part? They apparently got some to work! But not enough payload capacity. It has since gone wayward from the req site - which usually means it's now classified and being given serious research. :confused::eek:

RC bugs carrying chemical agents. Yeah. Truth stranger than fiction.
 
I recently read an article about something similar to this that they plan on using in bunker buster bombs.

The thing essentially breaks into the bunker and releases a bunch of these tiny softball sized bombs that have a little motor attached to them. They spin like one of those fireworks pinwheels. The idea being that they bounce around the room and maybe down a hallway or two and over some obstacles before exploding.

Bad enough that thing comes crashing down on your party, but then the party balls start flying around the room.

Pretty sick stuff! Some of these weapons designers have some very creative imaginations!
 
themoonisdown09 said:
Am I the only one that thinks the hovering weapon in the video looks computer generated?
Click to expand...
No, I thought the same thing.

themoonisdown09 said:
The fact that this military video has surfaced, which is something I think they'd want to keep secret, makes me wonder if it's a hoax. This will probably scare the poo out of everybody, which is what I think they're going for.
Click to expand...
Exactly. I don't think it's a hoax, but the whole point of releasing this is probably to give al-Qaeda a lot to think about.
 
It's no match for:

1355774772_423f9e8471.jpg
 
I feel sick when I see all the billions of dollars, millions of man-hours and thousands of brilliant minds wasted on developing the technology of death. We, humanity, are immature and twisted, and we will be very lucky to make it past this phase of our development and mature into a wise species.
Were even a fraction of the money, energy and talent wasted on killing each other used for the benefit of mankind...
 
william sire said:
How is anyone going to get any sleep with all the noise that thing makes? And wasn't that in the terminator movie?
Click to expand...

at first glance it reminded me of terminator as well. haha.

but the 'hovering' aspect of this thing is the coolest aspect about it imo.
 
I wouldn't consider it an instrument of death. It's sole purpose is to destroy incoming ICBMs (as the re-enter the atmosphere).

It doesn't even carry any explosive charge, it's a kinetic kill vehicle.

Granted, this thing is what has Russia's panties in a knot, but I'd argue against it being an instrument of death.
 
freebooter said:
I feel sick when I see all the billions of dollars, millions of man-hours and thousands of brilliant minds wasted on developing the technology of death. We, humanity, are immature and twisted, and we will be very lucky to make it past this phase of our development and mature into a wise species.
Were even a fraction of the money, energy and talent wasted on killing each other used for the benefit of mankind...
Click to expand...

You do have a point. But let's not forget the (sad) truth, that many of the things we enjoy today were originally invented by or for the military in the first place. Necessity is the mother of invention, after all.

From a utopian standpoint, it would be far better if we could all just get along. As you say, grow up as a species.
 
freebooter said:
I feel sick when I see all the billions of dollars, millions of man-hours and thousands of brilliant minds wasted on developing the technology of death. We, humanity, are immature and twisted, and we will be very lucky to make it past this phase of our development and mature into a wise species.
Were even a fraction of the money, energy and talent wasted on killing each other used for the benefit of mankind...
Click to expand...

Like the computer. Now millions of children watch porn all day.

Wait, that's not a good example.
 
pilotError said:
I don't think it's a big secret.

It is an interceptor for inbound missles.

Essentially this thing hovers in front of a missle and the impact destroys the warhead.

This was the 1st test of interceptor. To be able to demonstrate a stable hover in an atmosphere (or gravity - I forget which).

The idea is that when there are multiple inbound warheads, you don't have enough missles to hit all the decoys in addition to the real warhead. If you put say 10 of these in an ICBM and get the payload close enough, these deploy and pick which target to destroy. It can obviously be used for multiple inbound missles as well.

The point of the hovering is so that if an inbound missle changes course to evade, it can also change course quickly (counter-counter measures).
Click to expand...

Actually if you read the article it doesn't do that at all.

"Then, instead of exploding, the MKV will maneuver through the threats launching several kill vehicles, each targeted at the different objects on the air, both real dangers and dummies set to deceive missile defences."

So it will actually launch "kill vehicles" at each missile that has been fired. Hence the name "Multiple Kill Vehicle" It wouldn't be "multiple" if it only destroyed one missile would it?
 
Big-TDI-Guy said:
I wouldn't consider it an instrument of death. It's sole purpose is to destroy incoming ICBMs (as the re-enter the atmosphere). It doesn't even carry any explosive charge, it's a kinetic kill vehicle. Granted, this thing is what has Russia's panties in a knot, but I'd argue against it being an instrument of death.
Click to expand...

I could not agree more. It is much closer to an instrument of life rather than death.

Some people seem to have a lot of problems with human nature and free will.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back