Predator w/Sniper Rifle 2

There has been some talk of mounting a 40mm weapon on a Dragonfly UAV.
See:

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/...ewID=news_view

But I'm not sure if this will ever make it past the concept stage.

Does this sound like a practical idea?

On 20 May 2004 22:05:54 -0700, Eric Moore wrote:
There has been some talk of mounting a 40mm weapon on a Dragonfly UAV.
See:

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/...ewID=news_view

But I'm not sure if this will ever make it past the concept stage.

Does this sound like a practical idea?

Sounds practical to me.

A place where Metal Storm might be useful is as part of an anti-ship
missile firing 40 mm or 80 mm shells. These might have a range of
2-5 km, which would outrange CIWS being used against the AShM
(though they wouldn't outrange anti-missile missiles, except for
short range ones).

Another idea would be for a UAV to drop large numbers of small
guided bombs -- something like the 81 mm and 120 mm guided mortar
shells that currently exist -- onto a target.

--
"It's easier to find people online who openly support the KKK than
people who openly support the RIAA" -- comment on Wikipedia
(Email: zen19725 at zen dot co dot uk)

(phil hunt) wrote in message . org...
On 20 May 2004 22:05:54 -0700, Eric Moore wrote:
There has been some talk of mounting a 40mm weapon on a Dragonfly UAV.
See:

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/...ewID=news_view

But I'm not sure if this will ever make it past the concept stage.

Does this sound like a practical idea?

Sounds practical to me.

A place where Metal Storm might be useful is as part of an anti-ship
missile firing 40 mm or 80 mm shells. These might have a range of
2-5 km, which would outrange CIWS being used against the AShM
(though they wouldn't outrange anti-missile missiles, except for
short range ones).

Another idea would be for a UAV to drop large numbers of small
guided bombs -- something like the 81 mm and 120 mm guided mortar
shells that currently exist -- onto a target.


There's already a weapon like that, it's called "Viper Strike". See:

http://www.defense-update.com/direct...per-strike.htm

On 21 May 2004 22:38:40 -0700, Eric Moore wrote:
Another idea would be for a UAV to drop large numbers of small
guided bombs -- something like the 81 mm and 120 mm guided mortar
shells that currently exist -- onto a target.

There's already a weapon like that, it's called "Viper Strike". See:

http://www.defense-update.com/direct...per-strike.htm

It's similar, though different in terms of its intended usage. Viper
Strike uses a single human-controlled projectile designed for
attacking specific targets in urban areas.

What I had in mind would use largish numbers of warheads (about
10-100), which would be autonomously guided (the bomblets would have
IR or radar homing), to be used against armoured columns.

It would probably also be useful against ships; the UAV could fly
fast (Mach 2 or more) and high (20 km), which would put it out of
trhe range of many SAMs. The bomblets would be too numerous for SAMs
to intercept them, and CIWS usually can't fire directly upwards. In
any case the small size and high terminal velocity of the bomblets
would make it hard for CIWS to catch them all.

Considerations such as this suggest to me that any naval or land SAM
system must to be useful include a missile capable of intercepting
the very highest aircraft.

--
"It's easier to find people online who openly support the KKK than
people who openly support the RIAA" -- comment on Wikipedia
(Email: zen19725 at zen dot co dot uk)

On Sat, 22 May 2004 14:17:15 +0100, (phil hunt)
wrote:

On 21 May 2004 22:38:40 -0700, Eric Moore wrote:
Another idea would be for a UAV to drop large numbers of small
guided bombs -- something like the 81 mm and 120 mm guided mortar
shells that currently exist -- onto a target.

There's already a weapon like that, it's called "Viper Strike". See:

http://www.defense-update.com/direct...per-strike.htm

It's similar, though different in terms of its intended usage. Viper
Strike uses a single human-controlled projectile designed for
attacking specific targets in urban areas.

What I had in mind would use largish numbers of warheads (about
10-100), which would be autonomously guided (the bomblets would have
IR or radar homing), to be used against armoured columns.

WHile Viper Strike is laser guided, it's a derivative of BAT which is
Acoustic/IIR, and was designed for use against armoured columns, so
reinstating the Acoustic/IIR homing head and you problem is
solved....well, except for the rather high performance UAV with a
large payload.

Peter Kemp

Peter Kemp wrote in message . ..
On Sat, 22 May 2004 14:17:15 +0100, (phil hunt)
wrote:
SNIP:
Anti-missile laser on a B2 painted 'smoke' orbiting at 40,000? Since
it would be shooting down the range would be equivalent to about 3
miles of sea-level air and the beam would be effective - don't know
how narrow it would be but certainly enough to cook an armed man. Dead
is dead; the cause of death is irrelevant as long as there is no
'collateral damage'.
Walt BJ