Mass. company making combative flying discs

[sabra]

http://www.thetranscript.com/headlines/ci_4294959

Mass. company making combative flying discs

WASHINGTON — Baghdad better have a leash law. Because Iraqi dog owners won't want their pooches fetching this: killer Frisbees.

A Chelmsford defense-contractor Triton Systems is developing the pilotless saucer to give American troops an edge in close-quarter, urban battles.

The unit can wend its way through Baghdad alleys before launching bunker-buster bombs to penetrate hardened hideouts or unleash fragment explosives on enemy militants.

"The beauty of the Frisbee is it can move up, down, left, right without having to bank and turn like a regular airplane," according to an aeronautical engineer familiar with the program. "It can hover, too."

[meegbear]

1. Certainly gives new meaning to the word "Whammo"

[Ezlivin]

2. So that's what they've been doing out at Area 51!

[MadHound]

3. Coming soon to a city near you

The Iraq war is providing a perfect testing ground for these new sorts of weapons. Unmanned drones, saucers, etc. A nice, hostile urban scenario, with live fire thrown in, and the Pentagon has take full advantage. And now we're starting to see some of these weapons systems, like the unmanned drone aircraft, appearing in the skies over major US cities. I predict that we'll see these saucers flying over LA in three years or less.

[Gregorian]

4. I've had nightmares about robots in war.

It's all so much fun to create and use this stuff, until they're coming after YOU.

Just imagine. Oh, I forgot, the people who design and build these things can't think in those ways. No empathy. What a world we could have.

Like perhaps, HEALTH CARE?

[flamin lib]

5. Bell Helicopter is working on an urban attack craft too.

http://investor.textron.com/newsroom/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=205652&category=Bell

Internal fan hover craft that can negotiate the narrow streets without a rotor hitting buildings and such. The mock up shows a FLIR pod in front and two weapons pods--one is easily recognized as a gatling gun.

God, we're good at killing.

[boise1]

6. You could really make a hole-in-one in Frisbee golf with one of these

[VWolf]

7. Interesting

About 20 years ago, I interviewed for an internship at a company in Chelmsford (probably the same company under a different name). Part of their presentation was a set of photos depicting the use of their frisbee-like weapons. The photos showed the weapons penetrating tanks and other armored vehicles. Each frisbee had its own set of sensors and was designed asymmetrically so that it would precess as it flew. Due to the precession, the sensor traced out a cone and, once a target was found, set off the charge. The other cool thing was that the charge was designed to deform the case of the device into a bullet-like shape capable of penetrating just about anything.

I guess the difference is that the new ones can actively fly, while the older ones were simply launched from a sling-shot.

Just think what we could accomplish if we used all those great minds to develop alternative energy sources instead of weapons.

[sutz12]

8. OMG....That used to be a joke...

I remember an old rumor from the 70's that the DoD had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for scientists/engineers to throw Fisbees off of cliffs for "research."

We all laughed..............

:shrug:

[EnviroBat]

9. They're developing weapons directly from computer games!

These were called "Man-Hacks" in the game Half Life II. They were fun to shoot out of the sky. Can you imagine a world where you can destroy unmanned police property that is trying to spy on you? "Bring it on!"

[krispos42]

10. Finally! An urban use for my pheasant-hunting skills!

Do I need a permit? And can I use lead shot, or do I have to pony up extra for the non-toxic stuff? :evilgrin:

[AnneD]

11. Well....

another object we can't take on the plane with us. God, this would be a great Monty Python skit if it weren't true.

[bobthedrummer]

12. They failed to give credit to the Third Reich scientist W.O.Schumann

and others that pioneered this kind of tech, often as "Americans" with jobs in national security.
Then again who wants to hear about all that FASCIST business-even though it's true.

[hedgehog]

13. So that's where those spy cameras on Dark Angel came from!

How many months until the terrorists set off the E-M pulse that takes down the US economy by destroying all computer records? And just where are the genetically altered children being raised to be super-soldiers!

[Robb]

14. "Combative"?

I had this mental picture of a frisbee acting gruff, refusing to answer questions and finally slugging the bailiff. :shrug: