Replies

Why hasn't anyone thought of this before now?!?!

1 posted on 08/04/2011 11:05:49 PM PDT by pillut48

They have, it’s a multi billion dollar program that
has now been cut.

Actually that’s sarcasm, but I wouldn’t doubt it
for a second.

2 posted on 08/04/2011 11:08:26 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)

Earlier in the Afghan/Iraq conflicts, troops were using Silly String to reveal trip wires in houses and buildings.

Smarts like this come from grass roots boots, not from highfalutin generals in the Pentagon who have things custom made at exorbitant cost.

3 posted on 08/04/2011 11:09:12 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (There's gonna be a Redneck Revolution! (See my freep page) [rednecks come in many colors])

It’s a great story. Too bad the government procurement is too cumbersome, to be able to just go out and buy a few thousand of these toys with a sensor.

4 posted on 08/04/2011 11:17:27 PM PDT by Clairity ("The United States needs to be not so much loved as it needs to be respected." -- VP Dick Cheney)

I really like this story :-)

5 posted on 08/04/2011 11:18:43 PM PDT by Bobalu (He who is compassionate to the cruel will ultimately become cruel to the compassionate)

Unless we are going to war with Pakistan, it is time to take our toys and leave that crap-hole.

6 posted on 08/04/2011 11:20:19 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper

This thing might have cost $200 all tricked out ...

If it had been a Pentagon approved project, it woulda cost $5 million bucks, 10 years of development, and NOT work ...

Check out the movie, “The Pentagon Wars” ...

7 posted on 08/05/2011 12:10:04 AM PDT by Lmo56 (If ya wanna run with the big dawgs - ya gotta learn to piss in the tall grass ...)

By the time DoD asks for bids and reviews the specs of the proposed RC IED Unmanned vehicles (RCIEDUV) these will be costing taxpayers a million per.

8 posted on 08/05/2011 12:59:08 AM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Happiness)

12 posted on 08/05/2011 2:47:38 AM PDT by Daaave ("The ship will automatically destruct in "T" minus five minutes.")

I don’t know, but I left a message on his answering machine to call me and I’ll donate whatever it takes to make another one!

14 posted on 08/05/2011 4:31:52 AM PDT by sig229 (The loonie left "FLUNKED" human nature 101)

I understand the irritation of my fellow FReepers about why this is not something easily available to our troops, but it is VERY CHARACTERISTIC of government bureaucracy throughout. The phenomena is well known and even has a name; "Gold Plating"! A problem is presented, a simple solution is found, a simple addition that makes the solution better is added but requires 'minor' modification to run and on it goes ...

This is neither a new problem nor is it confined to America but it does strike hard at a society that values lives over equipment and work to avoid collateral (civilian) injury. As well demonstrated in Vietnam, punji traps were very effective but could not be used by our troops. The most effective and inexpensive guided weapon in the world is a suicide bomber, it costs one life and is generally very cost effective.

A great and fun read from 1951 by the Science Fiction Master, Arthur C Clarke, speaks to this very phenomena and is a short story well worth reading here, "Superiority".

15 posted on 08/05/2011 5:03:42 AM PDT by SES1066 (1776 to 2011, 235 years and counting in the GRAND EXPERIMENT!)

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