Posted on 01/13/2009 6:52:44 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY
Snipers or assassins could be spotted in their nests before even firing a shot thanks to laser surveillance technology to be unveiled in Britain.
European and U.S. companies are accelerating research into anti-sniper defences in response to threats in Afghanistan and Iraq and at home.
But most systems use acoustic or thermal sensors that depend on waiting for the first shot.
An alternative developed by the European aerospace group EADS aims to warn of attack and pinpoint the sniper before he pulls the trigger by bouncing light off his telescopic sight.
'It is the same principle as 'cat's eyes' in the middle of the road,' said Peter Talbot-Jones, research team leader at EADS Innovation Works at Newport in Wales.
'Cat's eyes' behave like the retina of a cat by reflecting light from a car's headlamps to illuminate lines on the road.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
wow. technology gets more cool. I thought those micro-radar devices that can tell you where a bullet came from was cool.
Robert E Lee did not grow up thinking of the US as his country he grew up loyal to his home state. I think at least 70% of soldiers will side with the one signing their paychecks, at the LEAST
Very true about Lee and his state-centered sense of patriotism. But how many members of the current US military do you think grew up loyal to a communist dictatorship with heavy Muslim sympathies? I suspect that rather less than 70% of the military would fight fellow Americans in order to prop up such tyranny.
I mean they will fight for government in any civil war
well, we can pray they will side with the right side
What the insugencies in Iraq and Afghanistan have shown, to anybody who cares to think about it, is that a few thousand motivated people can keep a large modern army tied up for years.
Solution: a bunch of old 35mm camera lenses, bottom of old coke bottles, etc. hung from wires at different places.
So you’re relying on the fact that the soldiers who you’ve been blowing up and shooting at will want to join your side? That’s a massive ‘if’, and if you’re relying on them joining you and bringing their equipment with them, doesn’t this make the second amendment a moot point?
Also, what makes you think that the entire citizenry would be on your side? Lets take the example of the War of Independence, which was also essentially a civil war between loyalists on the side of the government and the rebels.
The technology available at the time meant that a rebel force could equip itself to something approaching an equal standard to government forces, in the case of rifles, even better, and was capable of defeating a government force conventionally in the field in the right circumstances. Even then though, without French assistence, especially naval support, the rebels had next to no chance of actually being able to trap and destroy a government army and thus bring the war to an end.
This was less the case during the American civil war, but in that case, the rebels still put up a good fight before the superior equipment available to the Union told against them.
Nowadays though, the disparity is huge. It may have been feasible a couple of centuries ago for a citizen’s militia to get some horses and cannons, but getting tanks and helicopters/jet fighters etc is just not feasible.
Sure, a rebel force may be able to inflict a few casualties like they are in Afghanistan, but the casualties are going to be a lot greater on your side, and as for any dreams of defeating a government army in the field and driving it away so you can storm Washington DC and overthrow the government, forget it. Not going to happen. Best you can hope for is to survive for a long time until everybody gets sick of fighting and the government is prepared to make a few token concessions to you to allow you to keep some of your pride intact as you surrender yourselves and go back to a peace were it is unlikely you will have achieved anything meaningful for your efforts...
“Does anyone else get the feeling that these technical innovations in counter-insurgency warfare make the second amendment even more irrelevent than it already is when it comes to protecting against the government?”
You obviously know nothing of the second or this device or sniper rifles. Just shut up and wear your chains quietly.
“Since you are in the UK”
Oh, sorry, I didn’t know he was just a nancyboy whose sister is dating a camel jockey.
You really don’t know what you’re talking about.
They will just use foreign troops and significantly reduce the size of the US military should an internal rebellion become a threat. This is to prevent a coup attempt and/or mass desertion.
The first block lives in cities and survives in large part off government hand-outs. These people do not grow food, do not manufacture anything, cannot fix anything, in many cases cannot drive a car, and mostly do not own guns.
The second block lives outside cities, grows food, makes stuff, fixes stuff, owns a variety of vehicles, and often owns many weapons, some of considerable firepower.
The first thing to know is that the population in the first block begins to die off very quickly if the second block decides to stop sending them food and supplies. Riots in the cities will hasten this die-off. The second thing to realize is that a tyrannical government (like all governments) is supported by taxes levied against the producing class. Well, the producing class just stopped paying. The third thing to know is that the supporters of a tyrannical government are supporters largely because the government gives them goodies. Well, the goodies just stopped coming because the tax revenues just dried up. So support for the tyranny is on a constant downward slope.
There wouldn’t be any real pitched battles. There’s no point to any sweeping envelopment by armored divisions. What are you going to envelop? The Midwest?? No. The war ends quickly because the government and its supporters cannot function without active, constant support from the producing class. Any gleanings that may provide subsistence to the tyrants can be interdicted through simple guerrilla tactics by any of about 100 million good old boys who like to have a little fun and watch things blow up.
In a backward country like Afghanistan, low-level fighting can go on for a long time because (usually) both sides have little, require little, and are willing to get by with whatever comes to hand. The US simply isn't like that. The government of the US is an extremely high-maintenance machine. Care and feeding of that beast requires huge resources. Disrupt the flow, push the government toward the status of a backward nation, and the only supporters left will have names like Kennedy and Clinton. Everyone else will have jumped ship.
Does anyone else get the feeling that these technical innovations in counter-insurgency warfare make the second amendment even more irrelevant than it already is when it comes to protecting against the government?
That’s the kind of shooting that won WWII.
And some aircraft as well.
Load up privately owned P-51s with its 6 or 8 Brownings.
They used .308 and 30.06 in WWII. Much different mindset before the M-16 was manufactured.
LOL! Good story shot down with a single link!
Moreover, a technological population has more potential weapons at its disposal than just the small arms its individuals have at hand. A simplistic example is the case of the West Virginia State Guard, back in the ‘80’s. The unit, knowing itself to be part of the legal State Militia, believed that the laws permitted itself to obtain and maintain heavy weapons, and so they obtained 3 M24 light tanks and a 75mm mountain howitzer. All had been ‘demilitarized,’ but the State Guardsmen included machinists, who put them back in working order. They then secured these privately owned but State Militia dedicated ordinance items at State NG Armories. Where they were discovered by state and Federal officials, to their horror.
Said authorities, since the State Guardsmen had neglected to obtain anyone's authorization to reactivate these weapons, confiscated them. Now imagine that these had not been trusting and law-abiding citizens, but fed-up individuals feeling oppressed by the recurring petty tyrannies of a government aiming to bring them to a state of subjection and slavery.
You would think a Brit would know this lesson better than anyone. After all, the most advanced military machine in the world lost to a 3rd world non nation in the revolutionary war. The king even outlawed the sale of metal farm implements do to the fear that they would become weapons. We wore them down and drove them out despite british decrees ordering the release of slaves to create a ready made army.
Even sadder are Americans who think American soldiers will happily kill Americans for a paycheck. To me that shows a real lack of respect for our men and women in uniform.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.