[SandRat]

IED-Counters

[The_Media_never_lie]

My suggestion, get medieval on the perpertrators, when caught.

[Final Authority]

Remember, when you were a kid, on the school playground at recess and a couple of "tough" kids grabbed your hat (it was wintertime) and played keep-away? Or, maybe they took your baseball glove and you wanted to solve the problem. Or, maybe in High School, some wimpy guy who was full of himself would go up behind guys in the hall between classes and dump their books? Well, the solution to every one of these efforts to intimidate and harass is and was to forget the hat, forget the glove, don't pick up the books, just beat the ever living crap out of the perpetrator in an instant with a punch straight to the nose. When done right, nothing hurts more, and better, it should bring both tears and blood.

The solution to IEDs, although very messy, is to announce that for every IED that kills Americans or Iraq security forces, villages will be shelled and then bulldozed, just like what was done in WWII, and it worked. After a few villages or neighborhoods, the bombers get very little respect from those who want to remain among the living.

[guitfiddlist]

Maybe they should be checking out the hobby field for some ideas. For the fraction of the cost of a Predator or Global Hawk - they can have a swarm of these loitering to give round-the-clock surveillance of key roadways and jihad hotspots, using a variety of sensors.

These can be coupled with a fleet of these to provide close-in surveillance of suspicious activity

And if they need immediate action - they can call in some of these:

[guitfiddlist]

Just as a matter of comparison with the current DOD UAV program - here are some cost figures:

Global Hawk is the most expensive UAV currently available. As of mid-2002 the estimated unit costs had tripled over the original estimate of $15 million apiece. The aircraft costs about $48 million with a full sensor quite, or about $70 million each if development costs are included. By contrast, the smaller Predator costs about $4.5 million.

Source

I'd imagine if the DOD approached a gaggle of guys at your average RC club, they'd be doing backflips to help out building what it takes.

The key is proliferation of these units. With the current price tags of the Predator and Hawk, and the full tasking load of these scarce assets, constant widespread surveillance is impossible. These far simpler, cheaper and more limited-space-maneuverable RC craft make it a possibility.