Posted on 06/11/2007 9:43:06 AM PDT by Incorrigible
I wish him the best of luck with this but it doesn't look like he's gone far beyond the idea stage on these inventions.
This seems like a counter-measure that would be easy to counter. You simply fire your RPGs in a timed and regular series until your target exhausts his complement of rocket-nets.
Not sure no one did this before, at our archery range we had a mesh back drop that could stop bolts and arrows, it looked like a nylon fish net...
It could still raise the survivability of the helicopter.
What is this guy smoking???? If building schools, hospitals, clean water facilities and sewage treatment plants as well as ousting the murderous tyrant and his sons that killed Lord knows how many of them doesn’t stop them from shooting down helicopters, how is dropping free kevlar nets on them going to help???
Right?
Yes, Maj. Kimball, that worked really well in Viet Nam, didn't it.
It's a good thing we didn't have officers with this mindset running World War II, or we'd be speaking German and Japanese.
Rewarding your friends is fine, but you have to punish your enemies to make it really work.
Enough shots would bring it down naturally. A lot of RPGs hits come from “cheap shots” — one or two 3rd world dirtbags who carry only their rifles on them and maybe a bigger weapon (like an RPG launcher).
I’d like one of those net thingies to control my daughter’s cat!
Correct. In WW2, the gadget added to tanks to plow through hedge rows was a soldier with an idea and a welding torch.
Was it perfect? Nope. Did the job simply tho....
"Twenty years ago, if you said that 5 milliseconds after a car accident we'll inflate this big air bag in front of you, people probably would have called the cops on you.''
Incorrect, but appropriate example. Twenty years ago, the guys who were developing the systems knew that the bag would take the test dummy's head off if it was too close. Way out ideas with great promise require extra care in weeding out the unintended consequences.
What about a parachute when a helicopter goes into free-fall?
They have them for small planes now, and they’ve saved a few lives. You’d have to put the ‘chute right in the center of the rotor, probably, and it would spin with the blades.
Actually, you could even have it come out the side of the craft. The helicopter would land sideways, but that may be better than landing upright at Vi + 9.8m/s^2 * t.
“This seems like a counter-measure that would be easy to counter. You simply fire your RPGs in a timed and regular series until your target exhausts his complement of rocket-nets.”
Well, as a former helicopter pilot, I would say I, personally, would not be hanging around long enough to run out (or I would turn and let fly Hell and damnation, depending on my mood, mission, and load).
Well, as a former helicopter pilot, I would say I, personally, would not be hanging around long enough to run out (or I would turn and let fly Hell and damnation, depending on my mood, mission, and load).Oh, good point. I wasn't thinking like a pilot. I suppose you fire your net and throw yourself half-speed a-stern. Oh, wait, that's not thinking like a pilot either. I'm joking. Your point is still a good one.
And when you bring down the first chopper equipped with these, you now have a new toy to shoot at the choppers.
Kelvlar Net’s into the intake or tail rotor anyone.
Exactly what I’m thinking. I’m pretty sure some ‘defended pads’ use a very similiar system based on line throwing guns.
Yes just in time for the ‘copter to turn the guns on them
My idea is a micro Phalanx system using a .223 caliber gun instead of the 30mm gun they now use.
If you have a fast computer and a remote control gun you can make an anti rocket system on many platforms like tanks, planes and helicopters.
There is no reason this could not be done. The software is already done; you only need a 100 yard range so a small bullet is OK.
This would make all subsonic missiles obsolete.
The bullets will pose a threat to the ground forces so for close in protection a shotgun style system might be better.
Some one should make a BB gun prototype on a scale model at home so the government doesn’t spend 100 million to determine that it’s too expensive to make.
However, you have the right idea. The RPG grenade, if it fails to hit a target, is set up to detonate at a certain distance. The terrorists have gotten a lot of experience at launching RPGs to take advantage of that.
I’m waiting for some Commie genius to come up with a proximity fused RPG to make our chopper pilots even MORE miserable.
... proving yet again that if the counter-measure to your counter-measure is cheaper then the entire exercise is a waste of time. 6 choppers out of 61 downed by enemy fire? How many were due to RPG's alone? 3? 4? Are we sure that we want to put our efforts into countering a dumb weapon with a low hit rate and a lower PK?
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