UAV Sniper

Sagetech ^

[wildbill]

unbelieveable! You can run but you’ll just die tired.

[wildbill]

Yeah, but they can keep shooting til they get it right.

[river rat]

"But I fear the day that it is used in America, by a government gone totalitarian."

If our "government" goes "totalitarian" --- they would have a few thing to fear themselves..

This is NOT Zimbabwe..

10s of millions of armed citizens..
Millions of TRAINED veterans of combat.
All veterans are STILL under their oath of service, to DEFEND the Constitution against ALL enemies - both foreign and domestic.
A Constitution which authorizes Defense of that Constitution.

A "totalitarian" government would need a hell of a lot more that a few unmanned drones and battalions of Code Pink or Boobs not Bombs babes to make it stick...

We have both the arms and the Constitution on OUR side.
And, more than enough pissed off folks, eager to take action....

[kitchen]

If this is ever used in the USA, those guys are going to have to live in those control stations on closed bases 24/7 forever.

They won’t be able to walk across the Target parking lot.

This is the first thing I thought of too. On the other hand, I'm very surprised Hariuchi is still walking around.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Sweet.

Looks like the jihadis are going to start becoming more and more scarce as they loose the ability to find cover amongst women and children.

Now if they can just develop a multiple target engagement system that can track and engage 4-5 of these animals as they scurry for cover, then the war will essentially be over.

A team of loitering UAVs with mixed rifle/missile loadouts and nothing moves without permission.

[Travis McGee]

If there is a new Great Depression, 2/3 of Americans will DEMAND what amounts to martial law to “fix the problem now!”

Those who don’t go along with mandatory rationing, wage price and rent controls etc, will be branded economic sabateurs and enemies of the people. 2/3 of Americans will support govt. steps to crack down on these “outlaws.”

I’m not saying it will be a cakewalk either way, because as you said, millions of us are armed and would fight to defend the “old” constitution.

That’s why I pinged the CW2 list: it would be a scrap.

[Travis McGee]

I wonder what goes through Hooch’s mind when he walks across the Target parking lot.

[fr_freak]

If there is a new Great Depression, 2/3 of Americans will DEMAND what amounts to martial law to “fix the problem now!”

I don't know if 2/3 would demand martial law, but I certainly believe that 2/3 would accept martial law. But that's always the way it is. In the American Revolution, only about 1/3 of the population rebelled. The rest were either neutral or actively supported the British. I would expect the same ration this time around. However, a properly motivated 1/3 can kick the crap out of the other 2/3 no problem.

[longtermmemmory]

Remember folks, this is the technology the democrats said could never work in the SDI of Ronald Reagan in the 1080s.

[Travis McGee]

That motivated 1/3 could be up against some brutal tools of control, such as “brilliant data mining” to come up with the most likey enemies of the state, followed by a Sniper UAV.

It would not be quick or easy. I read what both Yanks and Rebels said circa April 1961: the war would be over by the end of summer.

[Travis McGee]

Whoops-—off by a mere century.

[Travis McGee]

This is not “hit a bullet with a bullet.” (Star Wars)

This is just “hit a regular old man with a regular old bullet from a new platform.”

[Southack]

Why not arm a UCAV with a machine gun? What’s the impetus or advantage for sniper shots from the sky?

[Dr.Zoidberg]

I wonder what goes through Hooch’s mind when he walks across the Target parking lot.

Odds are good the murderer looks nothing like he did when he killed Vicky Weaver.

Gain weight, change hair, glasses, grow a beard, it's easy to become invisible if you don't mind a bit of work.

So I'd say he feels fairly safe, which is a shame, a damned terrible shame...

[Dr.Zoidberg]

What’s the impetus or advantage for sniper shots from the sky?

There's no stomach for collateral damage anymore. A machine gun would be no more discriminating than a Hellfire missile.

With a sniper rifle, you can pop mohammed while he's accepting a cup of tea from his slave...er...wife and not even disturb her veil.

[Southack]

"There's no stomach for collateral damage anymore."

That's hardly a government to fear, then.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

That's hardly a government to fear, then.

I think you'll find that there's a world of difference between dealing with enemies, killing their wives and children when you're dropping 500lb bombs during wartime and suppressing "home grown terrorists" who are resisting law enforcement efforts to "protect the public" from far right wing militia types".

How something is packaged and fed to the public has everything to do with how they react.

[longtermmemmory]

You will have more moslem men in burkas, more with veils (oops scarfs over face), more wide brimmed hats, more crowds with everyone wearing the same thing.

The visual equivalent of chaff.

then again one tiny rfid chip and suddenly it is not an issue.

Don’t forget we also now have tactical lasers. Soon they will be much smaller instead of artilary scaled as with all tech. (ie bell cannons- muskets-pistols)

These molsem terrorists will have to keep significant distance from anything with a microchip.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Heh, it’s going to be interesting to see how many more mohammedan women start showing up in villages where they were in short number before.

This might just have the unintended consequence of driving women out of the veil and into mens clothing to create false targets while the burka clad cowards hide in basements.

As long as it results in fear and confusion to the enemy, I’m all for it.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

And I can’t wait until energy weapons/lasers become man portable.

They may be forbidden to civilians, but once the tech gets into the wild(and it will, you can’t put a genie back once the bottle is opened) personal lasers will become available if expensive.

And Han will indeed shoot first. =-)