Posted on 06/16/2010 7:54:07 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
You would bet wrong. 20K ft is 4 miles.
Largest round in this house is .50BMG. I paid the price of a small Kia for the scope and subsequent mods by the factory.
One mile, if I hand it to someone that can actually see, and we use the $5.00/round Arizona Ammunition precision rounds that I stocked up on back when they were only $5.00.
Russian SAMs might hit it, but Kadaffi won't vouch for them. He wanted surface to airplane missiles, and the Soviets kept sending him surface to air missiles.
There's a reason they aren't called hittles.
/johnny
Kind of off topic, but I sometimes wonder if it would be possible to rebuild The Hindenberg with modern materials and helium, and use it as a luxury touring vehicle. It’s probably commercially impossible, but it would be immensely cool.
Very cool. I read they used balloons in the civil war.
I wouldn’t be worried about getting shot down. First, achmed would have to use a radar, or be one hell of a shot (somebody please enlighten me on how the Stinger locks on, but I bet its ‘active’ and easy to spot). Second, why on earth are we to believe that the story lists the correct ceiling. I remember something as small fry as our four deuce mortars had their range ‘unlisted’...surely we don’t give out accurate info about aircraft capabilities.
Well, that's encouraging.
Alright, but someone commented upthread that at high mountain altitudes, it would be possible to hit these airships with something the Afghans already have.
I'm out of my depth on the science and ballistic technicalities involved here. Just commenting on what I'm seeing from more well-informed posters.
When did Navy retire the last one? I remember that they were called s**tbags.
The airship could have been operational 2 years ago, but the EPA made the DOD redesign the porta-potties...to meet three week mission requirements..
Miltary aviation started with balloons and for the same reasons; What’s old is new again.
That’s a blimp. I mean an 800 foot long airship that can hold 100 people and fly from Germany to Brazil. Imagine the tours it could do: down the Mississippi to the Grand Canyon, past Yosemite and then along Mount Rushmore, stuff like that. It would be the ultimate cool vacation.
...92 mph (148 kph)... 302-foot (92-meter) airship...My goodness.
Wheee! ;’)
All over the BBC news this morning:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12110386
Nice video of the prototype in flight. The company website is
http://www.hybridairvehicles.net/
I keep saying that it feels more and more like 1914.
The National Tower at Gettysburg was an eyesore, and yet it was an excellent way to view the terrain and gain a good understanding of how the battle unfolded. Since it was torn down, I’ve dreamed about a battlefield tour program from tethered hot air balloons...
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