DailyDirt: Weapons To Fight Terrorists...
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Osama bin Laden's death has inspired quite a few stories about the military gear that special forces use against terrorists. It sounds like James Bond has inspired some of these weapons: stealth helicopters, dogs with titanium teeth... Here are a few more examples of these weapons.- The stealth helicopter that was used in Pakistan to get Osama bin Laden has publicized its previously unknown existence. Aviation geeks think it was probably a modified H-60 Blackhawk. [url]
- Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) fitted with conventional warheads (instead of nukes) have been considered for bombing terrorists, but ICBMs have the drawback of triggering nuclear war alerts. Instead, hypersonic gliders could be used to deliver bombs anywhere in the world in less than an hour (or your money back?). [url]
- Maybe we can't have sharks with lasers attached to their heads, but we *can* have German Shepherds with titanium teeth, body armor, IR cameras and oxygen masks. Don't mess with dogs that have titanium teeth... [url]
- Aerial surveillance from a quadcopter drone can be used to track a person from over 2 miles away. So far, it seems like only South American drug cartels have had to worry about these drones, but that could change anytime. [url]
- To discover more interesting war-related stuff, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: hypersonic glider, icbms, quadcopter, weapons
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
I actually used to be a rocket scientist...
All right, this baffles me. If the new device can carry a heavy conventional warhead, why couldn't people suspect that it might be carrying a nuke?
Maybe because it would be an unthinkable break with tradition? Or because nobody would expect us to put such an expensive warhead on a vehicle that still can't make it through a test flight? (I'm clutching at straws here.)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What? Like dropping 1/4 of a million cluster-bomblets, 98% of the fatalaties from which are civilian, and 1/3 of those children?
You can't fight terrorism if you're the biggest participant - because the grievances of the people you call "terrorists" are probably legitimate.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
love how you just give stats with no support.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
"The report also found that 46 per cent of the victims of US air strikes whose gender could be determined were female and 39 per cent were children."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/5161326/Number-of-women-and- children-killed-in-Iraq-air-raids-disproportionately-high.html
Not exact but good enough?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Anyway, it had a link to to pdf doc for a human rights organization. In it, there were stats about civilian casualties. A village of about 12000 people was cluster bombed over about 6 or 7 days because the Taliban was hiding in the village instead of staying in their camp that was nearby. From that report, about 20, maybe 25, civilian villagers were killed. That's not even close to the 98% Nick is claiming.
Nick (and apparently you) only seem to want to blame the U.S. and put nothing on the terrorists that hide in the villages using these civilians as shields.
It's unfortunate, but civilians always have and always will be killed in wars. The big difference is that the U.S. does not do it intentionally (and if they do, they are punished for it) but when terrorists kill civilians, it's always intentional.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
While the study didn't assign blame for the killings, death squads largely run by Shiite militias were believed to be behind many of the bullet-riddled bodies that turned up by the dozens on the streets of Baghdad and other cities – often stripped of any identification.
Those death squads were seeking revenge for the deaths of Shiite civilians at the hands of al-Qaida and other Sunni religious extremists in suicide bombings and other attacks.
And:
Only 4 per cent of the Iraqi deaths included in the study, or 2,363, were a result of US air strikes, which frequently targeted suspected insurgents hiding in houses. But 46 per cent of the victims whose gender could be determined were female and 39 per cent were children.
Thanks for that. Come on, Nick. Got anythying to say for yourself?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
I don't see anything near 98% being civilian. There are some, yes... which happens during a war, especially when terrorists like to hide amongst civilians hoping the US or others won't bomb the living crap out of them for fear of collateral damage.
Yes, unfortunately there will always be civilian casualties during war. But the difference here is, they are unintentional. The terrorists target civilians intentionally. That's something people like you and HRW apparently forget.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/05/no-navy-seal-dogs-dont-have-titanium-teeth/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Interesting How The US ...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Which Reminds Me ...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Don't worry, the FBI and local police forces will be using them soon enough. In fact, I'd be surprised if they weren't already...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]