DailyDirt: Crazy Weapons...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Military technology is improving in a lot of ways. Armies all of over the world are constructing better robots and bombs. Considering the pace of progress for these weapons, we might need another pass at international treaties for using them. Here are a few links discussing some newer weapons of warfare. By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.
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Filed Under: drones, hypersonic vehicles, pilots, robots, rockets, weapons
Companies: usaf


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  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Dec 2011 @ 6:16pm

    why don't hypersonic vehicles set off nuclear war alarms?

    hey, so... uh, like.. if intercontinental missiles are to be avoided for conventional warheads b/c they could be mistaken for nuclear arms... why can't hypersonic missiles carry nuclear warheads and pose a really scary nuclear threat?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Dec 2011 @ 6:42pm

    Re: why don't hypersonic vehicles set off nuclear war alarms?

    I'm assuming any country capable of launching a nuclear assault on the U.S can already tell if its a plane or nuclear warhead being launched at them.

    So basically... "Nuclear Launch detected!"

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    Michael Ho (profile), 27 Dec 2011 @ 6:59pm

    Re: Re: why don't hypersonic vehicles set off nuclear war alarms?

    I'd guess that ICBMs are just assumed to be nuclear-armed b/c that's what the nations who have them say ICBMS are capable of... but hypersonic vehicles aren't so common, so if you're going to develop a whole new launch vehicle -- might as well say that you're developing it for non-nuclear capabilities first, so that you don't violate international treaties? (And if no one calls out the fact that hypersonic vehicles *can* be fitted with nuclear warheads, then you've got a loophole in nuclear arms agreements! yay?!?)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Dec 2011 @ 10:32pm

    how about stealth hypersonic weapons

    never see em coming

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    Michael Ho (profile), 28 Dec 2011 @ 12:17am

    Re: how about stealth hypersonic weapons

    It'd be pretty hard to mask the sonic boom, methinks. The speed alone is probably enough to guarantee the element of surprise.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 28 Dec 2011 @ 4:57am

    http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-new-age-prosthetic-technique-enables-mice.html

    http://www.p opsci.com/science/article/2011-11/awesome-now-what-human-laser

    Getting closer to frigging shark with lasers in their eyes :)
    I like how eye prosthetics needs to take into account the brain code for electrical signals, someday soldiers and law enforcement may have implanted WiFi transmitters that tap into the optic nerve to relay images of everything they see while on duty.

    Which reminds me of another question that will come up soon everywhere, since tech is allowing us to break barriers and do things that were not possible before we will need to find ways to limit what can be done and humans are bad at balancing things out or where those limits should be.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. icon
    Jeffrey Nonken (profile), 28 Dec 2011 @ 10:29am

    Wait. Where are the shark-mounted lasers?

    link to this | view in thread ]


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