4 ms·
The radar signature of a small projectile coming in at, say >30m/s is indeed a lot different from a running, tiny human. What about something like a soccer bal
by adewinter 10y ago
The radar signature of a small projectile coming in at, say >30m/s is indeed a lot different from a running, tiny human. What about something like a soccer ball, though? It's a small-ish projectile, coming in quite slowly. What about a hand grenade?
Hopefully they test for this stuff and have a firm idea of where they want their thresholds but, then again, sometimes bugs happen. https://www.wired.com/2007/10/robot-cannon-ki/ https://www.wired.com/2007/10/robot-cannon-ki/
- protomyth 10y agoI get the feeling that destroying a kids soccer ball thrown at a tank is the least of the kid's worries in that situation. I would assume it would only go active with the permission of the people in the tank.
- vonmoltke 10y agoThese systems are set to ignore anything moving slower than 50 m/s or so. Even professionals can't kick a ball that fast. The lower limit is specifically set to avoid triggering the system on rocks, falling debris, birds, people, and anything else benign that might be moving in the area.
- LeifCarrotson 10y agoThe problem is that a thrown hand grenade is detectable by the system, but well under the limit. One publicized case of a soldier in a vehicle "protected" by this system but killed by a tossed hand grenade or hit by a grenade launcher from long range (ordinary 40mm grenades are only fired at about 75 m/s at the muzzle), and there will be calls for this value to be adjusted.
- vonmoltke 10y agoThe system is also capable of detecting firearm projectiles, but is specifically tuned not to react. Regardless of what calls may come, there won't be a change because the designers and the customers have already considered that possibility and specifically excluded it as not being worth the risk. This is not a case of being too cheap or short-sighted to do something.
- PeterisP 10y agoThe system rightly should not react to tossed hand grenades or ordinary 40mm grenades, just as it shouldn't react to rifle rounds or thrown rocks - those grenades have no chance of penetrating the tank's armor anyway. If soldiers are exposed, then such a system reacting is a greater threat to their lives than a hand grenade; triggering the system is quite likely to harm nearby troops.
- rtkwe 10y agoThese systems don't try to deal with grenades which aren't really a threat to anything with armor so the code can ignore anything that people could throw/kick really. What the APSs are designed to catch are RPGs and other anti-tank rockets which all travel >100 m/s which is well above what a playful kid can make.
- chongli 10y agorockets which all travel >100 m/s which is well above what a playful kid can make Speak for yourself. I loved rockets[0] as a playful kid! [0] https://www.estesrockets.com/ https://www.estesrockets.com/
- astine 10y agoEven without this new system, a person setting a toy rocket off near a deployed military force is really asking for trouble.
- chongli 10y agoI disagree. It is the deployed military force that is asking for and finding trouble. It is the innocent who bear the brunt of the danger for this. This is the moral hazard[0] of war. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_hazard https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_hazard
- AlgorithmicTime 10y agoIt's like playing airsoft in the middle of a police parade. You're going to have a bad time, and it's your fault for being a dumbass.
- rtkwe 10y agoPossibly, though I bet the return from the cardboard/cardstock that most of those are made from are very different from the radar return from a metal missile. I played with Estes rockets too. How many people are likely to in war zones like these APS devices will be deployed in are likely to though? The rocket motors aren't super cheap and aren't really reusable or easy to make your own.