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Well Deash and Al Queda don't seem to have much ability to get the good explosives required for that - Compare them to the PIRA and UDF during the troubles. I

Well Deash and Al Queda don't seem to have much ability to get the good explosives required for that - Compare them to the PIRA and UDF during the troubles. I am surprised that they haven't tried the sort of improvised mortars the the IRA used an almost hit the Cabinet at no 10

kkarakk 10y ago
just make a heavy enuff drone and stick glass/shrapnel on it with lighter fluid in it. fly it into the person you want dead and ignite. being near drones freaks me out
dogma1138 10y ago
They don't need to improvise mortars, ISIS is riding on captured M1A1's and has access to pretty decent soviet and western arms including ATGM's and AA. Both AQ and ISIS and virtually any other terrorist organization in the world has access to pretty much "state of the art" arms the limit is usually lies in logistical operation not inaccessibility, look at the arm shipments that the Israelis have captures at sea over the years those included radar guided anti-ship missiles, terminally guided rockets, and Strela GTAM's. Compared to that getting good explosive is easy, you can buy military grade explosive on the civilian market for demolition C4, PETN and RDX are commonly used for suicide vests and IEDs nothing ever stopped anyone from stuffing an RC plane with them and run it into the white house other than intelligence and perimeter security.
- spacecowboy_lon 10y ago
  So why did 7/7 use diy explosive?
  - dogma1138 10y ago
    The attackers of 7/7 used TATP which you can make if you have sufficient knowledge of chemistry, you can also make RDX and PETN and even C4 at "home", this isn't "diy" explosives that kids make by mixing fertilizer and sugar over a hot plate, this is very potent stuff that requires quite a bit of expertise and experience to make. Because the UK might have stricter control over it? Because the attack was less funded? Hamas never had issues of manufacturing PETN and C4 for it's suicide vests. The brussels attackers used very high quality / commercial grade TATP and HMDT. BTW one of the main reasons to use peroxide based explosives like TATP and HMDT is because most "explosive detectors" look for a few specific signatures. TATP decomposes into hydrogen peroxide and acetone both of which are very common in cosmetics and various cleaning products which is a big problem as it would sound the alarm for every woman that just had her nails or hair done, so while it's technically not hard to detect practically it's virtually impossible to do so effectively unless you are screening very specific items. P.S. To anyone who've read this post welcome to the watch list :)
mseebach 10y ago
For the improvised mortars, I think it's more of a question of strategic priorities (carpet bombing Belfast was never on the table in a way ditto for Raqqa probably is) than capabilities (although the PIRA and UDF did benefit from having a nearby staging area). That said, it's not like they're lacking in creativity: http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21699098-makeshift-weapons-are-becoming-more-dangerous-highly-sophisticated http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/2169909...

kkarakk 10y ago

just make a heavy enuff drone and stick glass/shrapnel on it with lighter fluid in it. fly it into the person you want dead and ignite. being near drones freaks me out

dogma1138 10y ago

They don't need to improvise mortars, ISIS is riding on captured M1A1's and has access to pretty decent soviet and western arms including ATGM's and AA. Both AQ and ISIS and virtually any other terrorist organization in the world has access to pretty much "state of the art" arms the limit is usually lies in logistical operation not inaccessibility, look at the arm shipments that the Israelis have captures at sea over the years those included radar guided anti-ship missiles, terminally guided rockets, and Strela GTAM's. Compared to that getting good explosive is easy, you can buy military grade explosive on the civilian market for demolition C4, PETN and RDX are commonly used for suicide vests and IEDs nothing ever stopped anyone from stuffing an RC plane with them and run it into the white house other than intelligence and perimeter security.

spacecowboy_lon 10y ago
So why did 7/7 use diy explosive?
- dogma1138 10y ago
  The attackers of 7/7 used TATP which you can make if you have sufficient knowledge of chemistry, you can also make RDX and PETN and even C4 at "home", this isn't "diy" explosives that kids make by mixing fertilizer and sugar over a hot plate, this is very potent stuff that requires quite a bit of expertise and experience to make. Because the UK might have stricter control over it? Because the attack was less funded? Hamas never had issues of manufacturing PETN and C4 for it's suicide vests. The brussels attackers used very high quality / commercial grade TATP and HMDT. BTW one of the main reasons to use peroxide based explosives like TATP and HMDT is because most "explosive detectors" look for a few specific signatures. TATP decomposes into hydrogen peroxide and acetone both of which are very common in cosmetics and various cleaning products which is a big problem as it would sound the alarm for every woman that just had her nails or hair done, so while it's technically not hard to detect practically it's virtually impossible to do so effectively unless you are screening very specific items. P.S. To anyone who've read this post welcome to the watch list :)

mseebach 10y ago

For the improvised mortars, I think it's more of a question of strategic priorities (carpet bombing Belfast was never on the table in a way ditto for Raqqa probably is) than capabilities (although the PIRA and UDF did benefit from having a nearby staging area). That said, it's not like they're lacking in creativity: http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21699098-makeshift-weapons-are-becoming-more-dangerous-highly-sophisticated http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/2169909...