4 ms·
Why do this when you can gas a bunch of people or blow them up old school for way cheaper? Not sold
by m1gu3l 6y ago
Why do this when you can gas a bunch of people or blow them up old school for way cheaper? Not sold
- ceejayoz 6y agoHarder to do at range. I'm glad I'm not the Secret Service. A drone swarm has to be rapidly becoming one of their scary scenarios for something like inaugurations.
- vkou 6y agoA single medium-caliber mortar is a five-hundred-year-old piece of technology that can be carried and assembled by two men, has an effective range of ~1,000 to 5,000 yards, does not require line of sight to the target, can be operated by a high-school dropout, and has a kill radius of 30 meters. One can probably be picked up from an army surplus warehouse somewhere in the former Soviet Union/(some current conflict zone), for an ~$X,000 USD bribe, or alternatively, manufactured by a literate, mildly motivated individual with a high tolerance for personal risk, a welder, a lathe, a tool-shed, and an outhouse in the mountains. Given that we live in a world where gunpowder has been invented, you will have to pardon me if I'm more concerned about the dangers of lunatics with mundane explosives, and delivery systems thereof.
- varjag 6y agoMortar is hard to aim (even with modern aids), in a terrain that you haven't ranged already.
- Alupis 6y agoWith a cell phone and Google Maps, you can get distance, elevation, obstacles, and more with good-enough precision. Or, even use our own mission planning software against us - ATAK[1][2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_Team_Awareness_Kit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_Team_Awareness_Kit [2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.atakmap.app.civ&hl=en_US&gl=US https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.atakmap.ap...
- varjag 6y agoYes, these are the kind of modern aids I mentioned. You're still likely to miss your first one. Mortar is not a precision weapon, it's a Monte Carlo prop.
- Alupis 6y agoDoes it need to be a precision weapon to be a weapon of terror? And with a kill zone of 20-30 meters... you can miss by quite a lot and still do a ton of damage.
- varjag 6y agoSure, but in the context of assassinating the VIP it does. Mortar attacks for this are not unprecedented†, but are not terribly effective. [†] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downing_Street_mortar_attack#The_attack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downing_Street_mortar_attack#T...
- Alupis 6y agoFor an assassination of a specific target - even with military equipment and technology, it would be dubious to use a mortar. They simply are not precision weapons, as you already pointed out. But, for inflicting terror and great loss of life in a populated area - they could be used very effectively.
- CamperBob2 6y agoAny particular reason someone couldn't build a steerable mortar? It wouldn't take much in the way of gas jets to do the job.
- varjag 6y agoYou can do all sorts of guided munitions with all kinds of weapons, but then the simplicity vs drone attack point is kinda moot.
- m1gu3l 6y agoThanks for joining me on whatever list we are now on :)
- twic 6y agoExpert disruptive innovators, the Irish Republican Army, repeatedly proved this: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=IRA+%22mortar+attack%22&title=Special:Search https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=IRA+%22mortar+at... Amongst other things, shooting down a helicopter, and having a go, separately, at the queen and the prime minister.
- Veen 6y ago> Expert disruptive innovators Is that tech industry slang for “murderous child-killing bastards”?
- ceejayoz 6y agoAnd yet, fairly skilled operators in Afghanistan and Iraq still regularly miss American forward operating bases and their fixed buildings with them.