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2006-09-29 Science & Technology

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Posted by GolfBravoUSMC 2006-09-29 01:29|| || Front Page|| [11130 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 That's because the army has introduced GPS guided rockets and artillery shells as well.

There's a cable show called "Futureweapons" that showed a test of the GPS guided artillery. They fired the shells 30 degrees off-axis, and still hit the target.

Posted by Rob Crawford">Rob Crawford 2006-09-29 08:50|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/] 2006-09-29 08:50|| Front Page Top

#2 Hence the Chinese shooting at US satellites to test their laser.

Posted by Laurence of the Rats">Laurence of the Rats 2006-09-29 09:11|| 2006-09-29 09:11|| Front Page Top

#3 I wonder if we're testing our satellites by shooting at their lasers? Who would know?

Posted by Snavick Thravilet5335 2006-09-29 09:42|| 2006-09-29 09:42|| Front Page Top

#4 We are testing our satellites by having them shoot lasers at Chinese.

Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader 2006-09-29 09:50|| 2006-09-29 09:50|| Front Page Top

#5 hopefully we have our own laser that shoots their sats

Posted by sinse 2006-09-29 10:09|| 2006-09-29 10:09|| Front Page Top

#6 Let us not worship at the alter of precision weapons. They are wonderful for taking out key targets, like bridges, commo centers, eletrical generation stations , etc. Wide area bombing is just as crucial. When planners strive to make warfare antiseptic to the general populace, they defeat their own purposes. It is VERY necessary that the populace experiences pain and anguish so they force the fools among them to cease and desist their outrageous actions.

Posted by SOP35/Rat 2006-09-29 11:21|| 2006-09-29 11:21|| Front Page Top

#7 But Daisy Cutters make better clouds.

Posted by macofromoc 2006-09-29 11:26|| 2006-09-29 11:26|| Front Page Top

#8 SOP35/Rat
It is VERY necessary that the populace experiences pain and anguish so they force the fools among them to cease and desist their outrageous actions.

I couldn't agree more with this statement. For real victory, there is no substitute for substantialy reducing the number of your enemy (30% or more).
Any historians out there care to weigh in on the efficacy of peace following victory where adversary cultures (civilian and military) were culled by 30%? How about peace after conflict with a smaller perecentage reduction in population?

Posted by Rob06">Rob06 2006-09-29 11:30|| 2006-09-29 11:30|| Front Page Top

#9 German and Japanese casualty rates were in the single digits (as percentage 6-8% iirc) Sherman had extremely low casulties amongst the populace. I think it's fair to say that for really big civilian dislocation you have WWII and the Thirty Years War.

I'd disagree with SOP and Rob. I'd be willing to bet that any country we'd be dealing with is more urbanized than the Germans or Japanese were in WWII. If we precision bomb to devastate war related infrastructure but do not invade or occupy, I believe the ensuing civil disorder would do far more to devastate a culture than did the WWII bombing, Sherman's Marches or an atomic attack. We'd be talking Thirty Years War level of dislocation. Think about it. No roads, no ports and no electricity. How ya going to pump the water? What happens in an urban area when there's no potable water or sewage treatment? No way to refrigerate food? No fuel for transportation. No way to conduct commerce?

Leave 'em like that until you get unconditional surrender. If they decide to go guerilla, withdraw. I really think people will do worse to themselves than we would ever do to them if simply left to stew in primitive conditions.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2006-09-29 12:25|| 2006-09-29 12:25|| Front Page Top

#10 I think the greatest asset this provides is the ability to have VERY close in support given to ground troops.

There is still the need for Strategic bombing in certain scenarios, I agree, but close-in air support is a very lethal and effective tool for our Infantry.

Posted by Anon4021 2006-09-29 12:38|| 2006-09-29 12:38|| Front Page Top

#11 Let us not worship at the alter of precision weapons.

Too late. The God of JDAM reached out and touched me. Purdy damn hard, too.
-Zarqi

Posted by .com 2006-09-29 12:53|| 2006-09-29 12:53|| Front Page Top

#12 Strategic bombing? What's that? It is now just a matter of target definition. Will anybody ever be dumb enough to give us an opportunity to carpet bomb with dumb bombs again? And if they did, would we do that or saturation PGM? How many SDBs could a single B-1 carry and what area would it cover?

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2006-09-29 12:56|| 2006-09-29 12:56|| Front Page Top

#13 Next Gen: Seeth Seeking Missiles

Posted by Hyper">Hyper 2006-09-29 13:28|| 2006-09-29 13:28|| Front Page Top

#14 "The God of JDAM reached out and touched me. Purdy damn hard, too."

LOL, .com.

"When planners strive to make warfare antiseptic to the general populace, they defeat their own purposes"

How true.

"We are not only fighting hostile armies, but a hostile people, and must make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war. We cannot change the hearts of those people, but we can make war so terrible [and] make them so sick of war that generations will pass away before they again appeal to it."

---William Tecumseh Sherman

Posted by mcsegeek1 2006-09-29 14:01|| 2006-09-29 14:01|| Front Page Top

#15 Even as late as the 1991 Gulf war, only 16 percent of the 250,000 bombs dropped were guided. Analysis of the battlefield later revealed that the guided bombs had done 75 percent of the actual damage.

SOLD!

And that has generals in places like China, Iran and North Korea worried.

SOLD!

No, precision weapons aren't everything, but they save money, keep our troops and pilots out of harm's way and make the enemy just that much more fearful. Combine all of the above with some real suffering on the ground and you have an unbeatable combination.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2006-09-29 15:27|| 2006-09-29 15:27|| Front Page Top

#16 Most urban zones worldwide have at best one week's supply of food, counting all fresh, canned, and dried foodstuffs on hand. All major urban zones worldwide relying on electricity to light the night, pump water and sewage, cool and freeze food, and provide working hospitals. JDAMs on the water, sewer, and electrical infrastructure of a major urban zone would result in a Lord of the Flies scenario in much of it in under a month. When someone is starving, dying of thirst, and freezing to death, they tend to become very unmanagable for the local government. They also tend to fight with sticks, bottles, rocks, and swarming mass attacks against those authorities that prevent them from getting to life's essentials. Anyone view Mogadishu as a vacation spot? It is a prime example of what happens when you gut all essential services.

Posted by Shieldwolf 2006-09-29 16:48|| 2006-09-29 16:48|| Front Page Top

#17 One of the beauties of ARCLIGHT strikes in Vietnam is that the enemy didn't know they were targeted until the bombs were over halfway to the ground. Believe me, the noise on the ground is deafening, even as far away as 10-15 miles. Precision is good to hit vital C3I and logistical targets, but nothing does more damage to troops on the ground than large numbers of dumb bombs exploding at almost the same time. It's kind of like a heavy, rolling artillery barrage, but from 50,000 feet. Precision is good, but scaring the sh$$ out of the enemy while killing half or more of them is even better.

Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot 2006-09-29 21:57|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2006-09-29 21:57|| Front Page Top

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