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2004-07-08 Iraq-Jordan
New radar system brings the fight back to terrorists
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Posted by Chuck Simmins 2004-07-08 8:44:07 AM|| || Front Page|| [11134 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 Now hook the mortar up to the radar and servos so that in a few seconds, it is automatically aimed on incoming fire.
Posted by ed 2004-07-08 9:19:18 AM||   2004-07-08 9:19:18 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 ." The Marines fixed the problem by hooking the radar to one of their air conditioners.

"Get away from that AC Marine, it's for the Radar! It'll make 'ya weak! Stay near it and soon you'll want white bread! Nasty! AC Bad! Pogey Bait!"
Posted by Shipman 2004-07-08 9:24:46 AM||   2004-07-08 9:24:46 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 ed, not sure how you'd drop the shell into the tube. An auto loading mortar...
Posted by Chuck Simmins  2004-07-08 9:29:31 AM|| [http://blog.simmins.org]  2004-07-08 9:29:31 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Dropping the round only takes a second and should be manual (no inadvertant firing). The big time waster is translating the coordinates, then hand laying the mortar to the coordiates. A computer can translate the coordinates in a microsecond and in a few seconds control a mortar tube on a turntable with azimuth servos. Time to fire is key, since the bad boys will may only take 30 seconds or a minute to fire, then scoot.

I would also like to see a mortar round with a video camera and control fins in the nose. That way a remote operator can steer the round onto target. Could be a real cheap smart round.
Posted by ed 2004-07-08 9:41:51 AM||   2004-07-08 9:41:51 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 Terminally guided mortar rounds have been in development for quite a while I believe.
Posted by virginian 2004-07-08 11:07:52 AM||   2004-07-08 11:07:52 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 I know it's sad that over 800 have died, but the lessons learned in the past 16 months are the equivilant of over twenty years non-battle experience.
The veterans from this campaign are going to be awsome in the future. As the comment said "Improvise, adapt, overcome".
Posted by tipper 2004-07-08 11:21:20 AM||   2004-07-08 11:21:20 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 This is great, but shouldn't it have been kept sort of SECRET? Why let the other side know about it?
Posted by N. Beckman 2004-07-08 12:23:47 PM||   2004-07-08 12:23:47 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 well, 7000M is roughly 4 miles. Since they can't hit a barn with a grenade thrown from 15 ft, they'll start getting so far outta range with their mortars (after reading this), they'll be lucky to hit the same province....
Posted by Frank G  2004-07-08 12:43:10 PM||   2004-07-08 12:43:10 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 I think this radar was used today in Samarra. Unfortunately, 5 soldiers were killed (along with at least 1 ING soldier) and many more injured in a mortar attack. Reports indicated that the US quickly responded with 4 mortar rounds and then an Apache gunned down 4 bad guys.
Posted by Tibor 2004-07-08 12:48:22 PM||   2004-07-08 12:48:22 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 Ed: lethal response mechanisms are being integrated with sniper detection systems for both vehicle and static applications. Should not be a big deal to do this same thing with a mortar.
Posted by remote man 2004-07-08 1:28:46 PM||   2004-07-08 1:28:46 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 This is more like it. I'm curious whether ground units (surface or heliborne) are dispatched quickly to kill/assess bad guys on other end. Would also be nice to post leaflets everywhere offering $10K for each mortar-team member ID'd for our exploitation.
Posted by Verlaine 2004-07-08 4:25:21 PM||   2004-07-08 4:25:21 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 Depending on weapon kill radius I'll bet there is a requirement for eyes on target prior to shooting. Perhaps the new government will be helpful in this regard.
Posted by Shipman 2004-07-08 5:43:31 PM||   2004-07-08 5:43:31 PM|| Front Page Top

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