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Bionic Bugs To Fight Terrorists
dptalia writes "Israel is looking to create a small robot, no larger than a hornet to follow, film, and kill terrorists. It's just one of a series of weapons the country is considering as an alternative to conventional technologies. Other ideas floating around include gloves that would give their user 'bionic strength', and ultra-miniaturized sensors to detect explosives on suicide bombers." From the article: "The research integrates nanotechnology into Israel's security department and will find creative solutions to problems the army has been unable to address, Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres told Yedioth Ahronoth. 'The war in Lebanon proved that we need smaller weaponry. It's illogical to send a plane worth $100 million against a suicidal terrorist. So we are building futuristic weapons,' Peres said."
In the original _Dune_, the young Paul Atreides is threatened by a ``Hunter Killer'', a small, repulsor-driven device directed by remote control which would ``burrow through his flesh'' if it managed to successfully attack him. (He grabs it when it attacks the housekeeper, the ``Shadout Mapes'' who is sent to summon him and smashes its nose against the wall).
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
Bullets ARE about the size of a hornet and already follow and kill people.
If the bullet was following someone cleaver enough to move out of the way, it is very very cheap to send another.
In my opinion, the israelis need to invest in far better armor and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. During their conflict with Hezbollah, the UAVs were a huge success. Also, wouldn't highly armored robotic vehicles be better than a hornet? For example, maybe an armored ball (kind of like those hamster balls) that would essentially be indestructable and roll around doing reconaiscence and shooting things. Just a thought.
Well you're right the UAVs worked great, and you're right that they need far better armor if they want to continue using armor. The RPG-29s and guided missles used by Hezbollah did a number on the IDF's Merkava MBTs, considered one of if not the most heavily armored tanks in service. Between those relatively cheap shoulder-fired infantry weapons, and the shaped-charge mines Hezbollah had sprinkled throughout their territory, it was demonstrated pretty conclusively that today's armor isn't standing up to even the guerilla weapons. More armor is needed, though I'm not sure that's the right tack to take.
First, tanks aren't that great in the kinds of environments we're talking about: hilly terrain with valleys and choke points that can be littered with mines and give attackers on the ridges an ideal firing line to hit the tank's weak point, and cities and villages that have basically the same properties. A slow moving tank with an enemy on high ground is vulnerable.
Second, there is no such thing as "essentially indestructable". In the ages-old battle between weapons and armor, weapons always win eventually. There have been times that armor would have a brief period of success, but then the weapons would advance one generation and the armor would fall behind. This is just the nature of the beast: it's easier to destroy than to resist destruction. It's easier to focus a large amount of energy on a small area, whether the tip of an arrow fired from a longbow or the shaped-charge explosive of an RPG, than it is to build a material that can resist that energy, whether steel armor or the advanced composites used in MBTs. Reactive armor was designed to defeat the shaped charge rockets, so the rocket designers responded by simply adding a smaller charge ahead of the main one to defeat the reactive armor so the big charge can hit the main armor with full force. Just as the cannon signalled the end of the castle, the RPG-29 and ilk are signalling the end of MBT armor.
Not that tanks aren't useful and further armor developments serve no purpose, it's just that you aren't going to get much of a lead even over non-state-militaries like Hezbollah. An autonomous tank would be nice because when it gets destroyed you haven't lost a tank crew as well. Plus you could design it to be more robust than a manned tank (where breaching into the crew compartment is basically all you need to do). But it isn't going to be an indestructable ball of death, that is for sure.
The enemies of Democracy are
Nice to see the Israeli military get some of their best ideas from an eleven-year-old TV show.
Actually, radar was invented by Tesla before WWII, but it was pretty much ignored. The computer was invented by Charles Babbage in the 1800s, though it was rather different from those of the 1900s.
Read the first book. Then stop reading them. Every book after the first one was absolute crap.
is that Muslims think that once they conquer a region, they own it for all time, even if it reconquered later. Blaming Israel is just a tactic used by arab leaders to divert the population's attention away from the real obstacle to peace and prosperity in the Middle East - themselves.
"renouncing violence"
Not very wise when the armies invading and attacking you have not done the same.
Where were you when the voynix came?
...to the Diamond Age.
For further reading and insightful predictions about the sociological effects of nanotech, see Mr. Neal Stephenson.
Among his other speculations: as nanotech becomes ubiquitous (in the way that bacteria are today), societies will manufacture nanotech-based airborne immune systems for themselves.
FATMOUSE + YOU = FATMOUSE
Nitpick:
It's a hunter-seeker, not a hunter-killer
"Unlike in Darfur, where the world disapproves but is too lazy/incapable of fixing the problem, in Israel not only are we not trying to stop the war, we're FACILITATING it."
To make clear the actual genocide problem (and you were blaming the VICTIMS!), here are some quotes from the current Palestinian government and their actual charter: "Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious" [At least they do not hide their hatred behind the code word "Zionists"]..."The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees.". The charter includes many other references "evil" Jews and the necessecity to eliminate and/or subjugate them.
In contrast, the government of Israel supports "there should be an independent viable Palestinian state". Also seen are the statements "In that case we will have to move forward, even without a Palestinian partner, in order to separate from the Palestinians, to pull out from areas in the West Bank"..... This is in distinct contrast with the extreme hardline imperialism advocated by Hamas.
Where were you when the voynix came?
"If Israel had land in 1940, why did 6 million Jews die during the holocaust when they could have just fled there?"
The government of the Palestinians in the 1940s, such as it was, was a close ally of Nazi Germany, and actually participated in the Holocaust. This government pretty much survived for a long time: the leader from back then was Arafat's mentor.
Where were you when the voynix came?