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Pentagon Wants Kill Switch For Planes

mytrip writes "The Pentagon's non-lethal weapons division is looking for technologies that could 'disable' aircraft, before they can take off from a runway — or block the planes from flying over a given city or stretch of land. The Directorate's program managers don't mention how engineers might pull off such a kill switch. But, however it's done, they'd like to have a similar system for boats, as well. They're looking for a device that can, from 100 meters away, 'safely stop or significantly impede the movement' of vessels up to 40 feet long, with 'minimal collateral damage.'"

34 of 548 comments (clear)

  1. And don't worry, they'll have encryption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Something called WEP.

  2. Have you bought a ticket lately? by PainMeds · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... looking for technologies that could 'disable' aircraft, before they can take off from a runway

    Delta seems to have the edge on this market already.

  3. Re:You say: "Defense"... by mrbluze · · Score: 2, Funny

    I say: "Attack vector". It's cheaper than firing a missile at a passenger jet.
    --
    Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
  4. Additionally... by chill · · Score: 5, Funny

    Reading a bit further the RFP noted the Pentagon would really like a pony.

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  5. What do all fuel engines have in common? by goombah99 · · Score: 5, Funny

    exhaust pipes!
    And what will plug and exhaust pipe non-lethally?
    Potatoes!
    ergo we need to genetically engineer jet-engine size potatoes and precision potato canons.

    Profit!

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
    1. Re:What do all fuel engines have in common? by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 4, Funny

      *sniff* *sniff*

      Hmmm. Smells like french fries.

    2. Re:What do all fuel engines have in common? by monxrtr · · Score: 4, Funny

      'Cause the pilots aren't going to fall for the banana in the tail pipe trick.

      --
      "From DNA to P2P, we are all Copycats now. Go Go Copycat Power! Copycat Powers activate! Form of, a Copycat." --monxrtr
  6. Re:Something like by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I own a sailboat you great buffoon.

  7. Re:Drones "Reapers"? by davidsyes · · Score: 2, Funny

    Reapers or Raptors, the results can end up pretty grim...

    --
    Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
  8. Re:You say: "Defense"... by Sabz5150 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hey, they obviously left out cars and trains here. A way to disable all cars on all LA freeways might have same use. I don't know what, but I'm sure some hare-brain in government could figure out what that would be good for. We have that technology. It's called "Gas Prices", and it does an excellent job at disabling cars and trains. What's it good for? Elections.
    --
    "Who modded this informative? Whoever it is must've been smokin' some of that martian pot!"
  9. Re:Block them from flying over cities? by brunokummel · · Score: 5, Funny

    I believe that's called an "anti-aircraft missile" system, sometimes with the "shoulder-launched" feature for only $9.99 more.

    How the hell do they intend to pull that off without collateral damage. Force fields? Giant shark balloons?


    ...maybe if we attach lasers to the giant shark balloons....
    --
    What is best in life? To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you and to hear the lamentations of their women.
  10. Re:Something like by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 2, Funny

    I own a sailboat you great buffoon. I am a buffoon, you insensitive clod!
  11. Re:Poor choice of words by robo_mojo · · Score: 4, Funny

    let's call it the Freedom Protection Toggle.

  12. Re:You say: "Defense"... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    i think they could just shake a box of metal parts near the jet engine intake of a plane and that would disable the plane. Or they can train kamikazi geese to fly into the jet engines.

  13. Re:How about deploying the chute? by ciaohound · · Score: 2, Funny

    Perhaps if we built a large wooden badger...

    --
    Oh, yeah, it's not easy to pad these out to 120 characters.
  14. Re:Something like by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I own a sailboat you great buffoon. I am a buffoon, you insensitive clod! I am a clod, you insensitive buffoon!

  15. Re:"Minimum Collateral Damage"... by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 4, Funny

    IIRC, some old Star Trek episode had the perfect solution for this problem: Just deploy a giant disembodied hand that grabs the plane and holds it motionless in space.

  16. Re:You say: "Defense"... by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 4, Funny

    With a really, really big beanbag.

    Duh.

  17. Re:You say: "Defense"... by TapeCutter · · Score: 5, Funny

    Air brakes.

    --
    And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  18. Kill the switch by synonymous · · Score: 3, Funny

    I want a kill switch for the pentagon

  19. Re:You say: "Defense"... by RobertM1968 · · Score: 4, Funny

    You'll "safely stop" it from flying - you just wont be able to safely stop it from hitting the ground and crash landing.

    All semantics... it's no longer in flight when it's bursting into pieces on the ground due to impact. The flight portion though, remains quite safe (if scary) right up until that point.

    :-)

  20. Kill switch... by doyoulikeworms · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'd like one for bureaucrats.

  21. Re:Two words: by Guru2Newbie · · Score: 2, Funny

    Chicken canon. (I think the Mythbusters have one to spare.) I'll bet that composition sounds terrible! Is it on the Poultry In Motion album?
  22. Re:Block them from flying over cities? by Strilanc · · Score: 2, Funny

    I suggest a BIGGER PLANE to surround the smaller one with.

    Of course then we'll need bigger bigger plane in case they get a bigger plane.

  23. Re:You say: Hijacking "Defense"... by Nefarious+Wheel · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sounds great until the pilot has a heart attack.

    This risk is mitigated via use of an innovation referred to as a "co-pilot".

    --
    Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
  24. Re:You say: "Defense"... by Gordonjcp · · Score: 4, Funny

    Some guys tried that at Glasgow Airport. It lead to a slightly scorched aluminium door fascia and a lot of jokes. One of the wannabe "terrorists" (hard to justify the word, quite honestly) died of his injuries (mostly burns, although they both had seven shades of shit kicked out of them by people nearby) at the scene, the other died in hospital a couple of weeks later. The airport was open again two hours after it happened.

    Looks like they didn't do their homework, if they're trying to bring a religious war to Glasgow.

  25. Re:You say: Hijacking "Defense"... by ionix5891 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherfucking terrorists on this motherfucking plane!

  26. Re:You say: Hijacking "Defense"... by darthflo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Right, The Terrerist and a team of twenty Boeing engineers manage to pack the necessary equipment to steer a plane onto one (we're talking a few duffel bags here, those cockpits have a damn lot of buttons in 'em), then take control of the plane, then somehow get their equipment from the inaccessible storage part of the aircraft, then slash their way through to cabling that's not usually accessible in-flight (and takes hours to get to when grounded), then cuts those cables, reattaches them to their own system and finally get to actually pilot the plane.
    Unfortunately, right after that, Chuck Norris roundhouse kicks a tricycle that Bruce Willis rode through Area 51 to save E.T. right up into the stratosphere where it smashes into an exploding asteroid seventeen times the size of the sun, thereby breaking said asteroid into twenty-two pieces. The single large piece proceeds to not hit earth and destroy civilization by four meters (it breaks off the antennas of both the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building), the smaller ones are deflected by some jedis with light sabres, only to hit The Terrerist and each one of the Evil Engineers right into the face, killing them. Also, explosions, a sex scene without the girl taking her bra off, a scene in a strip bar and more explosions.

  27. Re:You say: "Defense"... by dintech · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Good old Glasgow. If I had to pick a city in the world where I could depend on one of the locals to kick a man who was on fire, it would always be Glasgow. That really had to hurt - 90% burns and sore bollocks.

    I think we should get a photo of that guy KICKING A FLAMING MAN, blow it up and make it the welcome sign at Glasgow Airport. Underneath we should have the words 'Glasgow Welcomes Careful Drivers'..."

    -- Billy Connolly

  28. Re:You say: "Defense"... by Hal_Porter · · Score: 3, Funny

    Looks like they didn't do their homework, if they're trying to bring a religious war to Glasgow. That's like pissing in an ocean of piss ;-)

    There was a funny article in some tabloid with the excellent headline

    "I kicked a burning terrorist in the balls so hard I tore a tendon in my foot"

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Smeaton_(baggage_handler)
    John Smeaton QGM (born Bishopton, Renfrewshire in 1976) was a Scottish baggage handler at Glasgow International Airport. He became involved in thwarting the 2007 Glasgow International Airport Attack. Smeaton lives in Erskine, Renfrewshire,[4] a town outside the city and near the airport. Brought up in Erskine, he was educated at Park Mains High School.

    Smeaton was a general bystander when he first witnessed the incident. He later recalled his first thoughts on being confronted by the two desperate suspects in a burning car as he smoked a cigarette during his break: "What's the score? I've got to get this sorted."

    He added "I thought, 'That's not right,' and ran over to assist. All that was going through my mind was I've got to help the policeman, I'm not letting these guys get away with this."

    It was reported that Smeaton shouted "fucking come on, then" and aimed a kick at Kafeel Ahmed, who later died from his 90% burns following the attack.

    During the incident Smeaton also helped drag Michael Kerr to safety after Kerr, another person to intervene in the event, had been left lying with a broken leg beside the burning jeep after kicking Mr Ahmed himself.

    The incident has been described as inspiring others to take the law into their own hands. Newsagent and former policeman Mohammed Afzah cited Smeaton as inspiration for his facing down and repelling a would-be armed robber.

    In late July, Smeaton returned to his old job as a baggage handler at the airport. Later in the year he accepted a job as head of security at a nearby company.

    On 18 December 2007, it was announced that Smeaton was to be awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal for his actions; this was presented by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on 4 March 2008.


    Actually the whole Wikipedia is full of priceless Glasgowisms

    Asked by ITV News what his message to terrorists was, he said:
    "Glasgow doesn't accept this. That's just Glasgow; we'll set about ye."

    "If any more extremists are still wanting to rise up and start trouble, know this: We'll rise right back up against you. New York, Madrid, London, Paisley ... we're all in this together and make no mistake, none of us will hold back from putting the boot in."
    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  29. Re:Block them from flying over cities? by xtracto · · Score: 2, Funny

    .maybe if we attach lasers to the giant shark balloons....

    Can someone clarify where does this "sharks with lasers attached" meme comes from? I have googled but can't find the origin of such thing. Is it from a film or something?

    --
    Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
  30. Re:You say: "Defense"... by TractorBarry · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not to mention the fact that Glasgow's already got a religious war...

    It's called "Celtic vs Rangers" :)

    --
    Sky subscribers are morons. They pay to be advertised at !
  31. Re:You say: Hijacking "Defense"... by SkyDude · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah, they now have bathrooms a kitchen a coffee machine and whatnot in the cockpit.

    What they needed was an equalizer. Something small and compact like a S&W M&P 45 with hollow points would take care of business.

    --
    == First cross river, then insult alligator.
  32. Re:You say: "Defense"... by Firkragg14 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Literally anybody with a few hundred dollars can buy hundreds of gallons of gasoline. You have obviously not seen uk petrol prices recently...