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South Africa Drones For Anti-Rhino-Poaching Patrol

garymortimer writes "The SA National Defence Force is considering using an unmanned drone helicopter to target rhino poachers, Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said yesterday. She told a press conference in Pretoria she wanted state weapons company Denel to further develop an unmanned aerial vehicle it was working on so it could be used to help SA National Parks catch rhino poachers."

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  1. Re:Boers, with muskets ... by anethema · · Score: 2, Informative

    Ya stuff like a thumb print at 500 meters is just insane and impossible.

    A modern standard military sniper rifle is around 1 minute of angle(MOA) accuracy. So roughly, at 500 yards (close enough to meters), groups will be shot within a 5 inch circle. The chance of you hitting a thumb print is fairly small.

    Even the best guns from a machine rest shoot 0.25ish MOA, so this is a 1.25 inch circle area at 500 yards. Keeping in mind this is a scoped modern rifle, with a modern bullet, in a clamp on a bench.

    The ballistics and metallurgy of the time obviously would not even allow for a fraction of this accuracy, never mind actually holding the gun while taking a shot. And the above post mentioned Muskets, which obviously would be hard pressed to hit something the size of a human at 500 yards, nevermind a thumb print.

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