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Libyan Rebels Weaponize Power Wheels Toys
Danny Rathjens pointed out a story about the DIY weapons created by Libyan rebels. One of the more interesting is a machine gun drone created from a Power Wheels-style ATV. Rebels outfit the toys with a small cannon and attach controls via long wire. A solider can hide while he uses a small television and simple controls to move the vehicle and fire the gun. A similar system is also outfitted to a toy truck with a machine gun on top.
Desperation is the true mother of invention. These Lybian rebels are determined, and it's impressive what people can do when faced with something that important to them but a limited budget.
What comes next? Weapon grade Lego?
Do we know anything about these rebels other than they don't like Gaddafi? How do we know we're not helping an Al Queada style organisation get into power? I have a bad feeling about this.
It would have taken the Army 8 years and $100's of millions of dollars for the US to do this. *Sigh* We really should take a lesson in innovation.
When I was in Iraq 2006-2008 I was often frustrated by how slow new weapons and defensive mechanism were developed by the DA. Often we would end up fabricating our own IED countermeasures using whatever material we found on our base. We often surprised ourselves with the effectiveness of the ideas we came up with. I've often wondered since then how much more effective that process would have been if it had been possible to attach a team of computer scientists and structural engineers to an Army unit. Instead we ended up trying not to get blown up and hope that someone somewhere was getting our INTEL and developing new vehicles and supplies to counteract a very intelligent and capable enemy.
BTW my time in Iraq pretty much solidified my opinion that our presence over there is pointless. Assume that we were able to establish a democracy in that country it wouldn't take long for it to fall. All it would take is one Sheik to disagree with the constitution and/or government and automatically the tribe under that Sheik would automatically support the Sheik and work to undermine the government. Tribe and family is far more important in that culture than individual rights and government. So why try to force on them a government that runs counter to their culture. Why is it assumed that everyone really wants to be in a democracy? There is no such thing as one government that fits all people. I tend to be more libertarian but that doesn't mean that a socialist style government is necessarily wrong. I only think that people should be given the choice of moving to whatever country best fits their belief system. Lol let the flaming begin.
If there is no God then free will is an illusion.
However I have it on good authority that Gaddafi is lining up crack troops of 5 year olds to disable then break the enemy weapons within minutes by being sick all over them then trying to feed them to an angry cat.
Too much resources - everything is made to order. Design and production takes time from innovation, and the result is layer upon layer of bureacracy. Besides it's too cozy - your life and future are not under immediate threat and there's too much money at hand.
It's amazing what dedicated DIY types can come up with.
What comes next? Weapon grade Lego?
Ever step barefoot on a 1x1 in the middle of the night on your way to the bathroom?
I only post comments when someone on the internet is wrong.
Kind of the point, really. Yes - we can all snicker at over-priced hammers. But the kind of tech that's being produced for big budget military is orders of magnitude more impressive than the hacks being described here (and there's nothing wrong with a good hack). But both have their place and can be appreciated for the technology involved.
Watching the video, and the homemade RPG reminded me of a SAM my cousins and I built as kids.
1) An Estes model rocket...a WAC Corporal...with a B8-4 motor.
2) A shipping tube with a launch rod glued to the bottom cap.
3) Copper strips glued/screwed to bottom cap with wires running outside to a Burgess B battery and momentary switch from Radio Shack.
You slid the rocket down the tube on the launch rod with the nichrome igniter wires touching the copper strips. Aim, press the switch, and whoosh....a balsa and cardboard Stinger.
We didn't have the C4 and blasting caps for the warhead portion (thankfully), but we could aim and fire a $4 rocket.
The nosecone was to be built from C4 with a blasting cap on the nose and underneath. If you missed a direct impact, the ejection charge from the motor would slam a washer into the underneath blasting cap and still detonate the missile. At least that was our thinking.
Again, we never had anything that actually exploded, but something like this would probably work against low-flying helicopters. A C or D motor would give more range, etc.
Yes, we had way too much time on our hands. One of our test flights did cause 3 casualties...to a neighbor's chickens. A fin came off on launch and the rocket arced into the neighbor's chicken yard at feeding time. The rocket didn't hit the massed birds but 3 apparently died from fright. We paid for the dead birds from allowances and odd jobs.
Years later, in the Air Force, I was assigned to the USAF Rocket Propulsion Lab at Edwards AFB. I managed not to kill or blow up anything there.
I am my own gestalt.
Once this civil war is over, we will be left with taxi drivers, engineers and school teachers with experience in guerrilla warfare, improvised weapons and explosives manufacturing, sabotage and military / para-military tactics. I just hope they all return to teaching, driving hack and designing pipelines once Ghadaffi is deposed. Without "boots on the ground" NATO and the US has very little influence on the leadership and/or world view of the various factions that currently are united against their resident tyrant. But Ghadaffi is an equal opportunity tyrant who made enemies of both Muslim fundamentalists and progressive modern Muslims and secular Libyans. Currently all of these groups are united to oust Colonel Crazy, but if history is any indication, once that goal is in sight, they will start vying for who controls the future of Lybia. The Mujahideen, who were once western allies, begat the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
If you aren't part of the solution, then there is good money to be made prolonging the problem
People often forget where that $800 hammer comes from :-)
- You need to have a DARPA program to fund research into advanced nail insertion technology (ANIT).
- Then you have some FFRDC do an involved trade study that concludes that a hammer is preferably to the DARPA-developed ANIT project.
- A program executive office (PEO) now hosts an industry day presentation on the US Army's Tactical Hammer Needs to the tool-making industries
- The PEO now publishes a Request For Information (RFI) to solicit information from industry on steel hardening and handle-forming capabilities that could be used for the hammers.
- Finally a Request for Proposal (RFP) is published, along with a detailed performance spec, requirements list, and statement of work. There is a limited number of hammers desired, with options for buying more later. They also have to conform to various Military standards that no tool you'd buy at Home Depot would ever have to confirm to. Also, they do need to be made in the US in a facility that holds the proper security clearances.
- The PEO finally selects one of the submitted proposals, awarding the contract.
- One of the loosing contractors decides to file a formal protest, and drags the process out longer. Eventually a settlement is made, and the selected prime contractor takes them on as a subcontractor for handle-to-head integration.
- After several rounds of requirements engineering, systems engineering, and product R&D, along with approvals at preliminary and critical design reviews (PDR/CDR), the government gives the go-ahead to enter Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP).
- Testing eventually finds issues in the initial batch. Some design changes are made, costs are passed along, and eventually the hammer enters full-rate production (FRP).
- Following training and deployment, the MK42 Tactical Nail Insertion Device (code-name "Hammer") is deployed into the field.
- Meanwhile, nails are getting tougher, and follow-on program for the MK49 Objective Nail Banger is announced.
I could go on forever :-)
Have you ever seen Power Wheels in action? They run at 5mph, a more expensive model might approach 10mph. An adult can outrun these things. Not that it's necessary given that it's a slow moving target. Battery life on these things is maybe 30-60 minutes. They're really only good for getting across fairly flat terrain. And from the video I've seen it looks like it operated via a cable, not wireless.
A more serious problem should be apparent from the video. There is a guy standing next to the toy truck, feeding it the ammo belt...
It would have made a lot more sense if they hadn't cut the line "Thank goodness we crashed into a pillow factory!"
psmylie's dictionary: Godzillion (noun) Any number large enough to destroy Tokyo
"Simply not cooperating can stop things..."
Less obvious is the massive cooperation required to make non-cooperation effective.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."