ironweed
03-02-2006, 09:46 PM
Quick, somebody shut down SkyNet. The Terminator's comin'. :p
Unfortunately, the link to the video of this this thing in action is dead. Or maybe temporarily overloaded, anyway I couldn't get it to work.
And who knows if it will perform as advertised? The Pentagon and their pet manufacturers have certainly been known to make wildly optimistic claims about weapons systems through the years. Still sounds pretty kewl, though. And I'm honestly not really into weapons.
http://www.defensereview.com/article846.html
The AutoCopter robotic mini-helicopter has two flight modes--semi-autonomous and fully autonomous. In semi-autonomous, the operator (RC pilot) is "in control" of the aircraft. We put "in control" in quotes because the real control lies in the AutoCopter's computer, which interperets the operators commands and translates them into flight surface movement via servo motor activation, similar to a modern fighter jet's fly-by-wire system. Basically, the operator tells the AutoCopter what he wants it to do, and the AutoCopter's computer figures out exactly how to make that happen.
For the fully-autonomous flight mode, the AutoCopter utilizes a GPS system, where the operator uploads a flight plan to the AutoCopter via a laptop computer, using GPS waypoints. In this mode, the operator "starts the AutoCopter, engages the Flight Control System, commands the AutoCopter to takeoff and turns all flight operations over to the FCS." The operator can regain manual control of the AutoCopter at any time by going back to the semi-autonomous mode. If the AutoCopter flies out of RC range, it will turn around and come back within range. If it runs out of gas (it's gasoline-powered), a parachute will automatically deploy and guide the AutoCopter back to the ground slowly and safely.
However, as cool as all this is, before the AA-12 shotgun came along and turned it into the "AutoCopter Gunship", the AutoCopter was limited to applications like aerial photography, surveillance, pipeline and utility line inspection, (unarmed) convoy escort, and mine detection--all worthwile applications to be sure, but not exactly anything "transformational" (i.e. paradigm-shifting). However, with the addition of a single AA12, the AutoCopter Gunship's virtual pilot can not only see and photograph the enemy, he can now seek out, locate, identify, and destroy/terminate (i.e. kill) the enemy with extreme prejudice at 300 rounds-per-minute (and potentially tens of thousands of actual projectiles per-minute), and he's got a rather large 12-gauge ammunition suite at his disposal (a vertitable ammo smorgasbord, if you will) with which to accomplish this. This capability is transformational, and indeed constitutes a true paradigm shift in lethality and force multiplication, especially when you have swarms of these AutoCopter Gunships flying throughout the battlespace.
Oh, and here's the kicker: The AutoCopter Gunship UCAV/UCAR can also be outfitted with a thermal/IR sight, giving the system day/night/all-weather capability, so the operator can engage the enemy in any conditions the AutoCopter can handle from a flight perspective, even in total darkness. With an AA-12-outfitted AutoCopter Gunship loaded with FRAG-12s, once the weaponized system is fully developed/realized, the enemy may be able to run, but they're (most likely) just going to die tired. There will be very fiew places they can hide--even on a high floor inside a building.
In any event, I'm going to be dropping out of the Phora for a few months. Too much crap going on with work and the new baby. Figured I'd pass this along as a swan song.
Unfortunately, the link to the video of this this thing in action is dead. Or maybe temporarily overloaded, anyway I couldn't get it to work.
And who knows if it will perform as advertised? The Pentagon and their pet manufacturers have certainly been known to make wildly optimistic claims about weapons systems through the years. Still sounds pretty kewl, though. And I'm honestly not really into weapons.
http://www.defensereview.com/article846.html
The AutoCopter robotic mini-helicopter has two flight modes--semi-autonomous and fully autonomous. In semi-autonomous, the operator (RC pilot) is "in control" of the aircraft. We put "in control" in quotes because the real control lies in the AutoCopter's computer, which interperets the operators commands and translates them into flight surface movement via servo motor activation, similar to a modern fighter jet's fly-by-wire system. Basically, the operator tells the AutoCopter what he wants it to do, and the AutoCopter's computer figures out exactly how to make that happen.
For the fully-autonomous flight mode, the AutoCopter utilizes a GPS system, where the operator uploads a flight plan to the AutoCopter via a laptop computer, using GPS waypoints. In this mode, the operator "starts the AutoCopter, engages the Flight Control System, commands the AutoCopter to takeoff and turns all flight operations over to the FCS." The operator can regain manual control of the AutoCopter at any time by going back to the semi-autonomous mode. If the AutoCopter flies out of RC range, it will turn around and come back within range. If it runs out of gas (it's gasoline-powered), a parachute will automatically deploy and guide the AutoCopter back to the ground slowly and safely.
However, as cool as all this is, before the AA-12 shotgun came along and turned it into the "AutoCopter Gunship", the AutoCopter was limited to applications like aerial photography, surveillance, pipeline and utility line inspection, (unarmed) convoy escort, and mine detection--all worthwile applications to be sure, but not exactly anything "transformational" (i.e. paradigm-shifting). However, with the addition of a single AA12, the AutoCopter Gunship's virtual pilot can not only see and photograph the enemy, he can now seek out, locate, identify, and destroy/terminate (i.e. kill) the enemy with extreme prejudice at 300 rounds-per-minute (and potentially tens of thousands of actual projectiles per-minute), and he's got a rather large 12-gauge ammunition suite at his disposal (a vertitable ammo smorgasbord, if you will) with which to accomplish this. This capability is transformational, and indeed constitutes a true paradigm shift in lethality and force multiplication, especially when you have swarms of these AutoCopter Gunships flying throughout the battlespace.
Oh, and here's the kicker: The AutoCopter Gunship UCAV/UCAR can also be outfitted with a thermal/IR sight, giving the system day/night/all-weather capability, so the operator can engage the enemy in any conditions the AutoCopter can handle from a flight perspective, even in total darkness. With an AA-12-outfitted AutoCopter Gunship loaded with FRAG-12s, once the weaponized system is fully developed/realized, the enemy may be able to run, but they're (most likely) just going to die tired. There will be very fiew places they can hide--even on a high floor inside a building.
In any event, I'm going to be dropping out of the Phora for a few months. Too much crap going on with work and the new baby. Figured I'd pass this along as a swan song.