The other way to develop those pigeon flocks would be to come from the LOCASS side ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_Cost_Autonomous_Attack_System * Okay, so you have a smart ATGM with 100 miles range and the ability to circle for half an hour if it finds no target. * Could it be programmed to return home if it finds no valid targets? If you send a few hundred drones against an armor battalion, and it isn't there, you have blown millions of dollars. Better to recover, recondition and reuse them. * Little problem, we're talking about a fixed wing aircraft with no landing gear. So give it either retractable wheels or a parachute. * Or reduce the stall speed, for example by using rotors instead of fixed wings. That means you can't launch them from aircraft any more, so maybe not yet. (see below) * Can you use them against smaller targets than tanks? Like jeeps, or even troops on the ground? It might have to use a different seeker, and a different warhead, and it has to get even cheaper. * If you send relatively few drones against tanks, or SAMs, or TBMs spread over many square miles, the odds of a double kill are acceptable. If you send thousands of drones against individual troops, the swarm has to work together to avoid overkill. Enter cooperative tactics into the mix. * In this role, you don't need 100 miles range or 200 mph. Make it smaller than the 100 lbs. of the LOCAAS. 10 to 20 lbs., perhaps. * Are you still dropping them from aircraft? Why? Base them on the ground, instead. That means you can make them miniature helicopters, not miniature cruise missiles, for easier recovery if they are not expended. What does that mean for the design, compared to the police pigeon? - Unlike the modified police surveillance drone, the default assumption is that it will kamikaze against a target -- or it wouldn't have been launched to start with. - The bias of the programming would be to attack when in doubt. Restraint is just included to recover the pigeon, not to reduce collateral damage. - Low loiter time, compared to the police drone. - If there is a way to reduce unit cost at the expense of maintenance, do it. - Stealth and ECM would be built in, as far as affordable. - No modular options, if you want different sensors or warheads get a different model from the factory. Regards, Onno _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
