Robotic Frisbees of Death

Okay just LOVE that title

It ain’t easy, picking out evil-doers in the urban canyons of the Middle East; there are so many places to hide. Taking ‘em out can be even harder, what with all those noncombatants hanging nearby. But the Air Force thinks it might have an answer to this most vexing problem in counter-insurgency: frisbees. disc_uav.JPGNot just any frisbees, mind you. Robotic frisbees. Heavily armed robotic frisbees. The Air Force recently tapped Triton Systems, out of Chelmsford, Mass, to develop such a “Modular Disc-Wing Urban Cruise Munition.“ “The 3-D maneuverability of the Frisbee-UAV [unammned aerial vehicle] will provide revolutionary tactical access and lethality against hostiles hiding in upper story locations and/or defiladed behind obstacles,” the company promises.

Once they catch up to the baddies, the drones will use a series of armor-piercing explosives, shooting jets of molten metal, to eliminate their targets.

TRITON SYSTEMS, INC.
200 TURNPIKE ROAD
Chelmsford, MA 01824
Phone:
PI:
Topic#: (978) 250-4200
Mr. James Gorman
AF 06-141 Selected for Award
Title: Modular Disc-Wing (Frisbee) Urban Cruise Munition (1000-844)
Abstract: Triton Systems, Inc. of Chelmsford MA proposes to develop a MEFP-armed Lethal Frisbee UAV, whose purpose is to locate defiladed combatants in complex urban terrain and provide precision fires to neutralize these hostiles with minimum hazard to friendly forces or bystanders. The 3-D maneuverability of the Frisbee-UAV will provide revolutionary tactical access and lethality against hostiles hiding in upper story locations and/or defiladed behind obstacles to direct observation and fire. The developed Frisbee-UAV system will be modular to provide reconnaissance, pursuit, and precision fire options to the lowest echelon units. Multiple UAVs can be air- or ground-launched from munitions dispensers or by means of a simple mechanism similar to a shotgun target (skeet) launcher. Both tele-operated (man-in-the-loop) and autonomous modes of operation will be provided, through wireless links to standard tactical data systems. Range, payload, and maneuverability will be tailored to the missions defined during requirements studies. The fuzing mode of the MEFP warheads will be controllable so as to provide a single large fragment (bunker-buster) or tailorable pattern of smaller fragments (unprotected infantry or light utility vehicles). The fuzing mode may be determined in real time by direct operator intervention or autonomous target classification routine built into the UAV.

Abstract: Ads by Google Las Vegas Coupons 1 ridiculously huge coupon a day. It's like doing Vegas at 90% off! www.Groupon.com/Las-Vegas MEFP Warhead technology was initiated in the 1980's to provide a warhead that could produce many highly effective penetrators for the attack of light materiel targets. Previously, EFP warheads were designed to produce a single rod shaped or ball shaped penetrator for deep armor penetration. With the MEFP warhead concepts, the liner was designed and formed to produce many individual penetrators to attack light materiel area targets. Initial MEFP warhead concepts utilized a steel case, LX-14 explosive billet and a tantalum, iron or copper liner embossed or formed to produce the individual penetrators. Limitations: APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

Before the Pentagon decided that it wanted to stock soldiers’ backpacks with miniature unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, Defense Department researchers had a slightly different idea: give G.I.s their own flying saucers instead. mssmp3.jpgThe Multipurpose Security and Surveillance Mission Platform (MSSMP), flown from 1992 to 1998, used a ducted fan and a 50 hp engine to “cruise at speeds of up to 80 knots, for up to three hours, with a ceiling of 8,000 feet,” according to Helicopters​.com. Weighing at 250 pounds with a diameter of six feet, the MSSMP was meant to “provide a rapidly deployable, extended-range surveillance capability for a variety of operations and missions, including: fire control, force protection, tactical security, support to counterdrug and border patrol operations, signal/communications relays, detection and assessment of barriers (i.e., mine fields, tank traps), remote assessment of suspected contaminated areas (i.e., chemical, biological, and nuclear), and even resupply of small quantities of critical items,” its makers at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center say. (These are the same wizards of robotics that put together the ultra-intimidating Robart III guard drone.)

What looks like a flying saucer, takes off like a helicopter and flies like a plane? The next remote-controlled surveillance aircraft on the hunt for terrorist fugitives like Osama bin Laden, apparently.

Pilotless aircraft came into their own in the Afghan conflict, greatly reducing casualties in US Air Force and ground troops on both reconnaissance and attack missions. But today's uninhabited aerial vehicles, or UAVs, have big drawbacks: they need a runway, they are slow and they cannot hover. But a bizarre machine that aims to fix all these problems passed its first wind tunnel tests last week at Norway's National University for Technology and Science in Trondheim.