GPS guided, self steering naval gun shells

[scvn2812 504]

http://m.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/08/guided-supersonic-bullets/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Top+Stories%29

 

A little something for your scifi navy / army wish list: artillery rounds that aim themselves.

[enigma 521]

GPS guided? Why do I picture artillery shells be given wrong directions from the GPS? Shells directed to take a left instead of right and shelling an orphanage instead of a terrorist training camp?

[scvn2812 504]

GPS guided? Why do I picture artillery shells be given wrong directions from the GPS? Shells directed to take a left instead of right and shelling an orphanage instead of a terrorist training camp?

 

One would assume that an artillery shell moving at several thousand kph would be harder to spoof than a pretty leisurely flying drone. For one you have at best a few seconds to try and spoof it before its out of range of the signal generator, the other you have a few minutes or more. Still, if someone had enough intelligence in advance and had enough raw computing power to do it in an automated way, that could be very bad.

 

Not that I've always had reason to be awed by the performance of my off the shelf Garmin Nuvi that I'm pretty sure no terrorist or military intelligence organization is trying to spoof.

 

I do like this notion of moving towards smaller, less destructive and more precise munitions. I'd like the notion of air strike assassinations going the way of the Dodo bird a lot better but try as I might, no amount of pinching myself has ever resulted in me waking up to find myself in 24th century Federation Earth.

[enigma 521]

I'm talking about all of those stories about people being led the wrong way from their GPS. Imagine the same with arty shells.

[scvn2812 504]

Is it deranged to be fascinated by the tech and despise the notion of a new, cheaper, more efficient way of killing other human beings?

 

As for the reliability, I've had good but not slam dunk perfect luck with commercial gps. My own experience (a limited sample size to be sure) suggests that it can't be anything but an improvement over dumb shells. Of course a weapon with the ability to hit anything with magnificent precision is still only as effective as the information that dictates where it's aimed at.

[Tyralak 12,068]

I'm talking about all of those stories about people being led the wrong way from their GPS. Imagine the same with arty shells.

 

That's just if they decided to use Apple Maps for guidance data.

[Airlocke 12,014]

Hmmmm....Interesting. I have nothing more valuable to add to this. Seriously, stop reading this post if you think I am going to spout off some kind of gem.

 

 

 

Still here? Why?

 

 

 

Seriously, stop looking at me. No intelligent commentary or witty joke here. Stop begging.

 

 

 

 

Ok. Daaaaamn it. Somehow I think that gps units in artillery shells will be a step or 10 above commercially available gps units. One would hope. Though I do like the idea of the shells being guided by John Cleese(my favorite gps voice-over EVER). This amuses me to no end.

 

 

And, no, it is not bad form to admire the technology but despise the human condition which makes it a necessity. If anything, I would think it bad form NOT to feel that way.

[scvn2812 504]

That reminds me of the talking bomb from the Starship Troopers novel. "I'm a twenty second bomb! Nineteen....Eighteen...." In their rush to criticize the movie for how horrible it was, people forget that if you look at it from the right angle, the novel is probably satire rather than a How To Guide for a 2xth century Spartan utopia for Real Tough Men Who Make Tough Choices.