Big armor=big guns!
Posted on 07/27/2004 6:39:27 PM PDT by Cannoneer No. 4
I guess this whole topic breaks down into two separate categories: superpower warfare and low-intensity warfare. The most interesting is the low-intensity warfare because it's topical now and will be then. What I'd like to see in 2034:
1) Directed electromagnetic weapons that can detonate in-place enemy arms. We need to get our eggheads on the stick to develop these weapons. Characterize RPG warheads and exploit their shapes.
2) Laser sniper rifles. Melt the enemy's head, burn off his skin, burn a hole through his head ... I don't care, just put him out of action.
3) Widespread use of remote detection of enemy personnel and their weapons. We need to be able to remotely detect people and whether they are carrying weapons, then tube them.
4) Armed UAV escort aircraft. Ditch the Apache, it's been a disaster in real use. Pour the money into armed UAVs for infantry escort. Fill the sky with them linked to a larger, manned, sensor aircraft. We detect a mortar launch and respond with a Hellfire on the location within seconds.
Yeah, I know, wishful thinking. However, it's way past time that we use our technological advance to help our grunts on the ground. IMHO, it's immoral to *not* do it.
Mike
1. Somebody will still have to clean the latrines.
2. Young privates will still think their NCOs fools, who will still think their junior officers fools, who will still think their senior officers fools. They will all be correct.
3. The peacetime armed forces will still be clogged at the top with political climbers and desk jockeys.
4. Chow will be scientifically balanced, perfectly nutritious, filled with vitamins, minerals, and whatever else promotes health in those days, and still taste like reconstituted elephant droppings.
5. Some poor sumbitch is still going to have to grab a shoulder arm and hold ground somewhere he doesn't really want to be.
6. NCOs will still be the backbone of the armed forces and will still tell you so at the drop of a hat.
7. Harsh language will still be used at every opportunity.
8. The Marines will still dress like sea-goin' bellhops and fight like lions.
We have very little idea what the world will be like in 2034.
What we do know is what it won't be like - it won't be like what we expected in 2004.
You could put money on that.
bfl!
I'm hoping for particle beam laser direct fire from space to help our grunts.
"Unless we take out that reactor in Iran, the cruise missile of the future is a muslim with a nuke in his suitcase."
U already have one such state( Pakistan ,"frontline" US ally)-which has made strenous efforts to spread the good word of it's Chinese acquired tech to Iran,Syria,North Korea
&oh 2 years ago-they took a Saudi Prince to visit their nuke facilities.
U cannot defeat terror,if u try to separate the wheat from the chaff &as in the case of lunatic Islam -they are one&the same.Everyone know's that America's Arab allies in the middle east(Egypt,UAE,Saudi Arabia,Morocco ) all have more formidable militaries than the Iranians-Iran has never really got state of the art Russian stuff(like the SU-27/30 fighter/strike jets,Yakhont anti ship missile,T-90 tanks)-it's more the second rung stuff(Mig-29 fighers,BMP-2 IFV,T-72)&lots of Chinese stuff.
At the heart of every hydraulics system is an actuator. It is the key component. Buy 'actuator' compny stock.
The F-15, B-52 will still be in service for sure. Even the Abrams in some form might still be needed on the battlefield.
Oh yeah, and nobody will remember the beretta. pos...
Roger that. Good points all.
I wonder what kind of celebration is planned in 2011 (just seven years away) for the M1911? How much more can the rose be gilded than some of the racy M1911s that are out there now?
In these 30-year jumps, a few were revolutionary, while most were evolutionary. The weapons of WW1 are still respectable, and collectible, in the 21st century. It wouldn't be my first choice, but I know a Springfield or BAR could still get the job done today. We've had evolutionary changes in small arms.
The biggest revolutionary changes come when technology allows enhanced situational awareness at both the tactical and strategic levels. Troops and their commanders then have a better grasp of the situation, and how to exploit it quickly. The telegraph, radio, and now battlefield internet, provided the revolutions that allowed bigger forces to be controlled effectively over larger distances. This had more impact than improved weaponry.
The Army's Blue Force Tracker system, rushed into service for the invasion of Iraq, drew rave reviews from crusty old tankers and mech infantry. Essentially, it broadcast each vehicle's GPS location over a secure wireless net back to data collection systems, which then broadcast everything back to the vehicles, as well as back to the Pentagon. In the old days, the info only went up the chain of command. Now the same info was going down the chain, too.
Even at the platoon level, commanders could get a picture of their own deployment, as well as units around them. They could zoom in or out, just like the SecDef could. Some staff puke could spot something nobody else did, and get someone to take action on it.
What was discovered was that 60% of all radio traffic was "where are you guys?". Now everybody could see each other, and knew that everyone had the same picture. The same God's-eye view was available to the vehicle commander, all the way up to Rumsfield. And they found out there was less micromanagement from higher up the chain, because everyone shared a common "collective intelligence".
Medical advances and body armor have been revolutionized between 1991 and now, but that may just be a lucky spurt of development. Autonomous weapons need more evolution, a revolution can't be anticipated. So the real thing to watch out for in the next 30 years is "situational awareness", which holds the promise of big payoffs, even with current weapons.
???
How so, please give details [ie supporting data] and not hyperbole.
As if today's military is invulnerable to terrorists.
If John eFing wins in November, it will be stick and stones...
Ok, I will venture a guess. Mass infantry attacks on horseback with kevalar body armor for the horsemen and the horses. All ceramic and plastic weapons and no electronics.
Tatics such as dispatch a calvary unit to a given target by dispersal and regroup on point for the attack, a form of blitzkrieg to the Nth power. Little if any defined lines, civilian slaughter valued for its shock value.
Horsemen without any metallic objects dispersed over a wide area are virtualy impossible to stop with present weapons. You cannot see them well with any modern sensors, anti tank weapons will become smaller and lighter giving the firepower of a tank to an infantry man.
With good electronics you can pinpoint a wrist watch's location from a couple of miles due to its electronic emissions, so nobody can carry detectable junk or they will be auto targeted.
The way past smart bombs is to become-un targetable. The way to do that is to become non emmisive and non detectable. Kevalar not only stops balistic fragments, But also reduces heat emissions.
Horses do not need fuel, they eat bushes, and a herd of horses look like a herd of deer to infra-red sensors.
Yep, things will change, always has, always will.
That is about as strange as I can push it, any other wild ideas out there?
Horse mounted infantry almost never fought mounted.
They show up just fine on thermal sights.
they have a different breed of bacteria in their intestines, which allows them to digest browse, like a deer, instead of needing good quality grass. Simply put, they can live and prosper where a larger horse would starve.
In order to be able to live on forage, the animal has to be raised from weaning to adulthood on rough forage.
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